AE says my printer's offline

Question

Level 1

0 points

AE says my printer's offline

Hi all you helpful people. I have a new Macbook Pro, it has Leopard, I set up my Airport Express and am receiving wireless internet just fine. That's all great. But when I go to print something I get the message that my printer is offline.

Here's what I checked:
1) My printer is on.
2) My printer is connected by USB cable to the airport base station and the connection is fine
3) The base station is connected to a power source and the light is green on the base station
4) The airport utility screen even lists my printer by name (HP Photosmart C4280) and says that it is part of the wireless network. But still, I keep getting a message that the printer is "offline" and I can't get it to print anything.

Any clues, anybody?
Thanks! Frank

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Nov 10, 2007 8:36 PM

Reply

Answer 1

alleydz

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2007 4:23 PM in response to Franklin M

My new MacBook Pro with Leopard is also telling me that my HP Photosmart C4280 is offline. Very frustrating... If I figure out what is wrong I will let you know.

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Answer 2

Hilbert

Level 1

3 points

Dec 11, 2007 8:09 AM in response to Franklin M

Same problem. My Epson C120 worked fine on the Airport prior to my update to Leopard. Now it only works hooked directly to my MacBook. No matter how I update or configure the printer, it stays offline.

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Answer 3

garyexx

Level 1

10 points

Dec 17, 2007 10:46 AM in response to Franklin M

I had two printers which Leopard "saw" but said were offline. Both were plugged into a powered hub. I changed the connection to the back of iMac. Immediately my HP Photosmart 3100 would print but my HP LaserJet 1300 was still 'off line". I changed the cable when I read that a 'fast USB' cable was needed for printers. The new cable did the trick. No problem since. Apparently even a powered USB hub will not be enough to handle printers, so I would guess that that might have the same rationale for the airport base station.

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Answer 4

Hilbert

Level 1

3 points

Dec 27, 2007 5:35 PM in response to garyexx

This is the first time in almost 30 years I´m truly disappointed in upgrading my OSX, to Leopard. My Epson printer (all I need right now) worked fine on all my Macs through my Airport Extreme before the upgrade. Also my scanner worked fine. Now both of them are out. I just bought the Epson a few months ago. I even got a "fast USB" USB2 from the Mac store. Works fine straight on the Mac but not through the Airport. Used hours and money to make it work, still doesn´t. I´m ******.

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Answer 5

Jan 3, 2008 2:22 PM in response to Franklin M

I have the same problem with my HP C5180. Airport sees it, Mac sees it...but window shows it offline when clearly it is not. Well this printer has a network port, so I'll try that next...

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Answer 6

bmoc

Level 1

0 points

Jan 4, 2008 10:37 AM in response to Franklin M

I had a few issues with airport (express) when I upgraded to Leopard, I ended up doing a hard reset on the base station. Here's an apple article on how:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108044

Basically I just held the reset button down for 5-10 seconds and I think I had to 'recreate' my network, but everything has worked great since. Hope this helps.

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Answer 7

Hilbert

Level 1

3 points

Jan 4, 2008 12:21 PM in response to bmoc

Doesn´t work no matter what I do. I went to the Mac store and bought a high speed USB. I went to a PC store and bought a high speed 2.0 USB. I´ve reconfigured my airport extreme. I´ve reinstalled printer drivers. Brand new printer.

Works fine when I plug it directly on my Mac. Guess I have to go and buy another printer next just to get my work done. Hate this waste of time.

This is not Mac at all. Very disappointed.

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Answer 8

Hilbert

Level 1

3 points

Jan 4, 2008 4:38 PM in response to Hilbert

PS. Works without a hitch with pre Leopard MAC OSX.

So unfair.

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Answer 9

Jan 5, 2008 9:06 AM in response to bpeacock22

I wanted to report on my printer/Airport findings. I was reading the manual (gasp) and noticed it said to hook up the cable before installing the software. Didn't really see why that would matter, but...I plugged in the USB cable to the router and went to HP's website to get the latest Mac drivers (which are indeed for OS 10.5) and installed it. The printer showed up as a Bonjour device and everything works great now.

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Answer 10

Hilbert

Level 1

3 points

Jan 5, 2008 4:43 PM in response to bpeacock22

Sorry, tried that already. Didn´t do the trick with my Epson. Print just disappears, is "offline" or gives a "communications error".
Works without any problems on one of my laptops with the old OSX.

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Answer 11

Jan 19, 2008 2:09 AM in response to Hilbert

Hi All, same problem here. Has anyone had any luck getting a recognized, offline printer back online?

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Answer 12

Jan 25, 2008 2:42 AM in response to rbrown1973

I normally have a Brother HL-5150D hooked up to my AEX. But also have an old unused Epson photo 950. I unplugged the Brother and plugged in the Epson and after a visit to the Printer pane of System prefs I just added the Epson and it works fine. Now when I unplugged the Epson and re-plugged in the Brother it was off-line. I sent it a print job and it automatically changed it's status to on-line and then printed.