Laser Printer Success


My HP LaserJet 1200 is finally back in business. Getting the laser printer back online was an exercise in frustration. (Until I finally had the ah-ha! moment, that is.) Over the span of a couple of days, I tried everything I knew to get the laser printer working, using every trick in my book. I tried swapping cables, unloading and reloading drivers, an untold number of reboots, and still, the laser printer refused to print from Windows ...

I knew it had to be a problem with the way that Windows XP was talking to the printer. Through a process of elimination, I determined that the problem wasn't the laser printer itself.

The laser printer hangs on my network, and is connected to a firewall/hub. Throughout my dilemma, I could print to the LaserJet 1200 from my Macs without a hitch. So I knew it wasn't the laser printer, itself. I quickly eliminated the hub and the cables as possible problems, as well.

I began to suspect that Windows XP was the culprit, but I wasn't sure exactly where the problem was coming from. So I unloaded and reloaded the printer drivers, to no avail.

As I was testing, I happened to press the test sheet button on the HP JetDirect 175x box that sits between the network and the LaserJet 1200. I took a close look at the configuration information on the test sheet IP address.

And then I looked at the Printer Properties in the Windows Control Panel. When I zeroed in on the Port Settings, I found the culprit. The printer had an IP address of 192.168.1.103. But the Port Settings tab showed the IP address to be 192.168.1.101.

Two digits away. WEIRD. How it jumped, I'll never know ...

I changed the Port Settings tab to show the correct IP address (192.168.1.103) for my printer and bingo, I was off to the races.

Problem solved.