Can't print. Network Host is Busy or Unable to Connect to Printer 10.6.4

Question

Can't print. Network Host is Busy or Unable to Connect to Printer 10.6.4

This started yesterday. I had made no changes to my network.

I get this error, and cannot print from my MacBook Pro running 10.6.5 wirelessly.
I print using the IP address of the printer. (10.0.1.2)

The printer is a Brother (drivers updated), connected to an Apple extreme base via ethernet and I have updated the drivers.

My old desktop computer is a G4 running 10.4.11 attached to Extreme base via ethernet. I can print from this printer with out issue.

Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro 2.53 i5 & desktop G4, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 24, 2011 8:35 AM

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Answer 1

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 24, 2011 10:45 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Sounds like the MBP has lost its network connection to the printer. You could try opening Safari (or browser of choice) and typing the IP address of the Brother as the URL. If there is still a connection to the Extreme base station then you should get the internal web page of the Brother.

If the page fails to open then open Network Utility and under the Info tab select the Airport (en1). This will show what IP address the MBP has. It should be 10.0.1 with the last digit being different to 1 (which will be used by the Extreme) and 2 (which is used by the Brother). If the IP address is still correct then select the Ping tab within Network Utility and enter the IP address of the Brother. When you press Ping the MBP will send some data to the printer and you should get a response to each packet sent. With the printer responding then try printing again. If there is no response then please reply.

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2011 8:34 AM in response to PAHU

1. Opened browser and entered IP address. No page displayed.
2. Opened Network Utility and selected Airport(enl) under info tab: IP address displayed is 10.0.1.3
3. Pinged the printer IP address (10.0.1.2)
"ping: sendto: Host is down"
several times, and the final info:
--- 10.0.1.2 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss

Thanks for trying.
ernie

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Answer 3

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 25, 2011 12:03 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Thanks for the update Ernie.

Some additional things to try now.

Using the Ping in Network Utility, try pinging the Airport Extreme from the MBP. By default the Extreme will set itself as 10.0.1.1.

I would also try the same Ping test to the G4 since it still works. And in reverse I would use the G4 to ping the MBP at 10.0.1.3 and the printer at 10.0.1.2

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Answer 4

Jan 25, 2011 1:33 PM in response to PAHU

Pinging the Extreme from the MBP gives:
PING 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=2.692 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=4.272 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=2.469 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=2.483 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=2.493 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=2.410 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=2.433 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=2.505 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=255 time=2.450 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=255 time=2.660 ms

--- 10.0.1.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 2.410/2.687/4.272/0.536 ms

Which I'm guessing is good. 🙂

Pinging the printer from the G4 also gives good pings. Won't quote them here.
As does pinging the MBP.

Thanks for your help. Really appreciated.

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Answer 5

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 25, 2011 1:46 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Well that is an interesting result. It is very odd that you cannot ping the printer from the MBP, given that the MBP can ping the router and the G4 can ping the printer and MBP.

Purely as a test I would connect the MBP to the Airport via Ethernet and see if you can ping the printer. If it works then see if you can print - there will be no need to create a new queue, the existing one should work.

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Answer 6

Jan 25, 2011 3:17 PM in response to PAHU

I connected the MBP to the Airport directly via ethernet and got the same error.
(was not expecting that.)

very weird.

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Answer 7

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 25, 2011 3:44 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Very weird indeed.

Can you ping the printer when connected via Ethernet?

If you can ping the printer but still not print then try removing the print queue and adding it again.

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Answer 8

Jan 26, 2011 8:02 AM in response to PAHU

I just tried pinging the printer while connected via ethernet.
No go.

I think I will try deleting the printer from this computer and then re-adding it.
I'll try this later today when I get a sec.

ernie

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Answer 9

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 26, 2011 6:30 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Well this is most unusual. If the ping to the printer also fails when connected via Ethernet then it would suggest that there is no path from this Mac to the printer. And the ping not succeeding would have nothing to do with the printer driver, so removing and re-adding will not resolve the issue.

I would be inclined to remove the existing network ports, restart the Mac and then add them again. You can do this via the Network pane of System Preferences.

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Answer 10

Jan 27, 2011 9:12 AM in response to PAHU

Thanks for the advice.

I'll give it a try and get back to you.

ernie

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Answer 11

Jan 27, 2011 9:24 AM in response to PAHU

I've looked inside the Network pane. I may be looking in the wrong spot, but I went into Network, clicked on the advanced button which gave me a menu bar. I clicked on "DNS" which gave me a list of IP addresses titled "DNS servers"

The only entry is 10.0.1.1
My printer (10.0.1.2) is not there. (Though it was before. Is this my problem and do I just need to re-add it?)

thanks.

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Answer 12

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 27, 2011 1:21 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Ernest Burden wrote:
The only entry is 10.0.1.1
My printer (10.0.1.2) is not there. (Though it was before. Is this my problem and do I just need to re-add it?)

What you have is correct. You should only have the Airport router address registered as the DNS server. The printer address should not be registered here. DNS is the translation of computer names to IP addresses and this is something that the Extreme can perform but the printer cannot do.

So I think your issue is related to some other setting, although it is not obvious what this would be with the test results you have obtained so far.

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Answer 13

Jan 31, 2011 10:30 AM in response to PAHU

Sorry I have not replied sooner. I could not access my this page on Friday for some reason.

Previously you suggested: I would be inclined to remove the existing network ports, restart the Mac and then add them again. You can do this via the Network pane of System Preferences.

I'm not sure how to do this. Do you mean to delete my Airport network?

Also, just as an aside on the weekend my wife pulled out my old Titanium powerbook, running 10.4 and it printed wirelessly.

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Answer 14

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jan 31, 2011 12:23 PM in response to Ernest Burden

Ernest Burden wrote:
I'm not sure how to do this. Do you mean to delete my Airport network?

I did. But given that the Ethernet is also having the same issue then I now think that this will not help.

Also, just as an aside on the weekend my wife pulled out my old Titanium powerbook, running 10.4 and it printed wirelessly.

Well that adds some mystery to the issue. On this PowerBook if you open Print & Fax and select the Brother queue there should be a setting to show how this Mac connects to the printer. Just wondering if this queue is IP based or using a different protocol, such as Bonjour.

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Answer 15

Feb 2, 2011 9:49 AM in response to PAHU

My old powerbook does not connect IP based. (pretty sure)
With my new computer running 10.6 this is the first printer I've ever added using an IP address. (I know because it was a pain. Usually you open the printer network app select add printer, you see a list of all possible printers, and you go from there. Use to be called Appletalk. I go into ad agencies working and I'm constantly adding printers this way. or use to. It was easy. Now with the IP address option when I went to add my Brother to my new powerbook I had to go figure out the printers IP address on the printer and then enter it. Selecting add printer on my new computer does not "see" the printer as a connection option.)
Sorry I can't access the old powerbook right now. My wife is in Vancouver this week and took it with her. Back Friday. I'll check then.
Thanks again for all your help.

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