AirPort Express ip address acts "busy" when printing

Question

Level 1

9 points

AirPort Express ip address acts "busy" when printing

I am no longer able to print through my AirPort Express USB port after up-dating my OS X to 10.4.2 and my AirPort Express to V6.2.

Whenever I send a Print command to Office-AirPort, it seems to process and send, but I keep getting the message,

Network host 192.168.0.100 busy; will retry in xx seconds

Ive got a D-Link DI-784 802.11a/g router running DHCP @ 192.168.0.1 and two AirPort Expresses, one is my print server named Office-AirPort, at 192.168.0.100 (connected via USB/parallel to my HP LaserJet 4M printer) and the other is named Living-Room at 192.168.0.101 (used to stream iTunes to my stereo).

I am using HP LaserJet 4M Foomatic/hpjis and a USB to parallel cable. Gimp and/or Foomatic printing used to work fine (in combination with Rendezvous I think) to both my large format HP 450C and my LaserJet 4M prior to yesterdays software upgrades.

Now, it does not seem to matter how I add the printer via the Advanced dialogue (via option-clicking on More Printers button), i.e.- AppSocket/HP JetDirect vs. IPP vs. Bonjour registered printer

The queue name seems to have a mind of its own in the non-advanced dialoguealways pulling the name from the Name: field and adding underscores no matter what I enter in the Queue: edit field.

Ive double checked the device name registered in my router and it looks ok, Office-AirPort, but are there official queue names and device names I should be using in the non-advanced and/or advanced dialogue boxes? Where do I find these official names?

If I remember correctly, I think my printers use to show up as Rendezvous options, but I have no idea how the new corresponding Bonjour registered printer settings work (?, mdns://192.168.0.100 still acts busy)

Why doesnt Bonjour help me out?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Posted on Jul 19, 2005 8:29 PM

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Answer 1

iFelix

Level 8

35,167 points

Jul 20, 2005 3:55 AM in response to Ian Johnson5

Ian

Have you tried to delete the printer from the print queue and re-add it.

Note that Bonjour is just the new name for Rendezvous, which had to be chandged following a legal ruling.

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Answer 2

Jul 20, 2005 3:09 PM in response to Ian Johnson5

I also lost the possibility to print via my airport express.

The printer is recognized via Bonjour, but nothing prints anymore!

Help!

(My spouse is a Windows user and for a change she's teasing me about Macs not working)

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Answer 3

Ian Johnson5 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 20, 2005 10:10 PM in response to iFelix

Yep,

Option+Clicking on the "plus" sign to add a printer in the "Print & Fax" system preferences dialogue box deletes all existing queues and jobs and resets the printing system.

I must have done this 20 times to no avail.

I have also added various printers and sent prints to my other ("Living-Room") AirPort Express at 192.168.0.101 (w/ no printer attached) and get the same "busy" error.

I have changed the AE's ip address to other static addresses but this also, does not work.

I have "restarted", unplugged and "hard" reseted multiple times, again....same error.

Is this a CUPS issue?

How/why must both the hpjis and ESP Gostscript drivers be installed? I downloaded and "installed" both but I've only been "adding" the HP LaserJet 4M Foomatic/hpjis driver. I see that there is a list of other ESP drivers including what looks like a generic HP LaserJet that I have tried, but It does not seem to make any difference. I do not see a "Gostscript" whatchamadinger anywhere and cannot seem to figure out how/why this (postscript?)component is necessary.

A brief look at other posts seems to indicate other various 10.4.2 plus AirPort V6.2 problems....am I wrong?

Are there some Unix tweaks/commands I can use to see what "traffic" is "occupying" my AirPort's ip address or why it is "busy" or change its pseudo-busy status?

ij

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Answer 4

Jul 24, 2005 3:03 PM in response to Ian Johnson5

I am having exactly the same problem ("busy signal" when trying to print via Airport Express USB) and I have been searching the discussions for a solution, but no luck yet.

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Answer 5

Henry B.

Level 9

78,731 points

Jul 24, 2005 3:07 PM in response to Robin Turner

Take a look at:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107418

Since your Mac is running MacOS 10.4, substitute every occurence of the word "Rendezvous" in that article with the word "Bonjour".

Also, if you get to the section in that article dealing with deleting the print queues, use the "reset printing system" feature of MacOS 10.4 instead:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301185

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Answer 6

Jul 24, 2005 9:07 PM in response to Henry B.

