# Cannot print to wireless Epson apple say problem is I don't have airport.



## nicolanicola (Jan 11, 2009)

So I have a wireless printer that my pc laptop can print to fine but I cannot get my mac to print to it.

I rung up epson and told them and they got me to print a nozzle check which came out fine. It's when I print from an application it doesn't print. Epson said this means that there is a problem with the print spool queue as the nozzle check bypasses this queue and worked fine but since everything I printed within application had to go via the print queue and wouldn't work, it must be this.

I therefore rang apple and after a lengthy (1 hour) conversation he said that it seemed that problem was that I was used a netgear router and mac don't work via any other router than an airport.

Just to let you know, this is my first mac - I got it on Thursday so I'm a bit unsure of it all - I'm still trying to figure out what CUPS is keep seeing it on all pages I keep googling!

Thanks in advance.


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## gsahli (Jan 11, 2009)

I am answering you in the Tech Support area.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jan 11, 2009)

nicolanicola said:


> ...he said that it seemed that problem was that I was used a netgear router and mac don't work via any other router than an airport.


This is utter B.S., and I'm sorry you heard it from a "Mac technician."  I use various brands of routers for all my computers -- a mix of wired and wireless, and all of my Macs work fine with those routers (LinkSys, D-Link, Belkin, etc.).  Your router should be fine with your Mac.

How did you set up the Epson printer on your Mac?  As an "IP printer?"  Did you install Epson software?  Can you detail the exact setup process you went through?


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## nicolanicola (Jan 11, 2009)

ElDiabloConCaca said:


> This is utter B.S., and I'm sorry you heard it from a "Mac technician."  I use various brands of routers for all my computers -- a mix of wired and wireless, and all of my Macs work fine with those routers (LinkSys, D-Link, Belkin, etc.).  Your router should be fine with your Mac.
> 
> How did you set up the Epson printer on your Mac?  As an "IP printer?"  Did you install Epson software?  Can you detail the exact setup process you went through?



Yes I have set it up as an IP printer  I then chose Hp DirectJet Socket and entered the address for the printer then browsed for the driver file I downloaded from gutenprint and clicked add.

Now when I print my printer comes up with the message "printing" but doesn't do anything.  My printer queue status then eventually pauses the printer and when I try to resume it sometimes it says authorisation denied or something even although I'm the only user on this mac.

I can give you an error report from CUPS if it would help?


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## nicolanicola (Jan 11, 2009)

oh and if this helps, here is printer URL

       socket://192.168.0.6/?bidi


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## gsahli (Jan 11, 2009)

I've already said this in the Tech Support Area, but it is So important, I want to repeat it. 
You can't use the Epson-provided driver by setting up the printer as an IP printer in Print & Fax.
You Must click +, then click More Printers, then select Epson TCP/IP. Then enter the IP address, and finish up. Epson-provided drivers are Carbon-based, and can't use the standard CUPS-provided comm types like IP printing or Windows Printing.

HTH


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## chris_e_30 (Feb 21, 2009)

Hi, 

Sounds like I have a similar-ish problem. I am trying to print from my iMac 4.1 (Leopard installed) to an Epson PX800FW using Airport with a (Sky) NetGear wireless router but am having no luck printing.

No issues connecting printer to router - signal strength excellent (also, this connection definitely works - see ethernet success below).

I have installed the Epson software and under Print and Fax setup have tried the following options with associated outcomes:

1. Added Printer under Default Printer - Bonjour option. On printing a TextEdit file can see print job in queue and gets as far as "Spooling LPR job, 0% complete". After a minute or so print job disappears from queue or just hangs

2. Added Printer under Default Printer - TCPIP option. On printing a TextEdit file can see print job in queue and status above queue is "Printing 'Untitled'" - does not reach job spool. This hangs for a while and again job eventually disappears from queue

3. In response to last post in this thread have gone through More Printers -> Epson TCPIP and entered printer IP address. On Verify, it is 'UNable to locate a printer with this address'. I have checked the printer IP address on the printer display options. Am I being stupid / missing something here?

4. Also, tried option 2 but with an Ethernet connection from Mac to router - this works fine - prints textfile immediately

Have called Epson technical support several times and gone through the printer driver set up (options 1 & 2) and advised them of the outcome when trying the ethernet connection. 

On the basis of that they suggested this could concern the router and any in-built firewall/MAC filtering i.e. they could be inhibiting the Mac->router wireless connection in regard to print jobs. (Nb have had no problem using Airport for internet connection via router). 

They suggested I contact NetGear to discuss potentially disabling those (am a bit concerned about security implications of that...?) 

I intend to call NetGear but would be grateful for any perspectives on the above i.e. has anyone experienced similar issues in dealing with in-built router security when wireless printing. 

Also @gsahli: sounds like even if I can resolve router security issues then I may still be using the wrong set up approach under options 1 + 2. Could you advise or post a link to the related topic in the Tech Support Area re. option 3.  

Many thanks for any assistance provided!

Chris, UK


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## gsahli (Feb 21, 2009)

Let me know if you can access this:
http://macosx.com/tech-support/cannot-print-to-wireless-printer/339731.html

Please don't forget to read the Epson instructions for setting up - I think your printer may also be one of those where you need the printer temporarily connected by USB in order to correctly install the Epson driver.

router firewall only affects incoming traffic from outside the local net.
I think you would remember turning on MAC filtering - you have to manually enter the MAC address (looks like 00:5b:10:c6:23:09) into the router for each computer you ever want to connect via wireless.


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## chris_e_30 (Feb 22, 2009)

Hi - thanks for the link. 

I restored the printer to default settings and did a re-install of the Epson software, making sure to use ethernet connection (between mac and printer) in the set-up. Went through set-up successfully (so it said). Unfortunately, still getting the same issues as before (1-3 in earlier post) with regard to wireless printing via the router.

I also managed to print successfully using a direct wireless network between the mac and the printer i.e. when take router out of the equation.

Phoned Epson again (explaining the above) and as before advice was still to check the router security. Have checked this and there is no MAC filtering in place (and you're right - I don't recall setting up any), only 2 firewall rules: 1 outbound services where action is set to "ALLOW always" and 1 inbound services rule where action is to "BLOCK always". 

Epson advice was to try wireless printing with inbound rule disabled to see if that fixes it. I questioned that even if it solves the printer issue wouldn't that compromise the security of my network. Their response was that I don't need the router firewall as have the firewall on my mac as well. They also suggested I try again with the router set to a different channel (presumably to see whether issue is due to interference from other nearby networks).

Any thoughts on their suggestions? Am far from technically minded so a little concerned about messing with router firewall rules - although the online settings configuration *seems* straightforward...

Thanks


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## gsahli (Feb 23, 2009)

Firewall settings will definitely Not help. A firewall stops requests from the internet, not from inside your local network.

I guess it's possible that security is the problem - like, printer only capable of WPA, but router and computer using WPA2. You'll have to check that - I don't have your printer.

After that, I'm out of ideas.


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