I'm going to take this printer out into a field pretty soon.

February 7, 2012 10:25 AM

Office network print problems. Help me get these laptops to print again!

What I'm working with:

Brother HL-5370 DW
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Netgear Prosafe 16 Port Gigabit Switch - GS116

So we're using the Brother, wired in (we're not using the built in wireless as it is terrible), and all the computers which are plugged into the router print fine. Unfortunately, all of the laptops, which are connected to the Internet through wifi, won't print. As well, when I plug an Ethernet cable into one of the laptops, it still doesn't work.

The printer drivers are installed, and it shows up in the printer list, but when I try to print it says "Printer Offline."

Help!

posted by degoao to computers & internet (8 answers total)

Are the various players all shared?
posted by Freedomboy at 11:15 AM on February 7, 2012

Freedomboy: I'm not sure what you mean.
posted by degoao at 11:19 AM on February 7, 2012

Sounds like a problem with name resolution. Does your network have a DNS server, or are you just using some multicast DNS system (i.e. zeroconf)?

If you get the printer's current IP address, can you ping that address from one of the laptops?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:33 AM on February 7, 2012

As anecdata... I've worked with companies that had brother printers... and actually replacing the printer was the answer in all cases.
posted by one4themoment at 11:58 AM on February 7, 2012

We have a DNS server, yes, not some multicast DNS system. Any ideas how to fix the problem with name resolution?

I have the printer's current IP address, and pinged it. Got this:

64 bytes from 192.168.1.172: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=5.513 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.172: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.609 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.172: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=3.165 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.172: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=4.234 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.172: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=11.202 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.172: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=1.970 ms

Seems fine.
posted by degoao at 12:03 PM on February 7, 2012

Can you resolve the printer's hostname to a valid IP address from the laptops? (i.e. does 'ping ' work?)

On the laptops where the printer is configured, have you tried printing to the IP address instead of whatever hostname the printer is known by?

What protocol is the printer set up to use? LDP? IPP? NetBIOS? If I recall correctly, NetBIOS still makes use of it's own multicast name resolution (WINS), so there's still a chance that even though your laptops can connect to the printer over the network, they can't 'see' it.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:34 PM on February 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sorry, that should read "does ping PRINTERNAME work".
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:57 PM on February 7, 2012

I tried printing to the IP address and that works just fine. Thanks!
posted by degoao at 1:04 PM on February 7, 2012