# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 365
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7671 "2026-07-27T22:21:51Z")
Ah, OK, so I can get a bunch of unemployed forest rangers to come in and type the password using the three keys on my printer, instead of doing it myself. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7672 "2026-07-27T22:27:13Z")
That’s all on me and my stupid finger/brain interface. Mea culpa. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7673 "2026-07-27T22:58:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so I can get a bunch of unemployed forest rangers to come in and type the password using the three keys on my printer, instead of doing it myself. After DOGE, there are probably plenty of candidates. But WPS is great. I don’t use it for everything, but I definitely use it for my wireless brother printer, since it’s a pain to put in the password using the extremely limited interface. You have only a few buttons so you’d have to scroll through the entire alphabet (plus numerical digits) with a couple of up/down buttons and an “OK” button for each character. Or I press the WPS button on my router, then ask my printer to connect to the WPS device, and it does it all for me. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7674 "2026-07-28T11:44:15Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > My Brother printer / scanner is wireless on my Wi-Fi. And can go weeks to months without use. If it’s been dormant long enough, it won’t be talking to the router & the router won’t be talking to it. And tapping something on the printer control panel to wake it up does wake it up, but doesn’t reconnect the Wi-Fi. I have two Brother printers connected via ethernet and they both do that. Maybe once a month or so, one or the other won’t wake up when it’s sent a print job. No reason that I can tell. And these printers get used regularly (like every day, throughout the day), so it’s not like they’ve been sitting idle for more than a few hours. From what I’ve been able to tell, based on trying to fix it, it’s a common issue with Brother printers. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > I have a long, complex Wifi password (29 characters), Every (home) router I’ve set up since the early days of home wifi, I’ve used the same 26 character wifi password. It’s super easy to remember, but no one’s going to guess it. It’s not much different than abcdefabcdef12345671234567. Short of someone physically seeing the password, I can’t see how a complex vs an easy one makes a difference here. Especially since, unlike, say, a bank password, in addition to being able to figure it out, you also have to be within wifi range of my router. If someone in Russia has my wifi login info, there’s not a whole lot they can do with it. (Note, not my router password, specifically my wifi password). ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7675 "2026-07-28T15:38:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I have two Brother printers connected via ethernet and they both do that. Maybe once a month or so, one or the other won’t wake up when it’s sent a print job. No reason that I can tell. I used to have a Brother printer and had this problem as well. I installed the full software suite and the printer status manager app resolved the issue. In my case, the printer wouldn’t wake up if the computer was on a different subnet (one was on Ethernet and the other Wifi, or two different Wifis). Sometimes pressing a button on the printer could wake it up, sometimes zombie printouts would pop out. I also remember having to re-enter the Wifi password many times. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7676 "2026-07-28T16:11:56Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I have two Brother printers connected via ethernet and they both do that. Maybe once a month or so, one or the other won’t wake up when it’s sent a print job. No reason that I can tell. And these printers get used regularly (like every day, throughout the day), so it’s not like they’ve been sitting idle for more than a few hours. From what I’ve been able to tell, based on trying to fix it, it’s a common issue with Brother printers. I had two that also did that, and for the second (and current) printer I finally decided to try to fix it, and I did. There was a “deep sleep” option buried in settings that I had to disable. > **[Unable to print after the machine has entered "Deep Sleep" - Windows](https://help.brother-usa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/151825/~/unable-to-print-after-the-machine-has-entered-deep-sleep---windows)** (That link doesn’t have a solution, it’s just a page on Brother’s site acknowledging that such a “feature” exists.) By “buried”, I mean you literally needed to do a secret code, because they do **NOT** want you turning it off apparently. I believe in my case, I had to go into the “Ecology”, then “Sleep Time” in settings on the printer, then hold the “Back” button and the “Down” arrow button for a while, until the secret “Deep Sleep” option appeared, that I could then turn off. I shit you not, it was like finding a secret in a video game to give you extra lives. After I turned it off, it was never a problem again. The solution may vary by model, so for anyone with this issue, look up their model and “deep sleep” and you might find a similar fix. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7677 "2026-07-28T16:27:40Z")
Great find. Thank you. As an oh by the way near the bottom they point out that if your Wi-Fi is broadcasting both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz and using the same SSID on both, the printer can become confused and lose connectivity. Decent bet a lot of home routers are so configured. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7678 "2026-07-28T17:09:57Z")
