Airport Express Base Station and HP Laserjet 1020 printer connected

Dear all,
I have a Laptop (PC) Sony Vaio PCG-Z1XSP and an Airport Express Base Station which work perfectly together (internet access and I-tunes). I recently bought a printer HP Laserjet 1020 and connected it to the Airport Express USB soket. I managed to make it work and print a couple of times, but as soon as I turn off the printer or the computer or Airport Express, the next time I want to print, it doesn't work anymore.
The Airport Admin Utility recognises the printer (I can see it listed). I have updated the Airport Express software to the Firmware version 6.3 as well as downloaded the latest driver available on HP's website for my printer. I've also substituted the USB cable. Can anybody help me here? Thank you very much and best regards.

Sony Vaio PCG-Z1XSP, Windows XP Pro, Airport Express Base Station, HP Laserjet 1020

Posted on Aug 20, 2006 7:12 AM

Reply
11 replies

Aug 22, 2006 3:26 PM in response to Nicholas Collins1

Hallo, thank you for your input. The idea of connecting the printer via USB to another PC and share it in the network ist great, but I only have one PC and no network. I was enthusiastic to buy the Airport Express just because one can print wireless, but now that it doesen work really... The strange thing is that I managed to print wireless 3 times, but I had to uninstall and reinstall softwares so many times... So how can it be that HP does not support Airport Express if I managed to print a few times?

Aug 22, 2006 3:40 PM in response to iFelix

Hallo I-Felex, your pages are very helpful. However I read on http://www.linuxprinting.org/showprinter.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet1020 Unfortunately is very technical.
What 3rd pary driver do I need to download? Could you please give me the link and the file name?
I downloaded foo2zjs.tar and HP-LaserJet_1020-foo2zjs.ppd but these are not working as an .exe file and I have no idea how to install them. Could you please help me? Thank you.

Aug 22, 2006 5:48 PM in response to Marcozh74

Well, providing support and having it work are actually two different things, you may get it to work, but it you'll be on your own, thrown to the wolves! Again it may work, but HP won't help you along the way... Not sure how the drivers are installed, but I know on the Mac in order to uninstall you have to manually do it, was given a list of files their paths and then picked them out!

Hallo, thank you for your input. The idea of
connecting the printer via USB to another PC and
share it in the network ist great, but I only have
one PC and no network. I was enthusiastic to buy the
Airport Express just because one can print wireless,
but now that it doesen work really... The strange
thing is that I managed to print wireless 3 times,
but I had to uninstall and reinstall softwares so
many times... So how can it be that HP does not
support Airport Express if I managed to print a few
times?

Aug 22, 2006 10:39 PM in response to Marcozh74

Sorry the instructions were for a Mac.

Printing from a Windows XP PC to a printer attached to an Airport Extreme Base Station or Airport Express
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1004.html

Printing from a Windows XP PC to a printer attached to an Airport Extreme Base Station or Airport Express using Bonjour
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1008.html

You won't need a third party driver.

Problems with finding Printer Driver on Windows XP when using printer connected to Airport Extreme or Express
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1012.html

Also ensure that your firewall and internet security software allow printing via the Airport.
User uploaded file
iFelix

Aug 23, 2006 5:40 PM in response to Nicholas Collins1

Hallo everybody,
Thanks for all the answers. I have contacted HP's chat online and gone through the problem with 3 different technicians. I've tried a lot myself too. The issue was partially solved by restarting the printer spooler, i.e. stop, then start and then restart it.
However after I was so happy that the printer worked, I turn off everything. When I turn on again, it was not working anymore. Then I tried to see by exclusion what the problem is, I had to restart the Hardwar I don't know how many times.
Conclusion:
1. The USB cable must be plugged into the airport express before turning on anything.
2. Turn on the printer first.
3. Turn on the airport express and the computer.
4. If you try to print it doesn't work, even if you reset the airport express through the airport express utility software. The printer is recognized and appears in it though.
5. Disconnect the USB cable from the airport express and connect it to the PC directly.
6. Print a document.
7. Disconnect the cable and reconnect it to the airport express.
8. Now you should be able to print wireless. You may need to reset the airport expresst with the utility softwar, but I managed to print without having to do it.
9. The pörinter works even if you turn off and on again the computer, or you suspend the windows session and restart it, or if you put it in standby and restart it.
10. The printer works even if you turn off the airport express and the computer, or the airport express alone and restart them/it.
11. The printer doens't work anymore if you turn it off and onn again. In such a case you have to plug in/out as discribeb above.
Solution: Leave the printer always on, or make the plug in/out every morning when you start the computer and print one page direclty before being able to print wireless.

Does anybody have a solution to this problem? I mean it prints, but it is annoying to plug in/out every day, no?
HP's technician says that it is not a recommanded solution the HP Laserjet 1020 with the airport express, since the printer works on a host based server basis... I mean it is easy to say that, but one expects to buy a printer that works always and not to have to plug in/out everyday, restart spooler and so on.

Can anybody comment or suggest anything I can do to avoid this? Thank you and I hope this helps others too.

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Airport Express Base Station and HP Laserjet 1020 printer connected

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