Can't print to Ricoh Laser AP2600 even after proper driver installed. Help?

PAHU --
OK, I did what you suggested, and created two additional printers; the original one I had created using LPD, and that didn't work, and just now I created one with IPP and another with "HP Jetdirect-Socket", and unfortunately, neither of those worked too. So I've tried all three ways, and none worked.

But your "Ping" suggestion revealed what may be the problem. Here are the results I got after trying to Ping the printer, while connected to it:

"PING 011.022.033.044 (9.18.27.36): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
--- 011.022.033.044 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss"

What that looks like to me is that Ping could not detect the existence of the printer. Which, obviously, would prevent me from being able to use it.

So, what do I do now?

Remember that if I unplug the Ethernet cable out of my MacBook Pro and plug it in to my old PowerBook, I can print normally. So the cable is definitely plugged into the printer properly and is undamaged, and the printer itself is turned on and working just fine. If the connection is proven to work and the printer is on and fine, what can I do to make the MacBook Pro recognize it?

One thing that has me suspicious is that when I scroll through the Ricoh's ( very old-school) printer display and find the "IP address," it lists its IP address as "011.022.033.044," which is the one I used. But that seems like some sort of default setting rather than a proper IP address. Obviously you don't have one these old Ricoh printers in front of you, but if that's not the printer's IP address, then how can I find it? Because that's the one that appears on the printer's display screen when "IP address" is selected.

OK, I think I may have made a step forward.

Using Network Utility's "Info" pane, I discovered that the IP address "169.254.220.56" is listed there and +it disappears when I unplug the printer's Ethernet cable+ and then eventually +reappears when I plug the cable back in+. This result really suggests that "169.254.220.56" must be the printer's IP. Taking this IP address, I then "Pinged" it with the following results:

"PING 169.254.220.56 (169.254.220.56): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 169.254.220.56: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0.048 ms
64 bytes from 169.254.220.56: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.129 ms
64 bytes from 169.254.220.56: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.121 ms
64 bytes from 169.254.220.56: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=0.129 ms

--- 169.254.220.56 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss"

Connected! Or at least Ping is detecting something there, which I assume must be the printer since nothing else is connected via Ethernet.

HOWEVER, my problem is not solved, because I then tried to print using this new 169.254.220.56 IP address with no success. I tried creating not just one but SIX new "printers" in the "Print & Fax" SysPref pane. All of the printers used the 169.254.220.56 IP address, but I tried it six different ways:

LPD Line Printer Daemon with Ricoh's custom printer driver
IPP Internet Printing Protocol with Ricoh's custom printer driver
HP Jetdirect-Socket with Ricoh's custom printer driver

LPD Line Printer Daemon with Apple's "Generic PostScript" printer driver
IPP Internet Printing Protocol with Apple's "Generic PostScript" printer driver
HP Jetdirect-Socket with Apple's "Generic PostScript" printer driver

NONE of them worked, but they all gave the following error message when I tried to print:

"Network Host "Apple's "Generic PostScript" printer driver" is busy; will retry in 5 [10,15, etc.] seconds."

However, as fas as I can tell, the printer isn't busy: its green "ready to print" light is illuminated and the printer screen says "Ready," and no one else is using it.

Now what?

Thanks very much for your help.

I did exactly what you suggested:

In System Preferences > Network, with the Ethernet cable connected and the printer on, I selected the Ethernet port in the list and in the "Configure IPv4" menu I changed 'DHCP' to 'Manually' to an IP address of 11.22.33.45 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. I left the other settings empty and "applied" the information. I then tried to Ping the printer's IP address of (at first) 11.22.33.44 and then (just in case) 011.022.033.044. Unfortunately, neither worked -- 0% success rate with Ping. Ugh!

HOWEVER, I made another breakthrough while doing all this. I discovered that I can alter my printer's IP address to whatever number I want in the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx format! And that it will "stick" between reboots and turning it on and off. Furthermore, I discovered I can alter my printer's
Subnet Mask
Gateway Address
Access Control
Access Mask
to whatever number I want in the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx format.

As an experiment, I changed the printers settings to these numbers:
IP Address: 014.022.033.044
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.000
Gateway Address: 255.255.255.000
Access Control: 255.255.255.000
Access Mask: 255.255.255.000
(they formerly all had been 000.000.000.000)

I then went to SysPref>Network and under "Manually" in "Configure IPv4" I changed the address to 014.022.033.045 and the Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.000 and "applied."

Then I tried pinging again: Zilch! Then I tried changing the SysPref IP Address to simply 14.22.33.44 with same subnet mask, applied, then Pinged again. Fail! 100% packet loss.

So, perhaps I'm making progress toward figuring this out. Or not.

Considering that I have the ability to set the printer's settings any way I want (also: The printer's "Ethernet" setting is on "auto," but I could choose 10mbps or 100mbps if that's helpful; also, the "Active Protocol" is set to "TCP/IP"), and that the settings get retained in its memory permanently, what steps could I take to connect to it, considering all the failed dead-end experiments described above (which seem to have exhausted a lot of my options). Thanks!

