can't wirelessly install a Brother 2170w laser printer

This little printer is supposed to be able to connect wirelessly. It says to load the CD, follow the prompts, at the right time connect the printer cable to your router and everything should go smoothly from there. When I do that, the printer is not detected.

When I print the printer's network configuration page, I get a wireless link status of "failed to associate". I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm guessing that's a bad thing.

I did a Google search, didn't come up with much. Hoping someone here might have an answer for this. We're running snow leopard, connecting it to an old snow globe airport extreme router.

If we leave the cable connected to the router, we CAN add the printer via bonjour and print that way, would just like to be able to do it without the cable. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be grateful.

Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 12, 2010 7:26 PM

23 replies

conejo61 Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 16, 2010 4:11 AM in response to Donald Palmer

Donald.....thank you very much for your efforts on my behalf.

To use that wireless one-push setup option the router needs to support those protocols and I don't believe Airport Extremes do, do they? The manual mentions the 3 protocols the printer supports that would be required of the router and I don't believe the AEs support any of them. Am I mistaken? If so, where is the button I'd push on the router?

Aug 16, 2010 10:23 AM in response to conejo61

The required protocols include WPA or WPA2, both of which the AE supports, TCP/IP, which the AE supports, and standard IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n channels, which the AE supports. The WPA or WPA2 key could be encrypted using TKIP or AES, both of which the AE supports.

You should have no problems if you follow the manual.

conejo61 Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 16, 2010 10:47 AM in response to Charles Dyer

Charles......lol. I KNOW I should have no problems if I follow the manual. I AM following their instructions. Precisely.

AND IT ISN'T WORKING!!

are re what Donald and I were discussing, that was using their one touch configuration option, which require one of these three proprietary protocols to be supported and labeled on the router:

Secure Easy Setup
Wi-Fi Protected Setup
AOSS

none of those labels are on my Airport Extreme router.

Aug 16, 2010 10:50 AM in response to conejo61

Ah... Wi-Fi Protected would be WPA.

conejo61 Author

Level 1

32 points

Aug 16, 2010 11:44 AM in response to Charles Dyer

Charles.....thanks for that clarification.

So to do that, I need to put both the printer and the router into "one-push" or "automatic wireless" mode. I know how to do that on the printer, how do I do that on the Airport Extreme?

Sorry if I'm being dense. I googled it, came up with a lot of nothing.

Aug 16, 2010 4:46 PM in response to conejo61

I think you're right, AE probably doesn't support the built-in Secure Easy Setup routine.
You might want to contact Brother about how to setup with a AE.
Yea, I know you said this in the beginning.
Good Luck.
dp

RLBurkes

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2010 1:11 PM in response to conejo61

Did you ever figure this out? I am having the exact issue you described. I have the Snow Leopard driver dl and installed. I am attempting to configure it wirelessly and always end up with an "Error Finding Devices" when using the Wireless Setup Wizard. I have printed a million test pages and configuration pages. I have the same Failed To Associate error on my Network Config page. I am also using an Airport Extreme and remote Airport Express.

Nov 15, 2010 7:53 AM in response to conejo61

Did you get your printer up and running? If not, are you using a ETHERNET cable (as opposed to USB) during the set up process? I apologize if this sounds like an obvious suggestion (and maybe one that you've already figured out?) but I just had to deal with the same problem (I was reinstalling my OS) and realized after the first few attempts that I was using a USB cable to connect my printer. At least in my case I knew that the set up should work because it had worked for me before. Good luck.

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can't wirelessly install a Brother 2170w laser printer