Linkstation Live CHSL print server and connection question

[dearth]

   

Hey I was hoping someone could help me trouble shoot here.  I've never had the print server work at all.  I can see it and have loaded the drivers on both my networked computers but printing won't work.

 

The other question is how can I make the Linkstation automatically map?  I changed the default login now i need to enter the login manually after clicking or it won't map the drive and back up using the memeo software.

 

FYI this is Windows XP.

Message Edited by dearth on 12-30-2008 06:06 PM

[Paul]

Print server, make sure your using a post script printer.  (if not disable bi-directional communications).  Go to start run and type \\IP OF NAS

you will see a folder called LP just right click to it and hit connect.

 

Are you mapping your drive via IP or Name?

 

Try \\IP

[dearth]

   

I had been using name but will start using IP.

 

I did connect and load the driver but neither computer prints :(

 

My other issue is even more nagging why won't the NAS connect right away automatically so the Memeo program can run.  I have Memeo installed on my wife's computer but I have to manually connect to the NAS by typing in a login before it will map the drive.

[Paul]

Go to my computer tools then map network drive.

map it via IP and check the box for windows login.

 

[dearth]

   

I have done that on both computers and the drive is mapped.  However if I go to open the drive it asks for my login and password.

 

If I don't manually log in to access the network drive the Memeo software on my wife's computer won't back up key files.

[Paul]

flash the firmware and set it back to factory defaults. also make sure you have no firewall or anti virus software running.

[thequickone]

   

Regarding printing:

 

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!!

 

Regarding mapping:

 

You can use BUFFALO NAS Navigator (I have v1.4) to map the drive(s) for you. This utility should be availale for download somewhere on the BUFFALO website, or should have come with your NAS device.

[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 this. I very strongly agree with the "shame on you, Buffalo" sentiment as well (as noted in my blog post).