Brother 2170W "printer offline" error?

THANK YOU! This was the only solution that worked for me

Okay, I'm on 10.5.5, using the 2170 via USB, and had to mess with things for a while to finally fix this problem. Hopefully these notes will be a bit more complete for those who can't seem to make the above solutions work.

1. Update your OS and make sure your printer is on and connected via USB.
2. http://welcome.solutions.brother.com
2a. select your continent, language, printer category ('HL') and model ('HL-2170W')
2b. select 'Downloads' and in the fields, select "Drivers"/"10.5"/"English"
2c. (You can search for all download types, but the other two downloads won't help us.)
2d. Click on 'More Information'.
2e. Download and install. ( http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/BSC/public/files/dlf/dlf003224/brxlaser507_105101.dmg)
3. Don't worry about the firmware installation package. It didn't work for me.
4. Download and install: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/brotherprinterdriver11.html
5. Download and install the Brother updates.
5a. http://www.brother-usa.com/faqs/default.aspx?ProductGroup=1&Model=1265
5b. Leave the search field blank.
5c. Click the "View FAQs" button, then go to the "Printing" section.
NOTE: As of this writing, the "Top 5 FAQs" section on the left side of the page holds the FAQ we're looking for.
5d. Under "The device does not print anything", you'll find the OS 10.5.5 tutorial, complete with pictures.
4. Going through the tutorial:
4a. The terminal command /usr/libexec/cups/backend/usb may not reveal anything at first. If you go to "System Prefs"->"Printers"->"Open Print Queue..." then go to the "Printer" menu and select "Printer Utility" to bring up the "Brother Status Monitor" and make sure it says your printer is ready. For some reason, after refreshing this once, I got the command-line program to show the printer for me.

IT WORKED!!!!! Thanks so much! Amazing how much more helpful Apple discussion groups are than Apple

Gold star for you! Worked as hoped.

I see that some people are reporting a problem in completing the localhost:631 fix—just before the last step in the process, a login prompt requires admin user ID and password to access the CUPS area. When you enter your user name and admin password, these are rejected. Why this doesn't happen to everyone who applies the fix I don't know, but the problem seems to be a long-standing CUPS authentication issue (see http://www.cups.org/articles.php?L191), which may be resolved by downloading and running this patch at http://webpages.charter.net/mbroughtn/ShadowHash_Patch.html — the patch disables CUPS authentication—note the warning about the security risk this poses.

Thanks Scott...

Your solution worked for me. I was not receiving the 'Unknown USB' in the selection menu on CUPS.

Thanks, John. Worked beautifully. (Are you Justin's brother/Liz's bro-in-law? If you are, small world, huh?)

I have tried all the suggestions here. I've updated my drivers directly from Brother. I've deleted and added the printer. I've gone to the localhost:631. When I get there, there is not an option for unknown USB. I've tried resetting the print system and that option still isn't there. Anything else I can do?

I have noticed that if I restart the printer, I can print one job. But I have to do it for everything else.

Thanks so much - I really had to get this printer working for a tax return. How do you figure this stuf out?

Thanks again

I also was experiencing this problem with connecting my Brother DCP-1200 printer with USB connection over my wireless network.

My problems was resolved by checking the configurations on my Airport Router. I when to Go > Utilities > Airport Utilities. Once in the Airport Utility I chose Printers and made sure my printer hooked up to the Airport was checked off.

Amazing, i used your advice on fixing the printer issue, and in a matter of 4 seconds i was able to print with my printer via my network, I have been trying to figure this problem out for over 20 hours now. lol, thank you very much for you help, and input on fixing the brother/printer issue.