Ethernet printer conundrum

Ethernet printer conundrum.
===========================

My "network" is minimal and simple:

The DSL connection comes from the street to a Siemens/SpeedStream DSL "modem"/hub supplied by the phone company (my ISP). My desktop Mac is connected by Ethernet wire to one of the five ports on said "modem"/hub.

A Netgear RangeMax Next wireless router Gigabit Edition is also connected to one of the five ports of said modem/hub.

So far so good.

I can connect to the Internet through the wire and my wife's Macbook connects to the Internet wirelessly through the Netgear.

Then, I connect a Samsung ML-2850ND monochrome laser printer that replaces my recently, finally deceased LaserWriter IIg, to another port on the DSL modem/hub. Great, I can print from my desktop machine.

But the wirelessly connected Macbook cannot print.

Then I unplug the Samsung printer from the DSL modem/hub and connect it directly to the Netgear router. Now the Macbook can print, but it cannot connect to the Internet.

Will a network SWITCH to split the printer connection between the two routers help? Or am I dreaming?

Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Message was edited by: Ramón G Castañeda

Dual 1.25MHz MDD G4, 2GB RAM, 4 int dr.,2ext FW drives, Mac OS X (10.4.11), nVidia 7800 GS 425MHz 256MB video card, dual 22" CRT monitors

Posted on Mar 20, 2008 3:55 PM

26 replies

Mar 22, 2008 12:46 PM in response to Henry G4

Thank you for explaining all this to me, Henry. I think I finally understand what I need to do.

I'll be following your detailed instructions in the next few hours. If I get stuck at the following:

If the Netgear router Setup Wizard fails to set to PPPoE mode, then you'll need to manually enter the modem into bridging or "bridge mode" and configure the Netgear router manually to PPPoE.

I'll get back to you; otherwise, I'll be jumping for joy and leaving you further expressions of gratitude here.

Mar 22, 2008 1:07 PM in response to Henry G4

Another glitch. :/ The ISP (Surewest, a.k.a. the Roseville Phone Company) has just informed me that the broadband modem cannot be put into Bridged Mode through my software (browser configuration) and that they don't support PPPoE mode anyway.

However, they've scheduled a service call to switch the broadband router to bridge mode "in the next few days". We'll see.

(There's no other ISP in my area.)

Henry G4

Level 4

1,871 points

Mar 22, 2008 2:47 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Ok.

I've made a little online research, and I've found out the Tech person is right about your ISP not using PPPoE. They use MAC Address Authentication (MAC= Media Access Control. It's the actual hardware address of the network adapter. A sort of unique serial number).

Apparently, the first time you connect a computer to the net, and set up their service, your ISP (Surewest) keeps a record of the MAC Address of your computer for service authentication. Also, they limit the amount of MAC Addresses they authorize, and I think this may be the reason why your wife's laptop is kicked out of the network when the printer is hooked up to the router (the printer has a MAC Address of its own).

In this scenario, it may be possible that you don't even need to put the modem into bridge mode.
You have to try cloning the desktop Macintosh MAC Address into the Netgear router. (Make the router assume the identity of your desktop Macintosh).

To do this, do as follows:
Connect the Netgear router to the Modem.
Connect the desktop Macintosh to a LAN port on the Netgear router.
Make sure neither the printer nor your wife's laptop is connected to the router.
Go to the router config page (192.168.1.1)
Enter admin for username, and password for password.
Go to Basic Settings/Router MAC Address, and select "Use Computer MAC Address"
Click Apply, and then Test the connection.

Good Luck.

Mar 22, 2008 11:14 PM in response to Henry G4

This is where I am now, Henry:

You have to try cloning the desktop Macintosh MAC Address into the Netgear router. (Make the router assume the identity of your desktop Macintosh).

That part works. However, if the printer is then connected to the wireless router, neither one of the computers can see it. If the printer is connected to the broadband modem, only the desktop computer can see it.

Therefore, I'm more or less right back where I started.

The Netgear support guy in India seemed clueless and ended up saying that "the Netgear router doesn't support network printers, only 'regular' printers."

My wife can print to her Epson USB printer, so printing to the Samsung monochrome network printer would be nice, but not critical.

