Linkstation Live Print Server

[Jhwk]

   

Link station Live 500 gb print server, will not print.  Set up correctly, printed for months and now prints erratically or, more often than not, not at all.  Have set the disk to a static IP and setup using the info from Buffalo.  Have removed and reinstalled the printer and drivers, all to no avail.

 

HP 1320nw attached via USB.

windows xp pro

[mas985]

   I have had that problem in the past and can usually clear it up by Deleting the Print Queue on the Print Server web page. For some reason, sometimes print jobs don't print but clog up the queue so other jobs won't print.

[Jhwk]

   yeah, I have tried that and it doesn't really help.  Cleared it again, just to humor you, printed document, drive light flashed (like it was doing something) and... nothing. again.

[mas985]

   

Have you tried to disable and then enable the print server? The only other thing I can think of is a reboot of the NAS with a power cycle of the printer and PC.

 

Also check the windows print queue and remove all of the old items. If a file doesn't print, Windows keeps it in the queue indefinitely.

  

I have had quite a few problems with the print queue but have managed to get it working again with one of these methods. I don't think the NAS implimentation is very robust.

[Paul]

Buffalo nas/print servers only support post script printing.  (not multifunctional printers)  Some printers have the option in the settings to disable the bi directional communications of the printer.  If you can disable this with in your printer settings it will work.

[thequickone]

   

I have suffered the same sort of problem for about a month now. After a bit of really frustrating searching around, including on these forums, I have found a fix that worked for me. I cannot take credit for the actual fix, please see the article at the following link:

 

http://www.alexfalkenberg.com/2009/10/06/linkstation-windows-printing-problem-solved/

 

Follow the instructions in the article and the linked Microsoft Support HOW-TO page, and you should be up and printing again.

 

One note; when you get as far as specifying your "Name or address of server providing lpd:" and "Name of printer or print queue on that server", you will enter the networking name (HS-DHGL###) and "lp", respectively. I am running XP Pro SP3, and there may be minor variance in what these fields are called on other versions of Windows. No slashes, forward, reverse, or otherwise, should be entered into these fields.

 

On a positive note, this also appears to get rid of the annoying "Remote Downlevel Document", or whatever it was called, being left in the print queue all the time. Not that it ever made much difference...

 

On a negative note, it appears I formatted/reformatted, initialized, updated firmware, etc., and deleted all my shared files for nothing. If you did the same during your troubleshooting, and are having strange circular reference problems with "pictures" and/or "usbdisk1" folders on your NAS, disable "PCast" and reformat your drive(s) again to fix this error.

 

Finally, two closing comments:

1. BUFFALO, shame on you for incorporating such a flimsy print server into so many of your products. This print server / utility barely supports Windows printing, which is without a doubt the most common method of printing in the technical world. We as consumers should not have to rely on private individuals to patch your shoddy software/hardware. However, now that someone has fixed the problem for you, how about you incorporate this fix in a firmware / software update for all your consumers that are suffering now, or soon will be?

2. Thank you, Alex Falkenberg / alexfalkenberg.com for providing a fix to my and likely so many other BUFFALO NAS users' printing problems.

 

My setup: NAS - BUFFALO LinkStation Live HS-DH500GL, firmware 2.11v101b (2.10 before this incident), USB Disk 1 - BUFFALO DriveStation HD-CE1.0TU2, USB printer - Canon imageCLASS D340

 

I hope this helps!!

[alexfalkenberg]

   Thanks for the kind words; very glad it worked for you. fwiw, I've had no printing problems at all since doing this. I have no doubts at all that tons of people are affected by it; I very strongly agree with the "shame on you, Buffalo" sentiment as well (as noted in my blog post).