pacello
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Q: I am unable to connect my Brother 2170w printer to my airport express

I have always used my brother 2170w printer with another router and it has worked fine wirelessly. Now I installed my airport express in place of my old network router, and the printer won't connect. I tried doing the wireless install wizard from brother and it asks me to connect the printer to the router. Unfortunately, there's only one ethernet plug on the airport express, and that's where the cable modem plugs into, so there's nowhere to plug the printer in so I can set it up to print wirelessly. I tried to set up the printer without using a cable, but the brother setup wizard asks me to join some ad-hoc network that the printer sets up called "SETUP" and I can't figure out how to do that. Can anyone offer some help?? I've looked everywhere online and cannot find an answer.

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 29, 2011 12:00 AM

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pacello

Q: I am unable to connect my Brother 2170w printer to my airport express

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  • by lupunus,Helpful

    lupunus lupunus Oct 29, 2011 3:16 AM in response to pacello
    Level 4 (1,000 points)
    Oct 29, 2011 3:16 AM in response to pacello

    pacello wrote:

     

    I have always used my brother 2170w printer with another router and it has worked fine wirelessly. Now I installed my airport express in place of my old network router, and the printer won't connect.

    Eventually your old router used a different IP-Address space than the Express. By default the Express (and Extreme/TC) use 10.0.1.x Addresses for the connected clients; other routers often use the 192.168.x.x or 172.x.x.x address space for DHCP clients, though.

     

    You may change the DHCP-Address space on the Express to the same as the old router had or connect the printer with a USB cable to the Express to change the wireless settings of the printer to match the Express settings.

     

    Also most wireless printers use the local domain setting "workgroup" and the Express as well as your Mac's use "local". If you change the settings on the printer, you have to change that too.

     

     

    Lupunus

  • by pacello,

    pacello pacello Oct 30, 2011 6:59 AM in response to lupunus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2011 6:59 AM in response to lupunus

    lupunus wrote:

    connect the printer with a USB cable to the Express to change the wireless settings of the printer to match the Express settings.

     

    Thanks for the response! I cannot figure out how to change the wireless settings through USB. The printer connects fine and works fine, but neither the BRAdmin light application nor the setup wizard from Brother allow me to even find the printer through USB - they're only scanning on the network. Do you know how to change the wireless settings while the printer is connected through USB?

     

    Thanks!

  • by lupunus,

    lupunus lupunus Oct 30, 2011 7:32 AM in response to pacello
    Level 4 (1,000 points)
    Oct 30, 2011 7:32 AM in response to pacello

    pacello wrote:Do you know how to change the wireless settings while the printer is connected through USB?

    No, I've no idea about the setup of Brother printers.

     

    Eventually this may help:

    http://download.brother.com/welcome/doc002312/hl2170w_eng_qsg_2.pdf

     

    It's noted there, that if the printer was set up on a wireless before, best is to reset the printer back to factory default and set up from scratch.

     

    Lupunus

  • by pacello,

    pacello pacello Oct 30, 2011 8:57 AM in response to lupunus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2011 8:57 AM in response to lupunus

    Thanks again lupunus. Fortunately, I finally figured out the solution. I figured I'd make note of it here to help anyone else who might have trouble connecting their Brother 2170w printer to their Airport Express Network.

     

    I was able to accomplish this with no cables, but used an ad hoc network.

     

    1. Reset the printer by holding the go button when turning on the power switch. When the three lights come on, press the go button 7 times. The printer will then reset.

     

    2. Launch the installer that can be downloaded from the brother website.

     

    3. Select the wireless install option (unless you need to install the drivers too).

     

    4. You'll put the printer in ad hoc mode when it asks you to hold the go button down for 10 seconds. More like 12. When the paper prints, the printer will be in ad hoc mode.

     

    5. Now, all you need to do is join the network the printer just created. On my macbook pro, I clicked the wifi logo at the top, and the network was called "SETUP" and listed below all my other network options, under network devices. once connected, I went on with the setup wizard.

     

    6. The wizard will then ask you to choose the network you want it to connect to. When you choose the right one and then go to the next screen, it will ask you to enter the wifi details. For the Airport EXPRESS, choose AES, not TKIP!

     

    7. Then select disconnect from SETUP in the wifi dropdown at the top bar of the mac and connect to your network. The printer should print a confirmation page.

     

    For some reason, the first time I did this, it didn't work. So, you might have to try again. Make sure to reset the printer every time you try.

     

    Hope this helps someone!

  • by algal,

    algal algal Sep 18, 2013 10:33 PM in response to pacello
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2013 10:33 PM in response to pacello

    This can be done much less painfully using the Airport and printer's built-in support for Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) with a PIN.

     

    Here are the steps that worked for me. I like this method because it does not require any wires, does not require running any (possibly buggy) Brother software on your Mac, and indeed does not even require a Mac.