I think it's time for me to throw in the towel. 😟

Thanks for all your efforts.

Henry G4

Level 4

1,871 points

Mar 23, 2008 7:51 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Ramón G Castañeda wrote:
This is where I am now, Henry:

However, if the printer is then connected to the wireless router, neither one of the computers can see it. If the printer is connected to the broadband modem, only the desktop computer can see it.

Well, the thing is that if both of the machines can access to the internet when connected to the Netgear router, I think you're very close to making it all work. When the printer is connected to the Netgear router, you have to uninstall it and then re-install it (under Printer Setup Utility). The reason why you can print to it when connected to the modem is that the modem has an ip assigned to it (192.168.254.15) and it's the location in which your desktop machine will look for it.

You should try this:
Connect your desktop computer and the printer to the Netgear router.
Open a browser and go to 192.168.1.1
Enter admin for user and password for password.
Go to Maintenance/Attached Devices and see the list of devices. There should be two internal ip addresses listed, one for your Desktop computer, and one for the printer (if your wife's laptop is connecting wirelessly to the router, you may see another device listed).
If there're more than three devices listed, refresh the list.
One of those ip addresses is the one for the printer, so write it down.
In case it was not online, connect your wife's laptop to the Netgear router (wirelessly) and open Printer Setup Utility (in Applications/Utilities), and delete the Samsung printer from the Printer List. Then click the Add button, on the Printer Browser select IP Printer, Protocol: Line Printer Daemon - LPD, in the Address field enter the ip address of the Samsung printer (it should be 192.168.1.something), select the driver, and click Add.

The Netgear support guy in India seemed clueless and ended up saying that "the Netgear router doesn't support network printers, only 'regular' printers."

I don't want to be mean to this person, but I think their employers should give them some more practice and experience with the products they're supposed to be supporting... (Ethernet printers work with almost any router, including this Netgear RangeMax. What did he mean by "regular" printer? This router hasn't got a built-in print server! It will not support a "regular" USB printer!)

I think it's time for me to throw in the towel. 😟

Don't despair! 🙂

Mar 23, 2008 5:44 PM in response to Henry G4

It looks like connecting the printer to the router just won't work.

Here's where I'm stuck now:

You should try this:
Connect your desktop computer and the printer to the Netgear router.
Open a browser and go to 192.168.1.1
Enter admin for user and password for password.
Go to Maintenance/Attached Devices and see the list of devices. There should be two internal ip addresses listed, one for your Desktop computer, and one for the printer (if your wife's laptop is connecting wirelessly to the router, you may see another device listed).

I followed those instructions and there are only two IP addresses listed COUNTING my wife's computer.

Here's all the info I could get:

Wireless Router NETGEAR RangeMax

Attached Devices

# IP Address Device Name MAC Address
1 192.168.1.2 00:0D:93:67:05:D4
2 192.168.1.3 00:1B:63:06:32:32

--------------------

Router Status

Account Name WNR854T
Firmware Version 1.4.23NA

Internet Port
MAC Address 00:1B:2F:D6:A7:0F
IP Address 192.168.254.11
DHCP DHCP Client
IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Domain Name Server
192.168.254.254

LAN Port
MAC Address 00:1B:2F:D6:A7:0E
IP Address 192.168.1.1
DHCP ON
IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

Wireless Port
Name (SSID) NETGEAR Range_Max04
Region United States
Channel Auto
Mode Up to 300 Mbps
Wireless AP ON
Broadcast Name Enabled

--------------------

WAN Setup

Connect Automatically, as Required <-- CHECKED

Disable SPI Firewall <-- UNchecked

Default DMZ Server 192.168.1.0

Respond to Ping on Internet Port <-- UNchecked

MTU Size(in bytes) 1500

--------------------

LAN IP Setup

LAN TCP/IP Setup
IP Address 192.168.1.1
IP Subnet Mask 255.255 255.0 .
RIP Direction NONE
RIP Version Disabled

Use Router as DHCP Server <-- CHECKED
Starting IP Address 192.168.1.2
Ending IP Address 192.168.1 254.

