Airport Express and Using an MFC printer/scanner/fax

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Level 1

8 points

Airport Express and Using an MFC printer/scanner/fax

I have finally, after much hair pulling married my Airport Express to my Airport Extreme and gotten my Brother MFC printer to be recognized and work; however, I cannot seem to get it to see the scanner or fax functionality. I installed the MAC drivers etc. from the Brother's disk. The Brother's software keeps asking me if I am connected via USB or Network; however, when I try to tell it that it is USB (USB Between Airport Express and network) it says it can't find any USB device. If I tell it that it is networked, even if I tell it the IP address for the Airport Extreme or the Airport Express, it can't find the networked device.

Any clues on how to do this? Anyone done it successfully?

Thanks,

John

iMac 24, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Feb 4, 2008 7:29 AM

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Answer 1

Henry B.

Level 9

78,731 points

Feb 4, 2008 7:43 AM in response to barjohng

If you connect a multifunction printer to an Airport Base Station or Airport Express, only the printer function will work. All other functions will most certainly not work - and there are no workarounds.

Although Brother may support use of this printer on a network, that will only work if you use the network print server device recommended by Brother for use with your MFC. Brother's network support for this MFC will not work when it is connected via an Airport Base Station or Airport Express.

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Answer 2

barjohng Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 4, 2008 7:44 AM in response to Henry B.

Thanks for the information. That is too bad. It sounds like the driver in the Airport units is lacking in functionality as their are Windows wireless units that will support the scanner and fax functions. Since the MC has an ethernet port I wonder what would happen if I plugged the ethernet port on the Airport Express directly to the MFC. Would it act like a wireless bridge to the printer?

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Answer 3

Henry B.

Level 9

78,731 points

Feb 4, 2008 7:54 AM in response to barjohng

Ah - this printer has a built in network print server! In that case, you should be using an ethernet cable to connect it into your network. If you do that, all its functions will likely be supported from the Mac.

The Airport Express will only act as a "wired to wireless" adapter if it is configured as a remote base station in a wireless distribution system (WDS). Your main base station must also support WDS - which means it needs to be another Airport Express or an Airport Extreme Base Station. Very, very few non-Apple wireless routers will support Apple's WDS implementation.

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