LAN printer warms up, but won't print

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I had previously possted this in Current Hardware, but go no response except to suggest that this be posted here. Would not have guessed that this was a genius issue, but here goes.



My wife now has a Mac Mini (pre Intel version) running OSX 10.4.9. When she tries to print, our LAN printer starts its warm up routine, but won't print. We have a home LAN that is PC-centric, e.g., the one printer (Samsung ML-1710) on the lan is hooked to an XP Home machine.



She has tried to set up the printer which shows as a Samsung, but as a "generic postscript printer."



When she attempts to print, the printer whirs as usual as part of its "getting ready to print" procedure, but then does not print.



I suspect that it is because it is set up as a generic, rather than with it's proper drivers.



I have downloaded a printer driver from the Samsung site, but I cannot figure out how to install it.



We have experimented until we are blue in the face, but cannot get a page out of the printer.



Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
  • Reply 2 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    Up to the point of selecting Samsung from the list of printers, all OK. However Samsung does not appear in the list??????
  • Reply 3 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    Have gone through the referenced URL explanation several times, but getting nowhere.



    Any ideas?
  • Reply 4 of 13
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
    Do you have a Firewall enabled on the PC? If so have you opened the ports for printing up?
  • Reply 5 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    Many thanks for your help. I am running ZA Pro on the PC, but given that the Apple will start the warmup process in the printer, it is clearly communicating already. Could there be a "next level" (i.e., the actual print string) that ZA is interfering with?
  • Reply 6 of 13
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
    I'm not familiar with ZA Pro but the Printer Name is shared on UDP port 137 and the printer session on TCP port 139.



    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro....mspx?mfr=true
  • Reply 7 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    Mr. Totes, Thanks for yours, but I would not know how to make use of it. Could you possibly elaborate?
  • Reply 8 of 13
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
    Well it appears that the printer session port may well be closed on your Firewall (software) or in your router's firewall if you have a router between the two computers. I don't know how you select which ports to open in ZA Pro though.



    If there is a router between the computers you will also need to enable the 'bridge' mode.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    Well, I have made some progress. I found a Samsung 10.4 driver and downloaded and installed it with the printer connected directly to a USB port on the Mini.



    It was able to print locally, so I moved the USB cable back to the PC and set it up under Windows Printing. Now back one step as the printer does not now go into the warm up routine. Just sits there.



    At least the brick wall was moved a few feet and lowered a few feet.



    I tried reinstalling the printer to print from the PC. It found the printer, but set it up as a generic postscript printer again, so I clicked on Show Info, and the info dialog box (d/b) has a top selection box with



    Name & Location (which if I understand it, is just informational as to name and location)

    Printer Model

    Installation Options (which there do not appear to be any)



    So clicking on Printer Model took me to the System screen showing the installer. When I clicked on that nothing happened, so I moved down to the desktop where the .dmg file was and clicked on that. It went away, but left a new option in the next selection box down the d/b which is called:



    Local system V printer (whatever that is)



    but it still doesn't print.



    So it is clearly needing to find the installed driver or reinstall the driver for Windows Network printing and I don't think it has done either yet.



    Any ideas at this new elevated stage of ptinting locally / not printing remotely?
  • Reply 10 of 13
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Odyssey View Post


    Any ideas at this new elevated stage of ptinting locally / not printing remotely?



    Does the Mac connect directly to the PC or is it through a router?
  • Reply 11 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    Sorry for the delayed answer, but I had to be away all afternoon.



    It connects through a router (D-Link DI-604)
  • Reply 12 of 13
    I tried to get this to work with my HP AIO (wired USB). I was getting the same issues. I just gave up though. I'd like to see if you get any results. I've since bought a new printer (another HP AIO) specifically for my Macbook. I'll be getting a USB hub to hook it up (MOTHER OF GOD why just 2 USB ports?). It works great with a direct connection.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    odysseyodyssey Posts: 17member
    This is really one of the strangest things I have ever seen. All other computers (three more) on the lan can print through the ML-1710. My wife reminds me that when we first got the Mini we had it set up at the other 0end of our long desk/workbench thingy and it drove the printer just fine from there. We moved it to her work area on the other end and the printer stopped printing.



    The printer now prints perfectly directly (through the Mini's USB) and it is clear that this only happened after a long process that resulted in the correct drivers being installed.



    Now trying again to print through the PC, and trying (apparently unsuccessfully) to again install the necessary driver (this time to drive the "Windows Printing" print option), it now will not even engage the printer enough to start it's warmup routine (as it did at the beginning of this exercise.)



    At the start of this thread, I wondered if this should even be posted in a "genius" area. I am not very advanced, but in 38 years of personal computing (mostly PC), I am now ready to say that I have never encountered as difficult a print job problem (and this on a machine that supposedly is totally intuitive and manageable by children). Hopefully there is at least one "genius" here who can sort this.



    Can anyone take a step back and perhaps get a new insight into what I need to do to get the printer driver installed for the purpose of printing though the PC? Thanks in advance.
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