Add printer to network

Stellios · 6 Dec 2006 at 23:34

Hi, my dads managed to get a box to hook his printer up to the network, but he cant get the computers to find the printer.

Basically, we have my PC, his laptop and a printer running off 3 ports on the router. My PC being wired, his wireless. The printer goes from the router into a Jetix (or summit) switch box thing where the standard printer cable (parallel port) then goes from the switch box to the printer.

How do i go about getting the printer to be found on the network? Neither PCs will detect it. Or will it not work at all?

Cheers for any help

Bobster · 7 Dec 2006 at 00:55

What exactly is the box? Is it a jet direct box. Also, how is the printer connected to this box? parallel cable?

Stellios · 7 Dec 2006 at 10:24

Thats the one, yeah its a Jet Direct box.

The box connects to the router via RJ45 cable and then from the box to the printer by parallel port.

Avalon · 7 Dec 2006 at 12:38

What model of JD is it ? it's likley got a static IP and this needs to tie in with the IP range you have your router set to. I'd suggest resetting it and then checking what the default Ip range used is.

Bobster · 7 Dec 2006 at 12:39

Ok, it' been a while since i set one of these up so someone might come along and correct me here.

Ok, first thing. Press the test button on the back of the jet direct box. This should print off a config page that will give you the IP address the JD box has been assigned.

Usually this will be a DHCP address ie it might change. So..before we start setting up printers and ports we need to staticly assign the IP address.

You can usually do this by web browsing onto the JD box. You can do this by entering the Ip address into IE or Firefox.
In here there should be an option for setting a static IP. Just set it at the IP you were given.

If you can't web browse onto it, you might need to telnet. This gets a little more complicated.

What you need to do now is install your printers as normal but instead of printing to an LPT port or USB you need to set up a new TCP IP port. In here enter the IP address of the JD box.

Thats a basic guide.