Thanks, Henry, but none of the suggestions on either of these pages helped.
I have also updated AirPort to v.4.2 and the AirPort Express Firmware to v.6.2 and I still get the same message:

"Network host 'Robins-AirPort-Express.local.' is busy; will retry in XX seconds..."

But I can print to the same printer (an HP LaserJet 1320) via the same AirPort Express base station from either of my notebook computers (both are still running OS 10.3.9). It's just my iMac (running 10.4.2) that seems to this problem. I sent an email inquiry to the HP Support folks, but have not heard back yet. Any other ideas/suggestions?

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Answer 7

Jul 25, 2005 12:36 AM in response to Robin Turner

Robin, I tried Henry's suggestions with the same result that you had. It looks like we will have to wait on Apple for a fix.

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Answer 8

Aug 7, 2005 6:27 PM in response to Robert Thomas5

Robert,
Try the following:
UNcheck the "Distribute IP addresses" option in the AirPort Admin Utility's Config/Network Tab. When I tried this, I was abl to print wirelessly, as before. I'm not sure how this option interferes with printing or even how it got checked in the first place, but Henry told someone with a somewhat different problem to do this and I decided to try it and it worked for my/our problem, too.
Cheers,
Robin.

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Answer 9

Aug 7, 2005 6:29 PM in response to Ian Johnson5

Ian,
Look at message 3.1.1.1.1 below, suggesting that you UNcheck the "Distribute IP addresses" option in the AirPort Admin Utility's Config/Network Tab.

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Answer 10

Aug 8, 2005 1:13 AM in response to Robin Turner

Hi Robin,

When I tried your suggestion and unchecked the "Distribute IP addresses" option, the Airport Admin Utitility would not let me save the change and advised "Distribute IP addresses must be on for a modem (PPP) or PPP over Ethernet (PPoE) connection."

I assume that I can effect your suggestion by opting for no internet connection, but this would be even more unsatisfactory than not being able to print wirelessly. It is a problem Apple must fix or Tiger will lose many adherents.

Bob

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Answer 11

Henry B.

Level 9

78,731 points

Aug 8, 2005 8:59 AM in response to Robert Thomas5

Robert:

Unchecking the "Distribute IP addresses" setting is only applicable in the case where an Airport Express is cabled to a separate router. It is not a general fix for all printing problems, and this configuration change must not be done (nor will it fix any problem assoiated with printing) when an Airport Express is connected directly to a cable/DSL modem.

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Answer 12

Ian Johnson5 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 8, 2005 9:16 PM in response to Henry B.

Robin (et al):
I'm running my Airport Express in "Wireless Client" mode, not as a router, so neither the "Network" tab nor its "Distribute IP addresses" option shows up (and I sure hope my Airport Express is not serving up IP addresses in conflict with my router!).

Funny, I recheck this thread regularly to see if anyone has found the definitive answer...looks like you guys are still suffering as well. I wonder what gives. I wish I had time to dive into the Unix stuff...it has got to be some silly little config issue that makes CUPS think the IP address is busy...(out of curiosity, is having an IP address act "busy" the same thing as having a "port" act busy...from a CUPS perspective?).

What really kills me is that everything was fine prior to upgrading! 😟

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Answer 13

Aug 15, 2005 6:25 PM in response to Ian Johnson5

I do not get the message that you guys get, but I have found out that I can't print right after a reboot. Nothing happens and the console log for CUPS shows the following:

I [16/Aug/2005:01:11:12 +0200] Started filter /Library/Printers/Brother/Filter/rastertobrother1030 (PID 209) for job 66.
I [16/Aug/2005:01:11:12 +0200] Started backend /usr/libexec/cups/backend/mdns (PID 210) for job 66.
E [16/Aug/2005:01:11:13 +0200] [Job 66] Sending data failed!
E [16/Aug/2005:01:11:13 +0200] [Job 66] Sending line No.1664 failed!

The problem is fixed if I restart my Airport Express and works until next reboot of my PowerBook. I use a Brother HL-1440 laserprinter with the Brother driver included with Tiger. I have also updated with the latest security update 007 that states it solves a CUPS printing problem. Maybe the problem you guys talk about have been fixed with update. Let me know. It hasn't helped on my problem 😟

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Answer 14

Nov 1, 2005 4:01 PM in response to Robin Turner

I was ready to tear my hair out with this problem, but unchecking "Distribute IP addresses" did the trick!

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