Network printer

[Muse]

My HP4M is on my network using a Jetdirect card. The printer has issues and I have an HP4M+ that I'm going to use instead. Can I just pull the jetdirect card from the HP4M, drop it in the HP4M+ and expect the printer to be seen on the network or is there some kind of configuration I have to do in the HP4M+ printer?

My spec on the Jetdirect card: HP JetDirect 10Base-T internal print server LAN J2550
I assume that this card would work in either printer, but I'm not sure.

 

[drebo]

You should be able to use the same card, however you may need to reconfigure its network settings. If it's set up like it should be (with a DHCP reservation) you won't even need to do that.

 

[skyking]

IIRC, the settings will stay the same.

 

[Muse]

It has it's own IP and all my computers are set up to print to it. So, I just drop it in the other printer and I'm good to go? The HP4M+ doesn't need to be told to print through the jetdirect card? IOW, no configuration necessary on the printer's control panel? Is the only configuration done with the printer saved to the jetdirect card itself?

I checked online and it says the card is supported by both printers.

 

[seepy83]

You should probably be good to go after swapping the cards. When you say "it has its own IP"...how is that IP assigned? If it's a static IP set on the card, then you might need to set that again (I don't know if they reset their configuration when they lose power because they're pulled from the printer). If it's set by a DHCP reservation, then you're definitely good to go.

I'm not familiar with the 4M or 4M+, but I assume they use the same driver.

 

[skyking]

My 4+ stays in the card when I swap out. I have a few of the old beasts around.

 

[bobdole369]

Confirming this. Literally you just take it and put it in the new printer. The IP information stays on the card. (Hundreds of HP lasers big and small repaired to board level under my belt.)

 

[Muse]

Confirming this. Literally you just take it and put it in the new printer. The IP information stays on the card. (Hundreds of HP lasers big and small repaired to board level under my belt.)

Thanks. I'm about to make the swap.

I spent the morning _renewing_ the exit rollers on the HP4M+. I could have bought replacement rollers but to save time and maybe a little money I just removed the exit assembly, removed the two rollers and carefully and thoroughly sanded the rubber rollers (about 10 of them all together) with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. Even a cursory sanding without removing the assembly had stopped the paper jams when continuous printing, so I reasoned that a thorough sanding might eliminate the problem for a good long time.

 

[Muse]

Don't know why but I had to go into the MIO MENU on the HP4M+ and make a bunch of changes. It didn't have the right IP or gateway. I found that out from a self test of the printer. I have to think what was shown in the menus of the printer wasn't what the card was set to but stuff in the printer. I changed the settings and now it works. Around 4 years ago Viper GTS here at Anandtech helped me set up the HP4M, and here's what he posted (I saved it in my data), and this helped me make the configurations just now:
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HP LaserJet 4, 4 Plus, 4V, 4Si, and 5 series and HP Color LaserJet printers
To configure TCP/IP parameters from the control panel, use the following instructions:
Press MENU, repeatedly, until one of the following messages appears on the control panel:
HP LaserJet printer type Control panel message
HP LaserJet 4 and 4m printers: AUX IO MENU
HP LaserJet 4 Plus, 4m Plus, 4v, 4mv: MIO MENU
HP LaserJet 5/5n/5m and the original Color LaserJet: HP MIO MENU
HP LaserJet 4Si/4Si MX: MIO MENU 1 or MIO MENU 2

Press ITEM . CFG NETWORK=NO* will appear.
Press the PLUS button once. CFG NETWORK=YES* will appear.
Press ENTER or SELECT .
Press ITEM repeatedly until CFG TCP/IP=NO* appears.
Press the PLUS button. CFG TCP/IP=YES* will appear.
Press ENTER or SELECT .
Press ITEM until BOOTP=YES* appears.
Press the PLUS button. BOOTP=NO will appear.
When using BootP or DHCP, keep the setting BOOTP=YES* .
The BootP or DHCP server will configure the TCP/IP parameters on the HP Jetdirect.
No other TCP/IP configuring is necessary.
Press ENTER or SELECT .
Press ITEM . IP BYTE 1 = (value) will appear.
Press the PLUS button until the value of the first byte of the IP address appears on the control-panel display. By pressing SHIFT and the PLUS button, the value will decrease.
Press ENTER or SELECT .
Press ITEM to continue. Repeat Steps 11-13 to configure the remaining bytes of the IP address.
Repeat Steps 11-13 to configure the subnet mask bytes (SM BYTE 1=), syslog server IP address (LG BYTE 1=), default gateway (GW BYTE 1=), and timeout (TIMEOUT=).
Press ONLINE . Print a self-test page to verify the IP settings.
If the test page does not show the correct settings, power cycle the printer and reprint the test page.

From HERE. Third link from the bottom on the topic list.

Once that is done all that's left is Windows configuration.

Viper GTS
- - - -
Of course, my Windows configurations are already in place.