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zeebe · Oct 12, 2004, 08:28 AM

I asked this on the iMac/eMac board, but got no answer, can anyone help here?

Hello, the school I work at recently got an eMac for one of the teachers. After setting it up, I tried to access the HP Printers on our local network. The eMac has an airport extreme card in it. I have it set for Appletalk to be used with aiport. We have two HP 4200 laser printers and one 4600 color laser printer. The computer can connect and print to the 4600 which is downstairs in the computer lab. The computer can see one of the 4200's (this is downstairs in the teacher resource room), but not print to it, it just spools forever. Is there something in the set up of the airport card or the airport station as to why it can not print to these printers. If I hook up an ethernet cord, it can see all the printers and print to them all. What could be different between the airport and the ethernet card (other then it being wireless).
Thanks in advance for any help

aaanorton · Oct 12, 2004, 11:21 AM

What is the eMac connecting to? Some sort of wireless router, I reckon. Most (almost all actually) wireless routers do not bridge Appletalk from wireless to wired. You'll have to print to the printers via Rendezvous or IP Printing.

zeebe · Oct 12, 2004, 01:13 PM

It is connected wirelessly to an airport station. If as you say this wont work, why does it print to one printer but not the others

aaanorton · Oct 12, 2004, 09:06 PM

Where does it go from there? Is AppleTalk supported/allowed through all devices? Easier to not bother figuring this out and just use IP Printing. All you need is the IP of the printer.

zeebe · Oct 12, 2004, 10:00 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Where does it go from there? Is AppleTalk supported/allowed through all devices? Easier to not bother figuring this out and just use IP Printing. All you need is the IP of the printer.

How do I go about finding out the IP of the printer? As far as where the network goes from there, the Base Station is connected to an ethernet hub which is connected to our school network.

aaanorton · Oct 13, 2004, 10:47 AM

Originally posted by zeebe:
As far as where the network goes from there, the Base Station is connected to an ethernet hub which is connected to our school network.

Right. And who knows what configuration issues exist there that may block AT.
To get the printers' IP, ask you IT person. Or, most printers allow you to print a report from the buttons on the front panel (sometimes one button, sometimes a combination of 2 of them). This report will most likely state the printer's IP and other status info, so try that. Ask one of the PC users how the printer is set up on their machine; PCs will use IP Printing as well. You can also give Rendezvous a shot. If the printers are new-ish, Rendezvous may connect to it very easily.

zeebe · Oct 13, 2004, 01:56 PM

OK, first, i am the IT person, and the only thing between the computer, airport station and printers are hubs or switches. Second, who mentioned anything about about PCs? My school is 99.9999% Mac, the only reason we have the 1 PC (which isn't even connected to the network) is to use a banner printer we have.

Thanks for the printer set up ID, I didn't think of that.

I don't see any reason why there is a problem over Airport but not through ethernet.
Thanks for all your help so far!

aaanorton · Oct 13, 2004, 03:21 PM

So the Airport Base is the DHCP server for the entire school?
Don't get me wrong; There is NO GOOD REASON why AT should not work, but in the past I have found it simpler to just not use it than to try to fix it. I wish AT were fully supported by all networking manufacturers. But it is not, so you may as well get used to it.
IP printing is pretty easy though. Once you have the IP you should be golden.

zeebe · Oct 14, 2004, 07:28 AM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
So the Airport Base is the DHCP server for the entire school?
Don't get me wrong; There is NO GOOD REASON why AT should not work, but in the past I have found it simpler to just not use it than to try to fix it. I wish AT were fully supported by all networking manufacturers. But it is not, so you may as well get used to it.
IP printing is pretty easy though. Once you have the IP you should be golden.

No the Airport base station is not the DHCP server. And I just realized we do have about 15 PCs on the network. I work for a Catholic school and the Church Parish uses PCs, the server there hands out the DHCP addresses. That system is on the network, but no where near the connections from the eMac and Printers. Thanks again for all your help, I will try on Friday to get the IP addresses and see if I can get that working.
Thanks!