not connecting to laserwriter select 360

With the LW and AsanteTalk connected and powered up, open a Terminal window and type:

atlookup

What does it return?

When you type the command, do the Asante Tx and Rx LEDs flash?

Jim,

When was the last time you turned off the power to every component all at once and made a clean start? Try it and see if things reset or reload.

Next, have you tried removing the printer using system preferences and then adding it back in? We just added an older HP laser printer to our ethernet LAN but the printer had Appletalk turned off at its end. That was a menu option on the printer. Apple simplifies controls at the printer end on their brand of the same or similar printer style by giving you fewer controls. Wait. They give you none! While HP laser printers have extensive menu option controls on the printer itself, with most Apple printers the reset has to come from a service dip switch, a momentary reset like a CUDA switch on a motherboard or from a power off technique.

So, pull the plug, give it a minute or two to dissipate any charge in capacitors and then reconnect power. While that may sound like hokus pokus magic, that is related to another power discharge instruction for how to revive 'dead' monitors. Give it a try. Can't hurt and costs nothing.

Without special testing, you do not know precisely what changed from the printer working one day and not the next. So, try a reset.

The other response offers a good way to see if there is any traffic on the ethernet cable as evidenced by blinking LED traffic lights. Isolating each component is helpful and easier if you have more than one of something to test with as well.

Just some random thoughts to get you started.

Jim

Jim has a good idea for resetting everything, but i must reinforce one item.

The AsanteTalk is bad about re-acquiring printers that drop out for any reason. You must power up the AsanteTalk AFTER the printer and everything else is powered up and ready.

Jim Gilkeson wrote:
But I'm lost from there. "Type the command"? What command are we talking about? Type it where?

You did all that correctly.

As the for the lights on the Asanté box: only the power light is lit. The Rx and Tx are dimly lit but not flickering; the Li light is completely off.

If the Li (link) LED is not illuminated, as far as the Asante bridge is concerned there is nothing connected to its Ethernet port. The Li LED should be illuminated whenever the iMac and the Asante are both powered on and the Ethernet cable attached.

If the AsanteTalk were operational you'd see atlookup return with names of the Appletalk devices, and its Rx and Tx LEDs would flash. That won't happen until an Ethernet link is established between it and your iMac.

Your next step is to verify your iMac's Ethernet port is really operational, and that its cable is really intact. If you've confirmed both, then I'd suspect the Asante bridge is at fault.

If you are trying to print in Mac OS X, the drivers for the LaserWriter select 360, originally issued on five 800K diskettes, are completely extraneous. Those diskettes contain only a copy of the OS 9 LaserWriter 8 Chooser Extension, PPD files for all then-current LaserWriters, and trueType fonts for all the Printer's Built-in fonts, plus the Windows driver. None of that is used unless you are printing from Classic.

The most likely issue, especially if your AsanteTalk Link light is out, is that AppleTalk is no longer active on your Ethernet port. Open:
System Preferences > Network > Show Network Status and click on the built-in Ethernet port. A box with five headings will appear. Choose the center "AppleTalk" pane and make sure AppleTalk is on. If not on, and you turn it on, you will get a dire message that assigning AppleTalk to this port may turn it off elsewhere. That is exactly what you want. Save any changes.

Now see if Add-a-Printer can find this AppleTalk Printer.