Cannot print on USB printer EPSON Stylus Photo R285

[Patrick]

   

Hi,

 

I have a problem with my printer. It doesn't print at all when it is connected to the Linkstation. I can connect to the printer without any problem, but when it comes down to printing the printer remains quiet.

 

I already tried to reboot the linkstation and printer in the right order, but didn't help. I also got the latest firmware for the linkstation and the newest driver for the printer, no luck also.

 

I have added the printer using the method "Add printer-wizzard" and also the method "\\hs-dhgl183" in my browser.

 

When the printer is connected directly to my computer it works fine.

 

Can anyone help me?

 

Buffalo Linkstation Live 500GB, firmware 2.11-101b

Epson Stylus Photo R285

PC Windows Vista Home Premium

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Patrick

[PCPiranha]

We only support non multifunction printers that support post script.

[Patrick]

   

I am sorry to here that. To my knowledge it is not really clear when you buy the Linkstation. If I would have known I would get another printer. Maybe there should be a warning mentioning this so people can consider this when looking for a printer.

 

Fortunately I am in the position I have a very quiet PC which can act as a printer server. Maybe I will get a real printer server to connect to the network directly.

[batman697]

   

What exactly does "We only support non multifunction printers that support post script." mean?  Does that mean that no scanner-copier-printers will work?  Most of the printers I see are of this variety!  I can't believe this disclaimer isn't highlighted.  I may not have bought it.

[PCPiranha]

Yes that is what that means.  A usb printer that is only a printer that supports postscript (the protocol used by our printserver on this unit).

[thequickone]

   

This may or may not work to get you printing. However, I do not believe anything can be done to enable multifunction/bidirectional capabilities:

 

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/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">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).