Airport Time Capsule, setup Brother wireless printer

[Stevee00]

Why is this so hard? I just installed the new Airport Time Capsule. Need to reconfigure my Brother HL-5370DW wireless printer, which worked fine wirelessly (i.e. no cable to the router) with the former Airport Extreme.

I've searched all the discussions online, but it seems everybody has different particulars, and nobody is talking about the new Time Capsule.

Printer works fine when connected with Ethernet cable. (Tiime Capsule up and running ok.)

I restored printer to factory settings, downloaded the latest drivers from Brother. Tried Print & Scan preferences, tried "adding" printer from the print popup. The printer shows up, but doesn't print wirelessly. The Brother website gives me a headache--very confusing, and Windows oriented support, it seems.

I know the problem has to do with establishing the wifi connection between the Brother and the TC. But I can't see where to enter IP addresses or router name and PW. The Brother software kept leading me to dead ends.

Pointed question: Is there something about the new TC that is causing the trouble? I'm having problems getting it to see a USB harddrive too. I don't think it's defective. Just unusually fussy.

Any help appreciated.


(iMAC, Mountain Lion all up to date)

 

[opinio]

Why is this so hard? I just installed the new Airport Time Capsule. Need to reconfigure my Brother HL-5370DW wireless printer, which worked fine wirelessly (i.e. no cable to the router) with the former Airport Extreme.

I've searched all the discussions online, but it seems everybody has different particulars, and nobody is talking about the new Time Capsule.

Printer works fine when connected with Ethernet cable. (Tiime Capsule up and running ok.)

I restored printer to factory settings, downloaded the latest drivers from Brother. Tried Print & Scan preferences, tried "adding" printer from the print popup. The printer shows up, but doesn't print wirelessly. The Brother website gives me a headache--very confusing, and Windows oriented support, it seems.

I know the problem has to do with establishing the wifi connection between the Brother and the TC. But I can't see where to enter IP addresses or router name and PW. The Brother software kept leading me to dead ends.

Pointed question: Is there something about the new TC that is causing the trouble? I'm having problems getting it to see a USB harddrive too. I don't think it's defective. Just unusually fussy.

Any help appreciated.


(iMAC, Mountain Lion all up to date)

Just as a further option that you may not have explored, you could try the 'WPS printer' options in the AirPort App.

Click on your AE/TC in the Airport App and click edit.

Then while the edit window is open click 'Base Station' up in the menu bar and click 'Add WPS Printer'.

There are some options there to explore.

 

[Stevee00]

Thank you for that. I never would have thought to look up in the menu bar. And the WPS part is really hidden--ONLY shows up if you've already clicked edit in the Airport Utility.

I tried it, and nothing happened. Then I Google "pin" and "Brother HL-5370WD", and found this:

http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/BSC/public/us/us/en/faq/faq/000000/002000/0 00037/faq002037_020.html?reg=us&c=us&lang=en&prod=hl5370dw_us

It says to poke a sharp object into a little hole in the back of the printer, but only after "Hold down the SecureEasySetup™, WPS or AOSS™ button on your WLAN access point/router for a few seconds." This is one of the many little translations that makes this is so hard for normal people. AT doesn't have a button. That's what the menu bar command is.

So I did it. Also got the PIN number in the process (hold down the button for more than 2 seconds and it shifts to PIN mode. Great! Another easy way to do it wrong). Tried both ways a few times. Finally, Airport Utility and the printer acknowledged a connection made. Looks good. BUT THE F*&KING PRINTER STILL DOESN'T PRINT! (And, yes, I do have the latest drivers and it shows up in the printer preferences). Time to try a full reboot and burning insense while turning around three times ...

 

[Stevee00]

I confirmed that TM is seeing this printer. The codes pop up in Airport Utility and they match.

But still can't print. I'm sure it's something stupid in my printer setup, but everything looks to be right. It shows in Print&Scan but won't print a test page. Any ideas?

I feel like I'm near the end of a very long and perilous journey, can see home, but the last bridge is washed out ...

 

[opinio]

I confirmed that TM is seeing this printer. The codes pop up in Airport Utility and they match.

But still can't print. I'm sure it's something stupid in my printer setup, but everything looks to be right. It shows in Print&Scan but won't print a test page. Any ideas?

I feel like I'm near the end of a very long and perilous journey, can see home, but the last bridge is washed out ...

Did you try deleting the printer in System Preferences and resinstalling it. Try letting the printer app in Sys Pref pick it up, not the supplied drivers. As you have changed routers the 'old' printer in the System Preferences may be a link to a printer that doesn't exist anymore.

 

[Stevee00]

Opinio,

That's exactly what I did. I figured it out as I was trying to get to sleep last night: "Hey, Idiot, delete all the other printers you installed while trying to get this to work, then let the OS start fresh."

Victory! It worked. I knew it was something stupid at this point. Print&Scan saw the new Brother and set it up in seconds.

Thanks all for your help. I hope this thread save other people the many hours of frustration I experienced.

Steve

 

[opinio]

Happy ending

 

[Wirklich]

Problem with Brothers wireless actually in MacBookPro

I had this problem with my new Brothers HL2270DW. I ran the Brothers set-up using a USB cord from my laptop and everything seemed right. The printer appeared in the print dialog box, but when I sent it a document the Queue window said Printer Not Connected.

It turned out that when the printer was added to the printer list in the Print Utility, it was added as a USB printer. I think this was because of the USB cable used in the original printer set-up. All I had to do was go to the Print Utility, remove the 2270 from the USB printer list and then add it again manually, this time as a wireless printer.

The phrase Printer Not Connected was literally true and correct. It wasn't connected to a USB port on the computer. Sometimes it pays to pay attention to those (often hopeless) error messages. And while the problem may have been Brothers' fault for not anticipating this, the solution was in my MacBookPro all along.

 

[ehomier]

It also seems that if your Wifi network is hidden that the above WPS method of connecting the Brother printer may not work (at least for me in any case!)

I ran into problems connecting my Brother HL-2270DW model to an Apple Airport Time Capsule router when my wireless network SSID was hidden. Making the SSID visible and re-running the above process worked for me (pushing the button on the back of the printer for less than 2 seconds, then selecting "Add WPS Printer" in the Airport Utility).

Hope this helps!