So much to say, so little on topic to this thread. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > broadcasting both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz and using the same SSID on both, the printer can become confused and lose connectivity Most printers are only 2.4, so it won’t matter, but if there is a 5GHz printer, it could get confused. Directing wifi clients to 2.4 or 5 is dark art made of deep magic running in the access points, and everyone is amazed that it actually works pretty well for most devices. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > Maybe once a month or so, one or the other won’t wake up when it’s sent a print job. No reason that I can tell My Mom has an Epson printer that does the same thing. It just vanishes. Simply rebooting it is enough to make it appear and work fine. It doesn’t vanish every time it goes to sleep, just often enough to make it really difficult to figure out if whatever tweak has fixed it. Add to that my mom having a resistance to turning things off. “Turn it off and on again”, “it still doesn’t work”, “did you turn it off”, “no”. I don’t understand what she’s thinking either. Just remember the old joke is full of truth: They never specified what machine they were raging against, but I bet it was a printer. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’ve used the same 26 character wifi password. It’s super easy to remember, but no one’s going to guess i The likeliest way to break into wifi is through a design flaw in the wifi security mechanisms themselves. Several in this thread have talked about the convenience of WPS, but it is a huge security hole. A network using WPS can be joined after just a few minutes of running some widely available tools. The best way to use it is to turn it on, join the WPS device, then turn WPS off again on the router. Given that many people have run WPS for years with no problems, just means that there are very few people trying to break in. Security is often a trade-off with convenience; it is important to know the implications of the convenience decisions. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7679 "2026-07-28T17:31:38Z")
I love my Brother printer for the most part. I have had to get a new router twice in the many years of ownership and it’s a gigantic pain in the ass. I have to Google the solution and remember that it’s 2.4GHz and laboriously enter the password. I haven’t used the scanner and especially the fax in many years. My entire home hasn’t had a landline in many years anyway. I may have copied something a year or two ago. I do use the printer several times a month. The USB-A to USB-B is still attached and coiled up but I print to it wirelessly. Oh yeah it’s loud as fuck when the power goes out and then comes back on and it boots up. Startles me nearly to death in the middle of the night. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7680 "2026-07-28T17:37:15Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > They never specified what machine they were raging against, but I bet it was a printer. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DkZIDla1b4A/hqdefault.jpg "Office Space - Printer Scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZIDla1b4A) Somewhat apropos, my WiFi-connected Brother is pretty reliable at waking up for work, but my HP color multifunction is kinda geriatric and sometimes needs to be nudged awake with the front-panel power button. And relevant to the original original question of that topic, I don’t know how someone could somehow not find a USB A to USB B cable in a household cable pile, especially in a household that actually has a printer with a USB B port (because they inevitably come with that cable). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7681 "2026-07-28T17:48:23Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Just remember the old joke is full of truth: They never specified what machine they were raging against, but I bet it was a printer. That reminds me of another unrelated thing. After one of the Trump elections the band put out an anti-Trump statement of some kind. Someone Tweeted about how they were a fan for life and they can no longer support them now that they are political. Morello responded something like, "what the fuck do you think we were raging against, the dishwasher? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7682 "2026-07-28T18:03:37Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > And relevant to the original original question of that topic, I don’t know how someone could somehow not find a USB A to USB B cable in a household cable pile, especially in a household that actually has a printer with a USB B port (because they inevitably come with that cable). Also, who cares if the cable is the household oddball. Printers aren’t like mice. You don’t move them around the house, and from device to device. You usually set it up shortly after to buy it, attach it to whatever it’s going to be attached to, and then leave it there. If you do need to move it for some reason, well, if you are using that cable, there it is, attached to the printer. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7683 "2026-07-28T18:04:02Z")
I mean, I know some people don’t listen to lyrics, but that’s an incredible degree of obliviousness. I’ve seen people standing on street corners with bullhorns who get their points across more subtly than RATM. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7684 "2026-07-28T18:07:55Z")
[post edited out] Edit: sorry thought it was the actual cable thread, this post was off topic here in the THINKING thread. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7685 "2026-07-28T18:30:36Z")
Geez, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? (Of course, if you followed my hijack…) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7686 "2026-07-28T18:37:42Z")
Oops, i thought it was in the printer thread, too. Sorry 'bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7687 "2026-07-28T19:07:46Z")
I thought this was now the printer thread. Sure seems to be, at least. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7688 "2026-07-28T19:32:24Z")
Nope. This is the copier thread. We just keep copying topics from other threads for a couple days. And since nowadays most printers are copiers & vice versa it only makes sense for us to put printing in here w our copying. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7689 "2026-07-28T20:07:15Z")
And it gives the dipsticks a break 🫣 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7690 "2026-07-28T20:31:47Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > The best way to use it is to turn it on, join the WPS device, then turn WPS off again on the router. Something I always liked on some of my previous routers was the access control list. It wouldn’t allow anyone to connect a new device until I logged in and specifically allowed it to be on the network. It did, however, cause a few headaches because I’d always forget about it and spend a half hour trying to figure out why a friend couldn’t get online or a new IOT device couldn’t access the internet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=364) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=366)