Can I use a Laserjet 5M printer

Question

Level 2

290 points

Can I use a Laserjet 5M printer

So far I have failed trying to use a HP Laserjet 5M printer with my Intelduo mini.

Is there a driver available to support this connection? Could not find one on the HP site.

Actual system is a wireless connection to an AEBS and the laserjet printer is connected, via ethernet, to the BS. This works perfectly with my mini G4 (wireless to the AEBS and then ethernet to the printer). But no joy with the new duo mini.

Any thoughs would be appreciated.

Mini 1.5 GHz, G3 PB 266/14", Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Apr 16, 2006 11:53 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 16, 2006 9:07 PM in response to Robert Tanis

You should be able to. Look in System Preferences > Print & Fax and in the Printing section, press the + sign to add a printer. For Protocol select HP Direct socket. The system should find it for you although you may have to add an IP number if the printer is networked (it should still find it without that), and if it does not identify it -- unusual -- you could select HP > model using the button below.

The HP laserJet 5M is included as one of the supported printers already.

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Answer 2

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 17, 2006 12:46 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Thanks for your encouragement.

Got to the point where I could select "HP Jet Direct - Socket" as the protocol,
but no IP address (and I do not know what it is). The "more Printers" button did not yield anything useful.

BTW, I can find nothing on the HP web page that confirms the 5M is supported with this new intel processor.

Sure would like to get past this problem.

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Answer 3

Apr 18, 2006 5:47 AM in response to Robert Tanis

OK, Robert, point 1, how are you connecting your printer; or rather, how are you connecting your Mac to the Printer?

USB and IP printing require different connection methods. If the printer is using IP (Internet Protocol), there may be a need to set up the printer with an IP number first, if it is not already done. An IP number looks like 192.168.33.1 (that is the IP number for an HP LaserJet at work).

If you are connecting with USB, make sure the printer is ON and connected.

The drivers for the HP 5M are included as part of the OS. It should not be affected by the different processor.

Write again and let us have some more information about the connection type and I will try and talk you through.

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Answer 4

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 18, 2006 7:45 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Getting closer, but still not printing using mini duo.

Printer is connected to the LAN port of my AEBS and DSL is connected to the WAN port.

The duo mini connects to the AEBS wirelessly. Works great for browsing the internet (and works great for G4 mini connecting to the printer). Again, the printer is an HP Laserjet 5m with an ethernet card. There is an ethernet cable between the AEBS and the printer. No USB is involved with this printer.

Using the printer SELF TEST/CONFIGURATION I was able to determine the printer's ethernet address is 169.254.0.58.

So, using the Printer Setup Utility I set up the printer que and when tested with a Word document Cmd P gives me a printer dialogue box that looks correct and shows the printer selected to be the LaserJet 5M.

If I hit PRINT the printer icon appears in the dock but no print job at the printer. Clicking on the dock printer icon shows printer status and this msg.

"connecting to 169.254.0.58 on port 631.....
and see a spinning progress bar.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

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Answer 5

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 18, 2006 7:58 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Went back and retried the setup sequence with some variation. This time I was able to use pulldown to select Gimp-Laserjet 5 series (I THINK, not sure exact wording). Previously had not pulled down printer menu and so used "generic printer".

Still failed to print. Selected printer icon in dock and saw msg. "unable to connect to printer (retrying in 30 seconds). And saw the spinning progress bar.

Advice appreciated.

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Answer 6

Apr 18, 2006 9:14 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Indeed, you are getting somewhere, if not to the finished page.

In Network preferences of your computer, is the IP number of the mini in the same series (something like 169.254.0.n)? This series is the number allocated by the router, so ought to be close.

When you selected the printer installation in System preferences, I believe you tried the HP Direct Socket. Try the IPP and then the LPD. I am not sure if that specific driver you are using -- it is different on my version of 10.4.6 -- is right for HP direct socket. Not sure? I don't know.

OK, I found it. I DO have that driver in the list (somewhere near the bottom) but closer to the top of the list is "Color LaserJet 5/5M v2015.104": you may want to try some variations here between the two driver types and the three connection types.

Add another printer if you like (you can always delete easily): one for each driver.

