I recently replaced the Vigor 2762ac on my home network with a Vigor 2763ac. The latter came with firmware 4.4.5.1_BT, but I upgraded it to 4.4.5.8_BT. The router is connected to PlusNet FTTC and I use it with 2 linux desktop PCs, a linux laptop, a MacBook Pro, an android phone, an android tablet and a Synology NAS. I also have a Brother MFC-L2710DW All-In-One Printer and Scanner. All the equipment is connected to the router by WiFi, apart from the NAS which is connected by ethernet. Apart from the android tablet they all have entries in the IP Bind List to give them fixed IP Addresses.

I have managed to configure the router and devices so that everything is working apart from the MFC-L2710DW. Back when I was using the 2762ac the linux PCs and laptop automatically detected the MFC-L2710DW and I could successfully use it for printing and scanning.

I have tried to configure the MFC-L2710DW to connect to the 2763ac using WiFi (2.4GHz as the printer can't see the 5GHz SSID). The MFC-L2710DW says it's connected and its status information is consistent with that. However, none of the PCs, or the laptop or the MacBook Pro can access it. When I log into the 2763ac as admin I can see an entry for the MFC-L2710DW in the Wireless LAN (2.4 GHz) >> Station List 'General' table.

If I try to ping the MFC-L2710DW from a terminal on any of the linux machines or the MacBook Pro it fails with 100% packet loss. However, if I use the 2763ac's Diagnostics >> Ping Diagnosis option it succeeds with 0% packet loss. It seems that the MFC-L2710DW can connect to the 2763ac and the 2763ac can access the MFC-L2710DW, but nothing outside the 2763ac can access it.

I did wonder if the UFW firewall on the linux boxes was blocking the connection, but I already had a firewall rule to cope with that. Just to be sure, I disabled the firewall, however the ping attempts still failed. I also tried some earlier firmware versions including 4.4.5.6_BT, 4.4.5.5_BT and 4.4.5.1_BT, but the ping attempts failed with all of them.

I have now run out of ideas. Have I missed something, or is this a known issue with the 2763ac?

 

Does netcat (nc) connect to the port ok? Are you using cups? Does the admin page of that show anything?

I have a (non-WiFi) router and 4 AP’s; I can only connect to the printer if my wireless device is connected to mesh node 0 (which is wired to the router). The AP’s block mDNS wirelessly. This has been reported to Draytek a long time ago. It may be similar for you tho using WiFi built into the router feels more like my node 0 which works.

It wouldn’t help to understand the problem but have you tried connecting the printer to the Synology NAS? I’ve never tried that but it may work if the NAS is running cups/lpr.

When I use netcat to connect to the port it gave "nc: connect to 192.168.1.6 port 631 (tcp) failed: No route to host".

Yes, I am using CUPS. On one of my desktop PCs the admin page shows the "DYMO LabelWriter 400 (DYMO LabelWriter 400)" that is connected by USB, but doesn't show any network printers. The other linux PCs show no printers.

I logged into the NAS and found it has a Network Printer Setup Wizard. When I ran that and entered the MFC-L2710DW's IP Address it actually found it. However, it doesn't have a driver for the specific model so I couldn't test if it actually works. It's interesting that the NAS connected by ethernet to the router can see the printer whereas the linux computers & MacBook connected to the router by WiFi can't see it.

I have found that if I connect the linux laptop to the 2763ac by ethernet instead of WiFi then I can ping the MFC-L2710DW without any problems. In addition the MFC-L2710DW was automatically discovered and added to the laptop's Printers dialog.

EDIT: I have just changed one of my desktop PCs to connect to the 2763ac on 2.4GHz WiFi instead of 5GHz and I was then able to ping the MFC-L2710DW and it was automatically discovered and added to the PC's Printers dialog.

It seems that the problem only occurs for devices connected to the 2763ac on 5GHz WiFi. This did not happen with the 2762ac.

I noticed that in Wireless LAN (5 GHz) >> Advanced Setting there is an "Isolate 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands" option which was set to "Enable". When I set it to "Disable" & clicked OK, I could then ping the MFC-L2710DW and it was automatically discovered and added to the PC's Printers dialog. I then successfully sent a test print to the printer.

Note: the Wireless LAN (2.4 GHz) >> Advanced Setting also has an "Isolate 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands" option but they are linked so that if you change it for one, it is also changed for the other.

Good job!