Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[chaz_lehmann]

One of the primary reasons I purchased a DNS 323 as opposed to other network storage options was the print server.

My printer is a Brother HL-1440.  When I first installed it according to the instructions in the DNS-323 manual I had no problem.  It worked for a day or two perfectly.  Now, about a week later, it works only for brief happy moments in the midst of hours of rebooting, reinstalling the printer, etc.

Nothing seems to be working right now.

I'm using Windows 7 (64-bit).  The printer window for the networked printer will show printing about 30 seconds after I send a job to it and continue to show that for about two minutes, then it switches to pause.  Nothing prints.

I've tried all of the following:

*clearing the print queue.
*power cycling both the DNS 323 and the printer (together or individually)
*uninstalling and reinstalling the printer

Suggestions?

[fordem]

Does the printer work properly when connected directly to the computer?

[chaz_lehmann]

Yes.  Perfectly.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'd have to lay this at the feet of the printer or print driver.  I've currently run a brother HL-5140 on mine, and I was running a Canon MF3110 and before that an HP PSC-750.  All of these printers worked perfectly on the print server of the DNS-323 under a variety of firmware versions over the span of almost three years.

[chaz_lehmann]

So, it's the printer/driver's fault even though the driver I'm using now is identical to the driver I use when the printer operates perfectly when attached to the PC?  This isn't making sense to me.  I did just check to make sure that the driver is up to date.  It is.

[gunrunnerjohn]

You're forgetting you're using a networked printer vs. a locally attached printer, it's not the same thing.  Canon is infamous for issues with networking, I had all sorts of driver issues with my Canon before I got it working.  It worked fine connected directly to the machine.

[chaz_lehmann]

So, is "it's an issue with the driver" the last word or is there a way I can go about trying to solve the problem?

[chaz_lehmann]

Someone posted elsewhere that they got the printer to work using an XP driver (but they were running Vista 64).  So I've tried every 64 bit driver for the HL-1440 going back to XP with no luck.

I'd appreciate other suggestions on what to try.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, for my Canon printer, I resorted to using a generic driver for a totally different printer which works.

[chaz_lehmann]

How did you figure out which generic driver to use?

[gunrunnerjohn]

Trial and error!

[fordem]

Although I have no personal experience with a networked Canon printer I'd be tempted to agree with gunrunnerjohn - what he is describing there is very similar to my experience with HP printers, right down to the trial and error method of finding a driver that works.

What he has not mentioned, maybe he hasn't experienced it, is that this "pattern" holds true even for other print servers - I've installed many different brands of print server in the last decade and the printer drivers have been the biggest bugbear.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Yep, for some reason, USB printers just don't like to deal with being connected to a print server.  I didn't have any issues with my HP PSC-750 apart from the obvious that I couldn't use the scanner remotely, but I know lots of people that have had issues getting USB print servers to function correctly.

It's best to start with generic "network" drivers if they're offered, and not the full-up installation package like HP provides.

[dosborne]

Many modern printers are bidirectional which does not adapt well to print server usage. Some work well if this function is disabled.

[gunrunnerjohn]

First thing I do, but that doesn't solve the issues I've seen.