Address Reservation
# IP Address Device Name MAC Address
(nothing on this line)

--------------------
--------------------

BROADBAND Modem information:

ROUTER INFORMATION

Product Description Efficient 5861 DMT Router (5861-001/2)
Hardware Description Revision: 47-04 [S/N:1337369]
Software Version v5.3.0

ROUTER CONFIGURATION

LAN IP Address 192.168.254.254
WAN Data PVC 0*32
WAN Protocol PPP
WAN Connection Speed DOWN 3648Kb/s : UP 727Kb/s
Bridging disabled
IP Routing enabled
WAN IP Address 69.4.138.65
WAN Gateway 0.0.0.0
DNS Server Address 66.60.130.2 : 66.60.130.6
Address Translation enabled

--------------------
--------------------

SAMSUNG Smart Panel utility information:

(This utility will ONLY launch when the printer is connected to the broadband modem, NOT to the wireless router.)

PRINTER:

Home >>
Model Name : ML-2850ND
Name : SEC0015992688A6
IP Address : 192.168.254.15
Contact : Administrator
Location :

--------------------
--------------------

Network Settings (as per Samsung printer utility):

General >>
General
Host Name : SEC0015992688A6
Location : (blank)
Contact : Administrator
Ethernet
Speed Rate : Automatic
MAC Address : 00:15:99:26:88:A6

EtherTalk >>
EtherTalk
EtherTalk Protocol : Enable
Printer Name : SEC0015992688A6
Printer Type : LaserWriter
Last Error Occurred : (nothing here)
RTMP (timer value for aging A-ROUTER entity): 50 second(s)
PAP (wait time before transmitting a tickle packet) : 60 second(s)
ZIP (current zone): *

TCP/IP >>
TCP/IP
Host Name : SEC0015992688A6
IP Address Assignment Method : DHCP
Machine IP Address : 192.168.254.15
Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.0
Gateway Address : 192.168.254.254
Domain Name : (blank)
Primary DNS Server : 192.168.254.254
Secondary DNS Server : 0.0.0.0
Dynamic DNS Registration : <-- CHECKED
Primary WINS Server : 0.0.0.0
Secondary WINS Server : 0.0.0.0

SLP >>
SLP
SLP Protocol : Enable (CHECKED)
Port Number : 427
Scope 1 :
Scope 2 :
Scope 3 :
Message Type : Multicast
Multicast Radius : 255 (1~255) TTL
Registration Lifetime : 3 (1~18) hour(s)
Multicast Address : 239.255.255.253, 224.0.1.127

UPnP >>
UPnP
Auto IP : Enable
Multicast DNS : Enable
SSDP : Enable
SSDP TTL : 1 (1~255) TTL

Mar 23, 2008 6:28 PM in response to Henry G4

All right! I think I've finally succeeded thanks to an adaptation of this key part of your instructions:

connect your wife's laptop to the Netgear router (wirelessly) and open Printer Setup Utility (in Applications/Utilities), and delete the Samsung printer from the Printer List. Then click the Add button, on the Printer Browser select IP Printer, Protocol: Line Printer Daemon - LPD, in the Address field enter the ip address of the Samsung printer (it should be 192.168.1.something), select the driver, and click Add.

What was different was that I did not get and could not have gotten the printer's IP address from the router (it wasn't showing there under Attached Devices) but from the Samsung Smart Print Utility, which also operates through a browser interface.

Additionally, the solution was to connect both the printer and my desktop computer to the ISP BROADBAND MODEM and not to the Netgear Range Max wireless router.

Even though these details were different, I could have NEVER, ever figured out this without your help.

Thank you once for for your patience, perseverance and all your hard efforts to assist me, Henry. I owe you big time!

Mar 23, 2008 6:52 PM in response to Henry G4

This very helpful message was the key to the solution of my problem, even though a previous message got tagged as the Solution. Since they are both from the same author, no harm is done. 🙂

Mar 23, 2008 6:53 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

It was actually Henry's last post that solved it.

Mar 23, 2008 6:55 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Henry's last post was the key to the solution.

Henry G4

Level 4

1,871 points

Mar 23, 2008 7:06 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Hurray for You!!! 🙂 I'm very glad you got it working!

My time here, and the (little) knowledge I've got, I try to share, and help others.

Thank you very much for your words.

Good Computing, and Enjoy your print-outs!!! 🙂

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Ethernet printer conundrum