LSW 360 won't print via Airport extreme?

Question

LSW 360 won't print via Airport extreme?

... and here I am again in the Apple Printer forum. I'm set up with a laserwriter select 360, connected via Asante Talk to my old G5, hooked into Airport Extreme – and finally printing out of a MacBook Pro. Works great. BUT, suddenly it's not working and I'm wondering if the printer has given up altogether.

I'm all set up to print having the LSW 360 selected in the "Print & Fax" window of Sys Prefs. The connection is under "Default" setting with "Bonjour Shared". This has worked fine for as long as I've printed this way. But, when I send a document to "Print" and the print queue window comes up, the status says it's printing and the "Print file accepted". I even get a job ID number – but then nothing happens. It says it's printing, but the green light on the printer doesn't blink.

I thought maybe my G5 had fallen asleep, so I wake it up and the light still doesn't blink. So I turned everything off. Turned off the G5. Turned it all back on and pulled up "Print & Fax" and deleted my LSW 360 and added the new driver when it came up under the "default" setting. Went to print again – and same issue.

I've tried unplugging the Asante talk, turned printer off/on, plug in Asante. If one thing is different, the driver always pops up without issue, when before, if I had this problem it was more of an issue to get it back up. That's really, the only odd thing that occurs.

I do leave the G5 on all the time now and wake it up only to print. But maybe it's in some kind of permanent slumber.

Suggestions? Thanks.

2.53 GHZ Intel Core i5, Mac OS X (10.6.5), 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5

Posted on Feb 21, 2011 10:47 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

155,846 points

Feb 21, 2011 1:25 PM in response to Sandra MacPherson

Sandra, sit down at your G5, open Terminal, and type the following command:

atlookup

What is the response?

This will help rule out any potential problem with your AsantéTalk bridge.

Its PWR and LI lights ought to be illuminated whenever it has power and its Ethernet port is connected (respectively). Both its Tx and Rx lights will also blink momentarily upon receiving the "atlookup" command. If this all checks out OK then we can move on to other causes... but I hope Grant can help since I may be out of ideas.

AsantéTalk - Frequently Asked Questions

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Answer 2

Feb 21, 2011 7:14 PM in response to John Galt

I set up a G3 iBook running 10.3 to act as an AppleTalk printer sharer for all my AppleTalk printers. I was delighted to find it seemed to use symbolic Computer names for Printer Sharing, rather than insisting on IP Addresses, that those Shared Printers popped up immediately in the Add-a-Printer dialogs on other Macs, and that it does not seem to have a problem sharing multiple printers.

It does not handle "Wake for Administrator Network Access" in the way I expected. That wake-up requires a specific wake-up packet that only Apple Remote Desktop (US$500) and a few third-party utilities can generate.

The AsanteTalk FAQ john provided does not club you over the head with the fact that the AsanteTalk does not re-acquire printers that drop out for any reason. The AsanteTalk must always be powered up last, after all the other devices are stable and responsive.

What has happened to me on occasion is that bad data or something can cause a printer queue (shared or not) to go into "Paused". In your case, check on the G5 that the Shared printer is not "Paused", with the job stuck there.

Verify that the Printer you Add on the 10.5 Mac is an AppleTalk printer, and that the "Shared" checkbox is still checked.

Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder

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Answer 3

Feb 22, 2011 10:29 AM in response to Sandra MacPherson

Well, I hooked up the monitor to the G5 and tried to print something, but I guess somewhere along the line the Asante talk was kicked off. So did the power up/down and my LSW appeared in AppleTalk. I printed off what I needed with the ol' G5 – and then went over to the MacBook Pro (which is connected to the LSW and G5 via Airport Extreme). From there, I re-connected my LSW under the "default" print setting of "print & fax" with Bonjour shared. And, voila! Everything worked fine.

I think what may've happened was I had inadvertently turned the G5 off one day and consequently, Asante Talk got kicked off.

Personally, I don't think I've been showing enough love to my G5 now that the MacBook has become part of my life. So a little jealousy creeped in there and it kicked my LSW offline just to show me I'm still very dependent on it. : )

Thanks again for the help. Even though my printer is ancient, by computer standards, it's still great to know I can get some assistance if need be.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

155,846 points

Feb 22, 2011 10:45 AM in response to Sandra MacPherson

Great! As Grant wrote, "The AsanteTalk must always be powered up last, after all the other devices are stable and responsive."

The problem occurs when the Asantetalk becomes ready before other devices... finding no other Appletalk devices right away, it stops looking for them. At least that's how I understand it. If you suspect you lost electric power, even momentarily, you'll have to reestablish contact with the AsanteTalk once power returns.

For what it's worth, I made it a habit to run the "atlookup" command, repetitively, while connecting power to the AsanteTalk. This always made things work reliably, no matter the sequence in which other things became powered up and operational (computers, routers, switches, printers etc).

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