I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to fix this “printer unavailable” or “can’t find printer” issue. It’s been driving me nuts for the last few hours.
Things I have tried
resetting the network several times
resetting the printer several times
created a brand new network solely for the printer
created a brand new network solely for the printer and computer
removed printer
restarted printer
restarted macs
used different macs
assigned fixed IPs to everything
Why won’t this $387 heap of junk from 2017 work??? Why is printing still this complicated?
Printer Network says its connected
My home Unifi portal sees the printer
My computer can see it
The ip address matches up. Yet, I can’t access the IP for the device. (for Brother’s web-based management)
The most convoluted complicated part…I was able to print from my phone via AirPrint. I don’t want to have pull every single document to my phone to print. On the Mac, I am not even able to connect at this point.
I have a Big Sur 11.4 running on all my macs at home.
Suggestions before I toss this printer in the garbage?
I see that Brother states they are not supporting your printer with Big Sur. Was it printing previously with Big Sur on your Macs? Maybe an update broke things…
Similar issues with the DCP-9015CDW here. Also on an Unifi network. The printer is on the same VLAN as my computer (M1 Mac Mini)
Only a power cycle of the printer helps it to pick up the documents in the queue and print. The Brother drivers are notoriously bad (same as for Fujitsu scan software), so I did take the official printer driver out and only installed the Airprint driver (thus losing the scan functionality) but it did not help solve the issue.
Starting to think it might be a sleep-function compatibility issue between Unifi and Brother more so than an Apple-related problem, especially since printing resumes normally after a power cycle
If all else fails, it’s possible to turn a Raspberry Pi into a print server for Brother printers. I did this to turn old (ca. 2010) black and white laser printer without a WiFi card into a wireless printer, but I’m sure the same approach would work to make a printer available to Macs that no longer have drivers for the printer. (As a bonus, I can now print from my phone, which I never could before.)
We’ve got a couple of different Brother printers here than mentioned so far in this thread, DCP-L2550DW and DCP-L2540DW. I remember at the time of purchase reading that they should be configured to fixed IPs (and I did see the OP tried that). Also people were having problems with connecting the printer via WiFi. My wife’s computer is on Big Sur and uses the generic PCL laser printer driver which gives printing and scanning (the one from Brother, used in Catalina, would only print).
So my solution (?) with both printers:
Ethernet (wired) connection
Static IP (set both on the printer and in the router, of course)
Generic PCL printer driver. Yes, I get full functionality – duplex printing, scanning
Only had the one issue mentioned, and both printers are reachable from iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
It seems that the Brother printer is notorious. Some more tinkering, I can at times get it to be seen by all devices, other times just 1. I contacted a friend of mine (local IT networker). His running joke for his department (40% of their time is dealing with printer network issues). I might just try to find another printer. We have the Canon Pixma that’s used for my wife’s business, so that can’t be a daily driver for us. If anyone has recommendations, let me know. Looking for a good solid color laser printer.