HT203159: USB printer troubleshooting for AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule

Learn about USB printer troubleshooting for AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule
Roy Patience

Q: Brother laser printer not responding

My old Airport Extreme Base Station (the white flying saucer one) was acting flakey and I replaced it with a new Airport Extreme Base Station. I set up the new base station and hooked up a Brother HL-5070N laser printer to the base station with Ethernet and an Epson 3800 with USB. I deleted all the printers and replaced them with the Brother and Epson printers.

 

The problem is that the Brother printer doesn't respond when I print to it. Sometimes it will print when I cycle the power off and then back on.

 

I have had virtually no problems with either printer in the past. They just worked and worked.

 

I am running Lion 10.7.3 and have downloaded the latest printer driver from the Brother site. The driver is the CUPS version 4.10 (I think).

 

I have restarted the computer (nearly new MacBook Pro) several times with no success in curing the problem.

 

A symptom with the new AEBS is that the status LED is flashing amber which is supposed to indicate that there is a problem. The Airport Utility tells me that there is a problem with the internet connection, but I am able to access the internet.

 

I would be grateful for any help.

 

Thanks.

Airport Extreme Base Station

Posted on May 20, 2012 1:15 AM

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Q: Brother laser printer not responding

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  • by HACKINT0SH,Helpful

    HACKINT0SH HACKINT0SH May 21, 2012 1:39 AM in response to Roy Patience
    Level 5 (5,774 points)
    iLife
    May 21, 2012 1:39 AM in response to Roy Patience

    Could you quote the flashing amber message exactly? It may be important.

     

    Also, seems you need to power-cycle your Modem, hopefully that flushes correct info to the base-station. Let's make sure we fix your router settings first.

  • by Roy Patience,

    Roy Patience Roy Patience May 30, 2012 11:03 AM in response to HACKINT0SH
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 30, 2012 11:03 AM in response to HACKINT0SH

    HACKINTOSH,

     

    Thanks for checking in on my printer problem.

     

    I managed to get the laser printer to work by a lot of fiddling. I had to reset the printer to it's factory defalut setting several times. Also, the AEBS flashing amber light magically changed to solid green -- I don't quite know why.

     

    I think the Brother laser printer is working now. I hope it stays that way.