     

    What is WPS, by the way? WPS is basically a system where you tell the printer to look for the router (the printer tells you a PIN code it will use to identify itself), then you tell the router to wait for the printer (and you tell the router what PIN the printer will use), and then when they find each other the printer configures itself to connect to your router, without you ever needing to manually enter your network name, network password, etc.. This is easier than it sounds.

     

    First, tell your printer to announce itself:

    1. Make sure the printer is turned on, is in its ready state (green light by Ready on the top), and is close enough to your router that they can communicate.
    2. Using a pen, press the wireless setup button on the back of the printer and hold it pressed for over three seconds. The wireless setup button is the one in the tiny indentation, with a picture of a pen next to it.
    3. The printer will print out a sheet of page titled "Wi-Fi Protected Setup", with a PIN code number. Keep this page.

    Next, tell your Airport Express/Extreme to look for the printer:

    1. If you're on iOS, run the Airport Utility app (available free on the App Store), select your router, do "Enter Password" to configure it, then go Edit / Advanced / Add WPS Printer / With PIN, and type in the PIN number your printer produced.
    2. If you're on a Mac or Windows, run the Airport Utility app, select your router, do "Edit", then on the menubar do "Base Station / Add WPS Printer / PIN" and type in the PIN number your printer produced.
    3. Now wait for your printer and router to find each other. If there are many other routers in this environment, then this may take a couple minutes. When they find each other, the Airport Utility app will tell you so.

    Finally, tell your Mac to add the new new printer on the network to its list of configured printers:

    1. On your Mac, go "System Preferences / Print & Scan", then click the "+" button on the bottom of the left pane.
    2. You should see the printer "Brother HL-2270DW series" printer displayed in the list of Nearby Printers. Select it.
    3. On a Mac, OS X will automatically go to Apple's servers to download and install any printer drivers you need. I don't know the workflow on Windows.

     

    References:

     

    My steps for the printer were taken from page 18 of the Brother's Network User Guide ( http://www.brother-usa.com/VirData/Content/en-US%5CPrinters%5CConsumer%5CNetwork UsersManual%5CNUM_HL_2270DW_EN_2639.PDF ).

     

    The steps for configuring the router were taken from the Apple support page "OS X: Connecting a Wi-Fi printer to your Wi-Fi network" ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3500 ).

  • by kd8eup,

    kd8eup kd8eup Jan 30, 2014 10:17 AM in response to algal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2014 10:17 AM in response to algal

    I tried to follow Algal suggestions - seem simple enough! Doesn't work for me. When I run the airport utility, I cannot select "Add Printer" because it isn't a highlighted option. In fact, none of the options on the "BASE STATION" menu are highlighted. Any suggestions?

     

    Nick

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jan 30, 2014 10:20 AM in response to kd8eup
    Level 10 (105,018 points)
    Wireless
    Jan 30, 2014 10:20 AM in response to kd8eup

    Please try again as follows:

     

    Open AirPort Utility

    Click on your AirPort icon, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears

     

    Now, can you get to the items in the Base Station menu?

  • by mroberts3,

    mroberts3 mroberts3 Feb 9, 2014 5:17 PM in response to algal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2014 5:17 PM in response to algal

    Thanks, algal - this worked for me, after a year of trying other methods.

  • by Darren S,

    Darren S Darren S Mar 27, 2014 8:19 PM in response to pacello
    Level 3 (854 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 27, 2014 8:19 PM in response to pacello

    God bless you Algal!  That was SO easy.

  • by mammonist,

    mammonist mammonist May 14, 2014 6:40 AM in response to algal
    Level 1 (18 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 14, 2014 6:40 AM in response to algal

    Bravo, Algal! After much hair-tearing I found your post re the Brother 2170w and it worked like a charm. Many thanks.

  • by sunztar,

    sunztar sunztar Jun 29, 2014 7:50 PM in response to algal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2014 7:50 PM in response to algal

    Thank you Algal!!


    I really think Brothers should burn the current Manual and just provide one sheet of paper for WPS set-up based on your excellent intuitive work!!!

    They will get less returns and customers will be happier.


    As you observed your instructions are much much easier to implement than what might appear while reading.

    It was a piece-of-cupcake to set-up. It takes more time to unpack!!!


    A couple of points one needs to pay particular attention to:

    1.Remember aspiring technologists...you need to press the pen in the penhole (in the back) for at least 3 seconds or more on the printer. More time  will not hurt. Once you get a print out with the "PIN" everything else is downstream.

    2. Also search for the "Add WPS Printer" at the base station in the MENU BAR and NOT in the airport utility small window pop-up.


  • by xhardwarex,

    xhardwarex xhardwarex Oct 15, 2014 12:26 PM in response to algal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2014 12:26 PM in response to algal

    I had to setup an account to thank you.  I was pulling out my hair over this situation.  Whenever I tried to connect a USB cable from the printer to my iMac my bluetooth would completely shut off.  Your solution worked perfect and honestly it should be that easy.  After all that's what we are paying our hard earned money for.  Thanks again!