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Answer 7

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 19, 2006 8:02 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Significant progress.

If I connect the laserJet printer directly to the Intel duo mini, using an ethernet cable, it PRINTS! Not using wifi.

Conditions are (using Printer Setup):

IP Printer (not default browser)

Protocol: LPD

Address: 169.254.0.58 (LaserJet IP address)

Queue: blank

Name: LaserJet 5M (169.254.0.58 works as well)

Location: blank

Print using: HP laserjet 5M

Now if I try to print via the AEBS, the printer hangs and get no output.
Get msg. like: Unable to connect to IPP host: Operation timed out

Without making any changes if I check ability to print by wifi using G4 PB it works just fine.

What can we do to get duo mini to print via the AEBS? I'm just guessing, but it seems the BS is not seeing the printer. Cannot explain why not. Tried using Airport Setup and Airport Admin Utility, but no luck. With neither do I see anything relating to configuring the LAN port.

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Answer 8

Apr 20, 2006 3:17 AM in response to Robert Tanis

Ah good. At least you can print.

If the IP numbers are all the same (with the WiFi and the computer) then the source of the blockage sounds to me like the router. In the setup pages of the router (169.254.0.1 in a browser?) maybe there is a setting to open a port for printing: perhaps ports 631 or 515.

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Answer 9

Apr 20, 2006 3:51 AM in response to Robert Tanis

A little ignorance on my part. AEBS is the Airport Extreme and not a router, so there is no browser use. Access to this is via the Airport Admin Utility and I am afraid I am not at all familiar with this.

It might help you, if you were to post the basic message in one of the Airport forums. Someone may already have had this problem.

Did you try the other connection methods, such as HP direct?

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Answer 10

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 20, 2006 6:55 AM in response to Robert Tanis

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I've tried every combination I could establish. No luck via airport.

Time to mark this questioned answered since these last exchanges explain how to connect the laserjet 5M directly to the mini to print. But this is too lame for me and I need to figure out why airport is not working with the intel duo mini.

Will move new question to the Airport section.

Sincere thanks for your interest in my problem.

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Answer 11

Apr 20, 2006 8:24 AM in response to Robert Tanis

OK, Robert, hope some of this was useful.

One more idea: how about Rosetta? If the driver is PPC, maybe it has to have some help that way. I just saw a query on this on Mac OS X Hints.

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Answer 12

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 27, 2006 7:27 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Just wanted to cyle back and let you know that I was finally able to get the laserjet 5M to print when it was connected to the AEBS LAN port.

Took a lot of trial and error (a.k.a. experimentation) to find the correct combination.

Now I can print very easily.

Best

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Answer 13

Apr 27, 2006 10:18 PM in response to Robert Tanis

Pleased to hear that, Robert, but can you let us into the secret? Which particular settings (and where) needed changing so that the printer worked via WiFi?

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Answer 14

Robert Tanis Author

Level 2

290 points

Apr 30, 2006 6:57 AM in response to Robert Tanis

Key observation was to print out the configuration of the LaserJet 5M.

From that I learned that the ethernet IP address was a non-operative one and that that route was closed to me. At the same time I saw that the printer was able to use Appletalk (it was active).

Based upon this information I used the Apple Printer Setup Utility to configure, once again, the printer. Before doing this I made sure Appletalk was active in the Airport choice of Location Network Preferences.

Click ADD

Select Default Browser

For the first time the LaserJet printer appeared under printer name and the connection was appletalk. At the bottom of the window I clicked the More Printers button and selected LaserJet 5M. The printer showed up on my Printer List and has worked wifi since.

Hope this helps others.

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Answer 15

May 27, 2006 7:30 PM in response to Robert Tanis

I just got the 5M but can't get it to print at all. I assume I need a crossover cable to print direct so was not able to try that yet, but I also wanted to try AEB printing.

I noticed you got it to work, how?

I tried doing exactly what you said, confirm Appletalk is active, Add printer then what? What IP address did you give the printer? Where do you get that info?

When I look in Airport I see several IP address something like 10.xx.xx.x and something like 147.xx.xx.x I'm not sure which to use?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

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