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I am trying to connect a HP laserjet 2840 to my iMac with a USB 2.0 cable that is 25ft long. The computer does not recongnize the printer or that it is connected when I plug them both in. The same 25ft cable works fine when connected to my other HP P1006 printer. The HP 2840 works fine when I use a shorter usb cable. Does any one know what the solution to this problem is?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), connect a HP laserjet 2840
The spec for USB 2.0 calls for a max cable length of 5 meters. Cables longer than that may suffer sufficient signal loss that one device or the other may assume a lost connection.
There are extenders available that use an active repeater to allow longer cable runs.
Don,
Thank you for your response. I read that if you buy a usb hub with its own power that it will make it possible to run usb cables further. Is that the same as a repeater?
I don't know if a powered hub would work for that purpose. It might be worth a try, though.
A repeater such as I referrred to would be something like what is depicted at this website -
USB 2.0 Extension Repeater Cable Extender exceed maximum length
Note - I've never used one of those, and just grabbed the first webpage that came up in a Google search for such an item.
how long can a usb printer cable be?
