Brother DCP-1622WE driver on Windows 10 non-stop problems - Dumpster time

[ctgarvey]

In 20 years as IT support guy, ive never had the amount of problems with Brother that i am having with this Win 10 driver. Constantly losing USB or Wifi connection and just going off and staying offline requiring driver re-install and this doesnt work either. After disabling ALL power save on USB ports, i can repeat this problem on different PCs, with different 2M cables, all running Win 10 latest service pack. I am concluding that this particular printer/printer driver is incompatible with Win10 and/or broken. I dont know if the driver is WHQL certified, but i suspect it is not.
Prior to this printer, my experience with Brother on Win10 was excellent - no issues. Brother support has been useless / non existent on this, but there are plenty of guides on their website so Im not the only one experiencing issues with their ridiculously bloated drivers.
The Q i have for the forum; Has anyone ever successfully and reliably connected DCP-1622WE to Win 10 either through wifi or USB? Or was this printer just a complete Brother fail. I bought it in an emergency in a real bricks and mortar store in Poland, and have regretted it ever since.
Thanks in advance Folks!

 

[ctgarvey]

incredibly , i fixed this in the end after a good coffee, and another 2 hours details below. There were likely 3 simultaneous issues;

1. poor printer firmware .there is a May2023 Brother update
2. inability to use the devices own USB cable 2M long (with choke) ??? - i used a 1M cable (no choke) . i also disabled all power saving on all USB ports on the PC.
3. windows update that stopped printing....... there are now so many updates that ive no idea which one broke it, but i uninstalled
drivers, then re installed drivers just for USB port.

Also, the driver is for 1610 and not 1622 which is just incredibly confusing when you have more than 1 Brother printer on your network or local device.

Fix details sent to Brother:
i was able to upgrade firmware in the end , using a different 1Metre long USB cable!!!. This is ridiculous, but for some reason this printer only established a
successful usb connection with the 1M cable. Then i could update firmware, re install drivers etc. Now it works ok on the original 2M cable that came with the device.
Case closed.
Best regards
C