HP LaserJet 2100 & El Capitan

Earlier today, I was able to successfully set up an HP LaserJet 2100 on my 2009 Mac Pro. However, the entire process took around a week, so hopefully this will help others see just how easy it is to use this printer with a Mac running El Capitan.

The first thing I tried was using a Parallel to USB cable and hooking the printer directly up to one of the USB ports on my system. The connection was successful and Software Update found the proper drivers and installed them. However, this only worked for a short while before the printer began spitting out gibberish. Taking to Google, I found others having the same problem and resolved it using Gutenprint drivers. Once these drivers were installed, the garbled text issue was resolved, but I now noticed something new - every time I rebooted, I would have to delete the printer and add it again, and this got old very quickly. Incidentally, I had to delete and re-add the printer no matter if I was using the HP driver or the Gutenprint driver.

When first connecting the parallel end of the Parallel to USB cable to the printer, I noticed there was room to put a network card in the printer. So, taking back to Google, I read about setting the 2100 up as an IP printer. I also found that the HP JetDirect 600N card was compatible with this printer, ordered one from Amazon, and also found out how to print a test page with the printer's IP address. This is where most of the week of setup time was spent... waiting for this card to arrive.

Once the 600N arrived, I installed it in the printer and connected it to my AirPort Extreme. I turned the printer off and back on, waited a minute or two, and printed a test page by simultaneously holding down the Job Cancel and Go buttons. The first attempt showed no IP address, so I gave it a bit more time and tried again. This time, it reported an IP address of 192.0.0.192. Using my Mac's Network Utility, I pinged this address, which came back showing nothing.

Turning back to Google, I found people discussing how you needed to manually assign the printer and IP address, etc, but this involved going into the router, and I couldn't find any instructions for the AirPort Extreme. However, I did find an interesting tidbit that suggested using the Parallel to USB cable to connecting it to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme... and would you know it? This worked, even with the Gutenprint drivers. When I clicked the + sign to add a printer within System Preferences, it automatically showed up as Bonjour Multifunction.

However, I had spent all this time waiting for the JetDirect card to arrive, so could I crack this? Doing more nosing around in Google, I found instructions on resetting the LaserJet 2100. Turn the printer off, hold down the Job Cancel button, and wait for all the LED lights on the printer to illuminate. Once they do, let go of the Job Cancel button, for if you hold it down for 20 seconds, an NVRAM initialization will occur. After the cold reset had completed, I waited a minute or two and printed out a new test page... and success. A valid IP address was now showing that was within the realm of addresses used in my house.

I pinged the address in Network Utility and it successfully came back, and then then set up the printer as an IP printer. In the System Preferences of El Capitan, select Printers & Scanners, select the + sign, select IP, and enter the printer's IP address into the Address box and HP JetDirect - Socket as the Protocol. Select the proper drivers under Use, give it a name and location, under Name and Location (respectively), and then click Add.

After this, I successfully set up the printer in Windows 10 under Bootcamp, and also no longer need to worry about deleting and re-adding the printer after a reboot. I hope this helps!