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New mac owner - Belkin hub probs!!

P

poacher

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 10, 2009
24
0
Hi Folks,
I've owned my MB Pro now for all of 3 day & it's GREAT:D:D:D

The only problem I have is connecting to my printer & label printer via my Belkin P5L009 network hub.

I'm running SL10.6.1 but there doesn't appear to be any drivers for this OS.

Anyone know of any workarounds that will allow me to print, other than connecting the MB via a cable.

Really appreciate your help folks - the tech help that came with the MBPro isn't very useful to put it politely:mad:

Cheers
Dave
 
Hi,
thanks for the reply.

I should elaborate - the network hub is cabled to the belkin n router & subsequently the printer & label writer are connected to the hub.

So I'm trying to access the printers wirelessly via the router > hub.

Basically the printers, hub, router are all upstairs & obviously the MBP goes into workshop with me.

Hope that makes sense.
 
Is there any other options available to me?

Setup is;

Desktop (Win)
Laptop (Win)
Macbook pro

Belkin N router, belkin network hub

Canon multi
dymo labelwriter
Lacie ext hdd

Do I have to purchase another device to allow the MBP to access the devices wirelessly?
 
Does the LaCie show up on the MacBook Pro? Are the printers very old? Have you tried connecting the printers directly to the Mac to set them up and then after they're up and running moving them back to the Belkin?
 
I tried connecting each item today via usb to the macbook pro & they all came up fine.
I then tried connecting the hub via ethernet cable (with all the peripherals attached) - I managed to connect once then lost connection.

Unfortunately though I still can't access the devices wirelessly. I popped into the store where I got the MBP from & they suggested I bought a time capsule??? Personally I don't think this would solve any problems.

Any suggestions folks? This is the only problem that has arisen with the mac book pro.

All the Belkin software works & shows the items wirelessly but I just can't connect to the devices.
 
I believe, a Time Capsule could be used for what you're trying to do, but it's primarily a network hard drive for doing backups.

You said you've got "Belkin P5L009 network hub" is that the correct model, because I can't find it on Belkin's site or the internet. Is this what you have:

Belkin: Network USB Hub Part # F5L009

If that is what you have (or something similar) you can't connect wirelessly to it. To use a hub wirelessly you need to connect it to a wireless router. Do you have a wireless router?
 
Hi,
thats the correct model. It is connected to the router in order to access it wirelessly (please see above).

MBP >
> >Ext HDD
> Router >Hub > Printer
>Label writer
>
Win lap>
Win desk>


Hope this makes sense.
 
Ok, if I understand you correctly, the printers etc. are plugged into an Ethernet hub, which in turn is connected to a Belkin N Wireless router?

If so, the problem may be that you need to turn on bridging on the N router. Without this, the wired and wireless networks are separate and devices on each can't see each other.

Even though I have a Belkin N router myself, I can't tell you where the option is (had LOTS of problems with mine, can't even administer it any more), but I do recall there was an option worded something like 'configure as access point' , which I used pretty much as you're using yours, to allow wireless access to the wired network.
 
Interesting, I'll have a look at that. It's strange though how the peripherals appear in the belkin software, they even show a status of unconnected or connected to another device.

I'll let you know how I get on. It appears that Belkin may not be doing any drivers for Snow Leopard:mad:
 
poacher said:
Interesting, I'll have a look at that. It's strange though how the peripherals appear in the belkin software, they even show a status of unconnected or connected to another device.

I'll let you know how I get on. It appears that Belkin may not be doing any drivers for Snow Leopard:mad:
Click to expand...

That might actually make sense. The Belkin router is on the wired (as well as the wireless) network, so it can see all the devices on the wired network, and report them back to the admin interface; even if bridging is off.

I.e. on your laptop, the belkin software is talking to the router, asking it "you're on the wired network, what devices can you see there?". But if you search for shared devices, or iTunes sharing, or printers, they're trying to connect directly to the remote device, and will fail. Unless bridging is turned on, which effectively merges the two networks into one.
 
Just had a look at the router settings, nothing obvious.

I have noticed that the MBP does not show up on the DHCP client list. Does the mac broadcast an IP?
 
Sorry, I missed the reference to the wireless router in the earlier posts. I see you have 2 PCs, do they both work with this setup? Do each of the PCs have/need the Belkin software installed to work? If that's the case then I would think that it would also have to be installed on the Mac for it to work? Looking at Belkin's site it seems the software is available up through 10.5 Leopard, have you tried it with Snow Leopard?
 
Hi,
each pc & mac has the software installed. In the case of the mac I'm using Belkins 10.5 drivers, I've tried the others but with no luck.
 
poacher said:
Just had a look at the router settings, nothing obvious.

I have noticed that the MBP does not show up on the DHCP client list. Does the mac broadcast an IP?
Click to expand...

If the Mac's Wifi is setup to get an IP address via DHCP, then it should be showing up in the client list. Are you sure it doesn't have a manually set IP address?

(Hope I'm not complicating things further, but if bridging is already turned on, then the Mac could be receiving its IP address from DHCP on the wired hub. Bridging effectively merges the networks into one, so the DHCP server on the Ethernet hub can also allocate addresses to wireless devices. In that scenario, you probably would want to turn off DHCP on the wireless router - I'm not sure what would happen with two DHCP servers running on the same network).

Are you administering the wireless router via the software, or via the web interface? The 'access point' option I referred to was in the web interface (the software didn't work for me).
 
Hi,
I'm administering through web interface. Mac address filtering is off, firewall is off, the router is just not detecting the MBP, although, I am able to access the internet, obviously!

This have got me well confused!!
 
First off, I don't really understand a lot of this networking stuff, so I may be completely out in left field, but here goes, is the OS X firewall turned on and could it be set to stealth mode? Would that prevent it from showing up on the network?
 
Hi,
just checked. OS X firewall is off.

Got me completely baffled!!
 
You said the Mac was connected to the network because you had internet, could you be connected to another open wifi network and accessing the internet from there, that would explain the Mac not showing up on your network.
 
I thought that too but all other networks round me are secure & unfortunately I don't have the keys for them!!

One thing I haven't tried is a direct cable connection from mac straight to the router.
 
Bummer. That's just about everything I can think of, if anything else comes to mind, I'll post it here. Good Luck!
 
poacher said:
Hi,
I'm administering through web interface. Mac address filtering is off, firewall is off, the router is just not detecting the MBP, although, I am able to access the internet, obviously!

This have got me well confused!!
Click to expand...

This is the web interface on my Belkin router (taken on my iPhone), is yours different? The 'Use as Access Point' option is visible there, so I'm guessing your web interface must be different?

Have you looked in your MBP's network pane to see how it's IP address is allocated, either it's manual; or it's receiving an IP address via DHCP from the N router or the wired hub.
 

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Hi,
I've set the IP address both manually & via DHCP but still no luck.

My software must be different form yours;

Screenshot2009-11-13at164425.png


Really struggling with this now:mad:
 
Ah, sorry. It does look like a different version.

Can you post the model/serial number of your Belkin router, I can take a look at the online manuals.

I did read a post somewhere suggesting some Belkin routers couldn't do bridging, but I find it hard to believe any router would exclude such basic functionality.
 
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