Can I use my DSL modem/router to make my LaserJet 4 Plus a home network printer?

[Jim_Asman]

You might find this thread interesting ...

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.os.vms/KqklTwBQXo0

[Carandini]

Thanks for providing the link to the posts on Emulex cards in HP printers.  I am encouraged by the high esteem shown for the Emulex cards, but discouraged by how complicated the issue of establishing communication seems to be.   Was there something in particular that you wanted to point me to in that post?

I have located a users guide for Emulex pinter servers, but I am struggling to figure out what to try next.  The guide says I can reset to factory defaults through provided software commands.  Is this done with a computer that communicates to a server connected to the printer?  Is this approach useless to me since my computer doesn't seem to see the printer?  This brings me back to my original question, can I use my modem/router in place of a server?  Might I be able to communicate to the card by using the Ether address that is printed on the card (and shows up in the MIO data from the self test)?

By the way, the Emulex card has 2 LEDs.  One illuminates when a "UTP connector" is used, which it does when I plug in my network cable.  The other is supposed to illuminate "if the network is active", but it remains dark when I plug the other end of the cable into my modem/router.

[Jim_Asman]

No, I am sorry I don't have any sage advice to give. As there was some mention of ports n the thread(s), I thought there might be something there for you. It seems to me that if you don't know the IP of the card, then you won't be able to change it to something usable.

Understand, my knowledge of networking is limited. A number of years ago, I inherited an HP LJ4 network card whose IP was out of my LAN's local IP range.  What I did was to temporarily change the local IP range on my laptop so it could talk to the card and then reset it back to factory defaults. Then I was able to properly set it up on my network. I would assume that any IP printed on the card itself would be the factory default. Are you sure that really was an IP address in the form XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX rather than a MAC address in the form of : separated hex digits like xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

I agree with David, that your best bet will be to buy a used card off of ebay, where the shipping will probobly be as much or more that the card itself. You might also see if there are any "used computer" sources near to where you live.

One thing I am not sure of is whether the card in your LJ4 is considered a "print server" or just a network interface card, and does that make any difference.

[davidzuts]

Here is another model available on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=J4100A&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0...

[Carandini]

I believe I have both the Mac address and the IP address of my card, based on what prints out on the Self Test page (only when the card is plugged into the printer).  The Mac address is called "Ether Addr" on the print-out, but there is also label on the card itself with the same sequence of numbers prefixed by "Mac Address".  The print-out also gives me an "IP Addr" in the proper format.  My problem is that I don't know how to communicate with the card, and I'm afraid I might have the same issue with an HP card (although it was pointed out that I should at least have access to the MIO Menu from the printer display with an HP card).  So far I have been naively plugging in the cable from the printer to the modem/router, but doing so does not allow me to ping the IP address.  Would it make any difference if I plugged the cable into my computer instead?

Assuming that the card is too complicated for a novice such as myself to handle, would a parallel port to USB port cable (I think I've been told there is such a thing) be a reasonable way to connect my Windows 10 computer to the printer directly? If I did, would I be able to share the printer then wirelessly with my laptop?

[Carandini]

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to hunt down these cards for me!

[Jim_Asman]

Here is what I would try, and this assumes that the (XXX.XXX.XXX.YYY) XXX components of the printer IP are different

from your computer IP.

1. Disconnect your computer from the router.

2. Plug the printer network port directly into the computer.    Let's say your computer is now 192.168.0.5 and the printer is     192.168.10.14.

3. Change the XXX parts IP of your computer to 192.168.10

4. Now try to ping the printer. I'm not sure if you need to reboot or not.

As I said on a previous post, I did this using a laptop. If the printer does ping then, go change the local IPs of all the other devices on your network. If this was an HP card, you could just change the IP to one that conforms to your netwwork setup from the menu on the printer without ever connecting it to the computer.

[Carandini]

OK, this is stretching my limited computer skills, but what I have found is my IPv4 address, subnet mask and default gateway (using ipconfig).  The Windows 10 settings panel lets me navigate to an ethernet connections window where the checked box is "obtain IP address automatically".  I can instead check "use the following IP address".  In addition to entering an IP address, it wants a subnet mask, and default gateway, and also wants me to give addresses to preferred and alternate DNS servers.

If I understand correctly, the plan would be to enter the first 3 groups of digits from my printer's IP address, leave the last group of digits as is currently.  Would I leave my subnet mask unchanged or change it to that of the printer?  I don't see a default gateway for the printer, so I guess I have to leave that unchanged.  What I don't have a clue about is where to get the DNS server addresses.

Just in case things were going to sort themselves out miraculously, I did plug the printer ethernet cable directly into my computer instead of into my modem/router, but I still am unable to ping it.  By the way, my computer was not physically connected to the modem/router (only wireless).  Do I need to shut down the wireless connection to do your proposed experiment?

[davidzuts]

I work on network printers all the time and have to test the network connectivity after they are repaired and all you need to do give your computer and ip address that is identical to the printer except the last digit should be different. Use the same submask and you do not need to put in a default gateway but if you do use the same as the printer if it has one. After you apply the settings you can then try to ping the printer and see if you get a response. If you do, then you can add the printer as a local tcp/ip printer and test the ability to print. Unfortunately that is far as you can go since in order for you to access the internet and other network resources you will have set your computer back to obtain the address automatically. Now there is one command I used to play with many years ago which could offer a solution but it rarely works. You can look at the route add command which sometimes allows you to add the ip address of the printer to your route table and may allow you to print even when your printers ip address is outside the range of your computer.

[Carandini]

I changed the IP address of my computer the way Jim suggested.  Sure enough, I was able to ping the printer!  However, my attempt to print a test page was unsuccessful.  The Windows 10 settings show the printer as being on a "standard TCP/IP port" with the correct printer description and correct IP address, although I do not know whether any of this was through detection or from my attempts to manually install the printer a while back.  No error messages appear, but when I check the printer status, it just says "error".  The Windows device trouble shooter says that the printer "cannot be contacted over the network".  What could be interfering at this point?  I assumed that Windows 10 had installed the necessary drivers when I told it that I was installing a LaserJet 4 Plus from a drop down menu.

I'm still able to use my wireless connection to my modem/router to access the Internet under the changed IP address.  Would there be any need to change it back (or will it automatically change back next time I power on)?

I did get a warning while changing the IP address that the default gateway (which I left unchanged) was outside the range of the new IP address, or something to that effect, but I told the computer to proceed anyway.

Is the "route add command" something I would type in a command prompt?  I didn't understand how to use that trick.