Problems connecting an iMac to a Brother Wifi-direct printer

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Level 1

11 points

Problems connecting an iMac to a Brother Wifi-direct printer

I just bought an iMac. my huiysband bought a Dell XPS 2730. Of course, we discovered that we could not both connect to our old printer without some very technical stuff beyond our ken. So we bought a new wifi direct Brother printer, thinking that this would solve all of our problems and make for easy connections, How wrong was that?! I can't even see the printer from my iMac. I have downloaded the latest drivers for it from Apple. The printer is all set up and can see my iMac. What am I doing wrong? My husband can 'see' the printer momentarily but then it disappears but that is a whole other story.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)

Posted on Jun 4, 2014 12:51 PM

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Answer 1

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Jun 4, 2014 1:07 PM in response to Sallya26

You didn't say exactly, so I ask -

Did you finish the printer Add process? after going to Print & Scan (system prefs), does the printer show up in the default printers window? Then, did you click " + " to add it permanently? And complete that?

Did you get any error message?

Which model Brother is it?

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,257 points

Jun 4, 2014 1:45 PM in response to Sallya26

Check the Brother's web site for an updated driver.

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Answer 3

Sallya26 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 4, 2014 11:42 PM in response to greg sahli

No, it doesn't show up in the list of printers at all. It's a Brother MFC-J870DW.

No error message.

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Answer 4

Sallya26 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 4, 2014 11:41 PM in response to Eric Root

The advice in Apple seemed to be not to use the Brother drivers, but I had previously done this before then downloading the one from Apple. Neither worked.

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Answer 5

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,833 points

Jun 5, 2014 1:24 AM in response to Sallya26

Did you try the latest driver as listed on the Brother support page?

http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/os/macintosh.html

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Answer 6

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Jun 5, 2014 7:41 AM in response to Sallya26

The advice in Apple seemed to be not to use the Brother drivers, but I had previously done this before then downloading the one from Apple. Neither worked.

Yes, the driver procedure is new - manufacturers are supposed to give Apple the latest driver, and Apple makes it available for auto-download on Apple's servers. So, you've done right.

My husband can 'see' the printer momentarily but then it disappears but that is a whole other story.

I think we should focus on your network, and possibly the printer, as the problem.

Can you tell us some details about your local network - router brand, are there two routers, husband's computer model, printer IP address (these are local IP addresses - no one can use it to get into your Mac), computer IP addresses, etc. I'm trying to see if there's some irregularity in the local configuration.

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Answer 7

Sallya26 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 5, 2014 9:44 AM in response to greg sahli

Thanks for trying to help

It's a Wifi direct printer though, so we are not trying to connect through the (one) router. As I understand it this should be the easiest way (ha!) for us to be able to connect both a Mac and a Windows computer to the same printer. We encountered all kinds of problems trying to set them up through a network to our old printer, so that's why we bought the new wifi direct one. And though there are helpful Youtube clips about how to connect both operating systems via a network, it would have been a very very technical process way beyond either of our capabilities.

I am assuming that providing the various IP addresses is only relevant for trying to connect everything via the routes, but correct me if I am wrong.

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Answer 8

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Jun 5, 2014 11:29 AM in response to Sallya26

Hmm...

As far as I can tell, it is No more difficult to use the router. I wouldn't recommend wifi direct.

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Answer 9

Sallya26 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 6, 2014 7:09 AM in response to greg sahli

Thought that I would update in case this helps anyone else. I had thought that we could not connect through the router as we are trying to connect a OSX and a Windows machine to the same printer; at least with our old printer it seemed to be impossible. We had thought that Wifi Direct would allow both desktops to connect without being in conflict with each other, but our understanding of Wifi Direct was wrong; I think it's just a way for mobile devices to connect to a printer.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we have now managed to connect my iMac, my husband's Dell desktop, as well as an ipad, an iphone and and android tablet using the Brother iprint & scan app, to the printer and they all work! The wireless setup was not straightforward though, and inolves not using the wizards so that the printer is added manually, giving its IP address. And I also found this page helpful:

http:/https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4264639?answerId=19464389022#19464389022

Not sure if changing the IP address of the printer did the trick. It's only taken about 2 and a half days for us non-techies to work this all out, but it should be worth it!

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Answer 10

Jan 4, 2016 2:29 PM in response to Sallya26

Hi all...

Jumping in on this, hoping to get some savvy response (i do need them)...

I have the same printer. I can install printer and driver but it won't print (macbookpro). the printer seams not to receive the signal form my mac. even try to PING it... and get 100% loss

I try everything, even spent 1.5 hour on the phone w Brother C. Service. They told me there is something in my mac (an APP) that block network connections.

Any idea

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Answer 11

Eric Root

Level 10

685,257 points

Jan 5, 2016 9:46 AM in response to giannifrombrooklyn

If you haven't done so already, try resetting the printing system.

OS X Mavericks: Reset the printing system
also Yosemite

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