Ethernet Knocks Out My Email!

[follywinesltd]

I have a BT 2701HGV-C router.

I also have a non-wireless HP Officejet Pro 8500 printer which is connected to my Dell PC by USB cable.

I also wanted to print to the HP printer from my latest model 13" MacBook Air laptop but I didn't want the caddle of swapping the USB lead over every time I wanted to print from the Mac.

So I plugged an Ethernet cable into the HP printer and the other end into my BT router and, voila, I can now print wirelessly from my Mac.

The problem is that when the printer is connected to the router by Ethernet cable it completely knocks out my email on the Dell PC (Mozilla Thunderbird).  As soon as I unplug the Ethernet cable from tthe BT router normal service is resumed.

Any ideas for a fix?

[garlangreeny]

Is it possible to simply just set up your email without being connected to the router or this happen only when you use the printer via router? It may be blocking something to prevent you from access your email via your Dell PC.

[follywinesltd]

Everything works fine when the printer is NOT connected to my router - email, printer (via USB), internet, PC etc - but immediately I push the Ethernet plug into an Ethernet socket on the back of my BT router I am unable to send or receive email.

[DaveA]

Hi,

There is one thing that springs to mind, and it's if Thunderbird is set to use a specific connection, rather than any available one.

We've seen something like this in Outlook Express, where an errant dial up connection was being used instead of broadband, and would do some weird things.

At the moment, other than that, we're a bit of a loss.

Dave

[follywinesltd]

I've checked the Settings in Thunderbird and everything is correct as it should be.

[DaveA]

Hi,

What happens when you plug the printer directly into the computer using Ethernet?

Also have you tried testing it without the USB cable connected, assuming you haven't already?

Dave

[follywinesltd]

I'll have to try your suggestions tomorrow as I don't have my Ethernet cable with me today.

I'll post the results here.

[follywinesltd]

This is really odd!

I unplugged the USB cable (PC to printer) and plugged in an Ethernet cable (router to printer) and promptly completely lost all wi-fi signal from the router.

I unplugged the router from the power supply, left it for about 30 seconds then plugged it in again.  I also unplugged the Ethernet cable which went to the printer from the router and rebooted my laptop.  The wi-fi signal returned.

I then reconnected the printer to the PC via USB (I can't print from the Dell PC without this connection) and the printer to the router via Ethernet but using a previously unused port.

Everything is now working correctly!

I simply do not understand it!

[DaveA]

Hi,

Well it certainly goes from the weird to the bizarre.

The only thing I can think of is that the port you were using is faulty, but I've never heard of a faulty Ethernet port causing such a strange result.

What happens if you go back to the original port now?

Dave

[follywinesltd]

I unplugged the Ethernet cable which went from printer to router at the router end and plugged it back in to the original port.

Immediately I was unable to send or receive email from my PC or my laptop and I could not get a wi-fi signal.

I left the printer plugged into the router via the Ethernet cable to the original port then pulled out the power lead from the router, left it for about a minute and plugged it back in again.

Everything works fine again!  So it isn't a faulty port.

It seems that the problem arises if I plug an Ethernet cable into the router whilst the router is "live".  Maybe I should only plug in cables when the router is "off" and then switch it back on afterwards.