Hooray!

Using your instructions, I finally got the computer to recognize and "ping" the existence of the printer. Once I got that far, it was easy enough to do what was my original goal, to set up a "printer" in the System Preference "Print & Fax" pane and successfully print a document, which I did.

One of the glitch-y final difficulties was that the printer has no way to make any IP address with fewer than 3 digits per field, so that I can't actually make it have the address "14.22.33.44," but rather it must necessarily be "014.022.033.044." While that may seem like a completely unimportant and dismissable detail to an expert such as yourself, to a networking newbie like me it throws one final dilemma in my way: Are the zeros "ignorable" or are they an essential part of the printer's IP? I tried setting the computer's IP with and without the zeros, and then pinging the printer with and without the zeros, and finally on the last configuration -- printer itself with zeros, computer without zeros, pinging of printer's IP without zeros -- the ping succeeded. A little counter-intuitive, but who am I to complain?

So, for the record, to help all the world's Ricoh printer owners out there, assuming this thread will forever be archived: here is a summary of...

* - * - *

*How to make a Ricoh Laser AP2600 work with a 2010-era Mac running Snow Leopard 10.6.3*:

Go to Ricoh's "printer driver" Web page at one of these two URLs:

http://support.ricoh.com/bb/html/drute/ra/model/p26a/p26aen.htm

or

http://www.ricoh-usa.com/downloads/downloads.asp?tsn=Ricoh-USA&path=http://suppo rt.ricoh.com/bb/html/drute/rc2/model/p26L/p26Len.htm

...and click on "MacOS X 10.6 PPD Installer Ver.1.3.0".

Once downloaded, run the installer's "package" which will place the necessary Ricoh printer drivers in Finder>Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources (you can check to make sure, if you want.)

Turn on the Ricoh, connect it to your Mac with an Ethernet cable. On the Ricoh's little display/button area, press "Menu" and then using the "Up" and "Down" arrows buttons and the "Enter" and "Escape" buttons, scroll through its menus like so: Menu/Host Interface/Network Setup/IP Address until you find the IP address, which likely will be listed as 011.022.033.044. You can leave it as that or change it to anything else you want. But then go to Menu/Host Interface/Network Setup/(etc.) and scroll through the other options: Change "Subnet Mask" to 255.255.255.000, but make sure to leave all the other settings at 000.000.000.000. Escape back to the "Ready" state.

Turn of the Ricoh, wait a bit, and turn it back on, and scroll back to the IP Address and Subnet Mask to make sure the settings were "remembered." If they weren't for some reason, try again.

Then, on your Mac, go to "System Preferences> Network", click on "Ethernet" on the left column, and in the drop-down menu "Configure IPv4" choose "Manually." Then in the "IP Address" field type in whatever IP address you entered for the printer *but make the final number one digit higher*. Also, *leave off any initial zeros*. Thus, if you left the printer's IP at 011.022.033.044, then make your computer's IP be 11.22.33.45; and so on for any combination of numbers. In the "Subnet Mask" field, enter 255.255.255.0. Leave all the other fields blank. Click "Apply."

Then go to "Applications>Utilities>Network Utility," open the program, make sure the Ethernet cable is plugged in and the printer is on and the green "Ready" light is illuminated, and click on "Network Utility" "Ping" pane, and enter as the address to Ping your printer's IP address *lacking the initial zeros.* Thus, in our example, enter 11.22.33.44. Click the "Ping" button, and if the program shows pinging happening and a "0% packet loss," then you're connected. If not, go back to the beginning and try again, double-checking each step.

Once you have pinged successfully and are connected, go to System Preferences>Print & Fax, click on the "+" symbol under the list of printers to add a new printer. In the "Add Printer" window that pops up, leave it on "Line Printer Daemon - LPD" Protocol, and enter in to the "Address" line your printer's IP address, *leaving off any initial zeros*.

If the "Print Using" menu automatically detects and chooses "Ricoh Laser AP2600 PS" as the printer driver, then you're set to go; if not, and it remains on "Generic Postscript Printer Driver" or something similar, then in the drop-down menu choose "Select Printer Software" and scroll to near the bottom and choose the proper printer driver, presumably "Ricoh Laser AP2600 PS" (or whatever your exact model is). "Name" it whatever you want. Leave "Queue" and "Location" blank.

Click "Add" and your printer will appear in the list of printers in the "Print & Fax" panel. In the "Default Printer" drop-down menu, choose your new printer as the default. Close System Preferences.

That's it! You should be able to print now. Open a document, choose the "Print" command, check to make sure the Ricoh is the chosen printer in the print dialog box, and that everything is plugged in and turned on, then click "Print." Hopefully, the Ricoh will spit out your document in a second or two! If not, go back and go through the steps again. If it worked for me, it should work for you.