USB Cable Length

[ScottW]

I recently moved, and setup my new office. I have a USB printer that is located right behind me, but travels the distance to run a cable if you want to "hide it" away.

But, my printer doesn't work. Mac OS X see's it, and I can have it do a test print which works, but when you go to send a actual document to it, it won't work.

I suspected it might be the cable legth, so I setup a HUB in the middle of the run to attempt to fix that issue, but still the exact same result.

I have one 12-foot cable running from the printer to the USB hub, and then two 6-foot cables (in-line) running from the hub to the Mac.

Any ideas or suggestions. I know USB doesn't allow for over 5meters or 15 feet, so why the USB hub (powered) didn't do anything is beyond me.

Ideas?

[bobw]

USB - 16 Feet

I have a 20 foot cable on an Epson 820 printer that works fine.

Move the printer close enough to the machine that you can connect a 6 foot or 12 foot cable and see if it works.

[MDLarson]

Doesn't sound like a USB cable length problem to me. It's probably a configuration issue or a bug or somethin'. The fact that you can send a test print says "The USB cable works!" to me.

One thing you might try (you probably already did) is send a very simple text file consisting of a few lines to the printer. Certainly this would take up less USB bandwidth than a test print, so if that doesn't work, it's gotta be a software issue.

[seann]

type of printer/driver version?

[Arden]

And what is your system setup, both hardware and software?

[ScottW]

Alright, so maybe it's not cable length afterall?

I went ahead and plugged in the printer using ONE 6 foot cable and got the exact same results... no hub, just computer to printer.

iMac 17" (10.2.6) ---> HP 1220C

[ScottW]

The odd part about all this is it worked just fine prior to the move. Thus, why I drew the conclusion to cable length.

[bobw]

Scott

Delete the printer and then reinstall and see if it works.