Has anyone got a Startech USB print server to work via macOS?

[AVR2]

My HP Envy 4520 printer keeps losing its wireless connection to the router, so I've bought the StarTech PM1115U2 USB print server so I can plug it directly into an Ethernet port.

I can see the print server on the network, I can get into the StarTech config page which confirms it's connected to the printer, I can install the printer using the macOS "add printer" dialog via Bonjour (but not via the HP Smart config app, it refuses to see the printer no matter what I do) but I can't print anything.

If I try to print, the document gets about 31% of the way through being sent to the printer and then the printer goes offline. Every single time.

Any ideas? Currently on 13.7.1 on a 2019 MacBook Pro.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

My HP Envy 4520 printer keeps losing its wireless connection to the router, so I've bought the StarTech PM1115U2 USB print server so I can plug it directly into an Ethernet port.

I can see the print server on the network, I can get into the StarTech config page which confirms it's connected to the printer, I can install the printer using the macOS "add printer" dialog via Bonjour (but not via the HP Smart config app, it refuses to see the printer no matter what I do) but I can't print anything.

If I try to print, the document gets about 31% of the way through being sent to the printer and then the printer goes offline. Every single time.

Any ideas? Currently on 13.7.1 on a 2019 MacBook Pro.

I see this is a bit old, but replying anyway. Did you ever get this to work?

I had the same print server running for a couple years connected to an older Brother laser copier/printer/fax, and I never did get Bonjour/AppleTalk to work. I ended up using TCP/IP printing. It took me several weeks of messing with it.. I think these print servers are just old and haven't been updated for years.

 

[AVR2]

No, I sent it back. My suspicion is that it was simply incompatible with more modern versions of macOS. It was running the latest firmware, but that hadn't been updated in years. The list of compatible printers is from 2008!

In any event, I figured out the wifi issue. The printer only supports 2G wifi, the router has both 2G and 5G networks. If you want to print or scan, you have to be connected to the 5G network; any devices connected to the 2G will not be able to see the printer. Now that I've worked this out, I have zero issues printing or scanning (and the StarTech didn't support scanning anyway).

FWIW, I've discovered that other people with the same router with the same ISP (Virgin Broadband) have the exact opposite problem - they can only see the printer when connected to the 2G network.