Printing
While carrying out the steps to move our network devices from a flat network to one with purposeful VLANs I had changed the IP address of one of our HP CP3505 printers (using the web based management console) to discover that with the new IP I could not print to the printer over the network.
Oddly enough the web based management console was still accessible, the printer replied to PINGs and SNMP requests but would not print (that includes from Mac and PC!).
With no error messages other than ‘Error – Printing’ on the server, and nothing in the logs of the printer it seemed like this issue would not have a simple solution.
In trying to troubleshoot the issue I tried…
- Changing the printers IP address to other options (indeed changing the IP back to its original one sorted the problem but was not what I wanted)
- Firmware updating the printer
- Pressing all of the ‘reset’ and ‘clear settings’ buttons I could find on the printer through the WBMC and front panel
- Attaching a network cable between a laptop and the printer direct (no server or switches)
- Removing the jet direct card and leaving it for 30 minutes while the printer was unplugged (oddly enough the jet direct card has a button battery which cannot be removed on it)
All to no success!
In the end and on a complete whim I changed the network settings of the printer to use DHCP instead of Manual IP, reset the printer and then set it back to Manual IP. It was evident that the IP address I had set previously had been forgotten and I set upon the task of configuring the IP address through the front panel. Long behold this worked and the printer is now happyily printing under its new IP address.
Lets all face it we don’t live in the paperless office…yet…and from time to time you will find a need to print something. With most modern tablets printing maybe an issue, maybe you will be lucky have you have the latest HP printer next to you with Apple AirPrint (to see the rather short list click here) but if you are like most people out there that just wont be the case.
So in steps Windows RT with support for a wide range of printers including (but far from limited to) the HP CP1515 which I demo printing to in the video above.
Just in case anyone asks if you have a network printer (Wi-Fi or LAN) then yes you can print to it as well from Windows RT just hop into Settings > Devices and from there your tablet will search out any printers available in your network.
So Microsoft Surface + Windows RT + USB Port + Printer = work anywhere the way you want!
To check if your printer is compatible with Windows RT (because some older models might not be) just visit the Microsoft website at this link here.
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