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Wayne Davis

Q: LaserWriter 4/600

I have an old Apple LaserWriter 4/600 connected to my Mac Pro through an AsanteTalk Ethernet-to-Appletalk box, and it's been running great for years and in this configuration for over 6 months. Now all of a sudden when I attempt to print to it, it says "Connecting" for a long time then "Printer Not Responding."

I've tried all the usual stuff, disconnecting/reconnecting the power to both the printer and the Asante box (in both orders) repairing permissions, restarting the Mac, trying in a different user account, etc. When powering up the printer prints its test page without a problem.

Taking it to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store was no help. They said that beyond making sure it could print the test page there was nothing else they could do. They suggested I post a question here and see if anyone might be able to help. Yes, I could spend another $200 for a new monochrome PostScript laser printer, but this old workhorse has never had a problem until now and I'd like to keep using it if I can.

Mac Pro 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 21, 2009 5:20 PM

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Q: LaserWriter 4/600

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 22, 2009 9:04 AM in response to Wayne Davis
    Level 9 (61,185 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 22, 2009 9:04 AM in response to Wayne Davis
    Make absolutely certain the Appletalk plug is in the socket inside the printer by removing and firmly re-inserting it.

    If you have a Mac that can run Classic, run Apple Printer Utility and inspect the printer parameters and page count.

    Delete the printer in Mac OS X and re-Add it, making certain to indicate it is an AppleTalk Printer.
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 23, 2009 7:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 9 (61,185 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 23, 2009 7:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    If the printer does not appear as an Appletalk printer when using the "Add a Printer" function, check to be sure Appletalk is still turned on for your main communications port (typically built-in Ethernet) in System Preferences > Network.
  • by Dorothee Pape,

    Dorothee Pape Dorothee Pape Jun 24, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 24, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Dear Wayne, dear Grant,
    I have the same problems with my good old LaserWriter 4/600 PS. It worked for years, even with my actual computer, a MacBook Pro with Leopard. But since a few weeks he does not work anymore. I do not use the printer every week (it is my home printer), so I cannot say if the problems were there after a Software Update or something.
    I got a message: could not connect to...
    So I put it away out of my printer list. But then I could not add it anymore.

    Some further info about how the printer is connected to my Mac: The LaserWriter 4/600 is connected to an Asanté, and that one is once again connected to a Farallon Hub. From the Farallon I put a cable into my labtop.
    I switched everything off, checked if there is power on the devices, restarted the computer, put again the cables in the devices. But without succes!
    Also I checked in the System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> Apple Talk (it looks like this):
    v Make Apple Talk active
    Apple Talk Zone: - the nothing to choose - then: Refresh Zones
    Configure: Automatically

    Am I doing something wrong?
    Hopefully you can help me. I have the same thing with this printer as Wayne. It is a printer with excellent print results and it worked ALL the time. So no reason to throw it away.
    Thanks for helping me!
    Dorothee
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 24, 2009 5:07 PM in response to Dorothee Pape
    Level 9 (61,185 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 24, 2009 5:07 PM in response to Dorothee Pape
    RE: AppleTalk Zones
    No one has AppleTalk Zones any more, unless they have an AppleTalk Router, such as a Gatorbox. So Zones will always be empty, or "*". Just be sure Make AppleTalk Active is checked.

    RE: AsanteTalk Box.
    The AsanteTalk does not re-acquire anything that drops out for any reason. For this reason, Asante tells you to wait until everything else is powered on and ready, and the printer has finished its self test and has the solid green light, At that point, power on the AsanteTalk.

    Then System Preferences > Print & Fax ... "+" button
    You should see your AppleTalk printer in less than a quarter minute.

    One more thing to check -- sometimes the ports on Ethernet Routers wear out. I have a Farallon Router with three ports that do not work reliably \[I think that unit may get too hot.] They are not simply dead -- that would be too easy -- they are just unreliable. Try another port and another cable.
  • by Dorothee Pape,

    Dorothee Pape Dorothee Pape Jun 29, 2009 4:12 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2009 4:12 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Thanks for all the tips! I tried another port. I tried another cable. Apple Talk is turned on. But everything without success. When I like to add a printer he simple does not appear.
    Anything else what I can do?
    I really want to let the LaserWriter work. It is such a good printer.
  • by Wayne Davis,

    Wayne Davis Wayne Davis Jul 20, 2009 1:21 PM in response to Wayne Davis
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 20, 2009 1:21 PM in response to Wayne Davis
    Well, I've tried all the suggestions and all I've managed to do is remove the LaserWriter 4/600 as an option in the Print dialog box. Now nothing at all appears under the "AppleTalk" icon in the Add Printer dialog box (yes, "Make AppleTalk Active" is checked in Network), nor under any of the other icons (Default, Fax, etc.) There IS an "Apple LaserWriter 4/600 PS v2014.107" printer description on the computer but it is of no help. There's no LaserWriter 4/600 driver that can be downloaded from Apple anywhere I can find. This is very frustrating!
  • by MCL61,

    MCL61 MCL61 Aug 5, 2009 1:49 PM in response to Wayne Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2009 1:49 PM in response to Wayne Davis
    If helpful, I use wireless printing ... when I unclicked the Appletalk box, and then re-clicked it, I got an alert that said AppleTalk was in use via ethernet. Thus I switched to ethernet, unchecked Appletalk, and went back to wireless and checked the AppleTalk.

    There's also issue of when the devices are powered up. I do the following: power down the dsl modem and everything else (except the Mac). I then power the modem first, then the wireless router. Last, after seeing all green on the modem, I power up the Asante.

    I use a Select360, thus this may not apply, but I thought I'd put it out there.
  • by Ian Keller,

    Ian Keller Ian Keller Sep 6, 2009 3:34 PM in response to MCL61
    Level 1 (59 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 6, 2009 3:34 PM in response to MCL61
    Have you tried the atlookup from the command line? If you can't see your printer when that returns its results then somehow it got dropped from the network. atlookup will take about 10 seconds to report back. Whenever my LW 4/600 acts up I type that at a terminal prompt a bunch of times (use the up arrow and return to make that easier). While that's working cycle the power on your bridge (I have an AsanteTalk unit) and router and it should all come back to life. It works for me every time, though now I'm trying to figure out how to keep things working when I upgrade to Snow Leopard...