Printers have gone missing

QMy Canon and Epson printers, which connect through my Apple Time Capsule, have stopped working wirelessly out of the blue. How can I work out what’s gone wrong?

AFirst, using AirPort Utility, check your Time Capsule’s Wi-Fi setup and ensure that its firmware is fully up to date. Apple details this at bit.ly/mf344airpfw. If everything there seems fine, make a note of its IP address on your local network, and compare that with the address set on your Mac. For devices to connect, they need to be on the same subnet, with the same numbers in the first three groups, such as 192.168.1.3 and 192.168.1.12.

Next, quit all open apps and run Wireless Diagnostics on your Mac. The easiest way to do that is by clicking the Wi-Fi item at the right of the menu bar with the å key held down: select the Open Wireless Diagnostics… command, and look for signs of problems there. This is largely self-explanatory and detailed at bit.ly/mf344macwifi.

When you’re happy that your Wi-Fi network is healthy and the printers, Mac and Time Capsule should all able to connect properly, remove the printers from the System Preferences > Printers & Scanners pane on your Mac, close System Preferences, then open it again and add both printers back.

If the Wi-Fi in your Time Capsule isn’t working properly and can’t be fixed using AirPort Utility, contact Apple Support to see whether it can be repaired or needs replacement. If it’s old, you could connect both printers to your Mac via USB and share them through a Wi-Fi router instead.