Problems with LaserJet 3150 and JetDirect 170x

[wazootyman]

I recently purchased a JetDirect 170x print server to use on my LaserJet 3150. I've spent many hours, and still can't get the thing to work with that printer. If I hook the server up to my 'ol DeskJet 660C, it works just fine. So why won't it work on the 3150 which is supposedly "made" for this print server? Thanks...

 

[LordSandMan]

It's difficult to help if you don't tell us what it's doing. What error messages are you getting?? after you send a print job do the lights start flashing on the print server?? on the printer??

Edit for spelling

 

[wazootyman]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Here's a much more detailed description of what's happening.

I installed the JetDirect 170x on a LaserJet 3150se printer recently, since there is no longer a computer nearby it to act as a print server. My network is relatively small, with a maximum of 5 different computers that will use the printer.

I've configured several computers to communicate with the device, both Windows 2000 and 98 boxes. I've tried the send the documents via TCP/IP, IPX/SPX and DLC, per the instructions that came with the device. I've installed both the 3150 drivers and the JetDirect drivers.

On all computers but one, a print job basically results in a timeout type error, in which the computer gives up and doesn't send anything to the printer. The activity light on the print server does blink several times when I send a document, and I can confirm on my switch that communication is occuring between my computer and the server, directly. It doesn't appear to be sending a lot of data, as the light blinks at a rate of about once a second, as if it is trying to send, and keeps failing. The 3150's LCD shows no activity while all of this is occuring. The other computer doesn't even print. It gives some error about network error, restart the computer, etc... More on this in a second...

I can communicate with the JetDirect just fine - I can access the web setup routines, run Web JetAdmin, I can even configure the 3150's control panel!

All of the above would lead me to believe that the device is simply faulty. However, I tried an interesting experiment. I hooked the JetDirect up to an older DeskJet 660C printer, and everything just worked. I've printed Windows 2000 and Windows 98 printer test pages w/o issue. Even the computer above that had the windows network error worked fine.

I've updated all of the drivers, downloaded the latest JetAdmin and JetSuite Pro (for the printer) patches. I've tried combinations of reseting the server and the printer, and even shut them down to the point of factory defaults. My JetDirect uses the current firmware, and is model 3258B.

I'm very frusterated, as I've spent many hours trying to solve this. It seems like the printer and the server are just incompatible. However, I know this to be false since HP advertises the two products as if they were made for each other. Any ideas? I'll call HP support sometime this week, but I don't know how helpful they'll be. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Hekana]

Hp support is very good. I had no clue how to set up the JetDirect on the 5si/mx I had at work (great printer btw) and a woman at the tech support helped me eventhough my warranty was over. She friggin guided me through it step by step. You have to set up an IP on the printer and a subnet mask of what your network uses and then I installed the Jetdirect software and printing through the network is a beautiful thing. It's actually theoretically faster than printing thru the parallel port. Bless HP.