LAN printer problems

[Jolleyi]

trying to hook up a dell 5100cn laser to my network (to replace a brother MFC with dead printing) I am keeping the brother hooked up for the scanner. Normally have a desktop running XP and a couple of laptops running vista.
I was given the printer and it did not come with an installation disk.
Tried to set it up on the laptop using the control panel new printer route. Used the IP address i obtained from a printer setting sheet printed using the printers menu. it listed the ip as 10.0.0.20 which i used but since i tried this multiple times it shows as 10.0.0.20_2 on the properties ports tab.
The printer shows up on the control panel printers page as the default since i set it that way but it has "error" displayed and will not print a test page.
I downloaded drivers from the dell site.

[Jolleyi]

should have added that the printer shows as "Dell printer 5100cn PS"
The printer is not showing up on the network when i view computers and devices.
Any help really appreciated as i have a daughter who want to print homework!
Ian

[LochLomonder]

How do you manage your LAN? Is it all connected through a router? Bear in mind, the printer will have to be in the same IP range and subnet you're using for your network for it to communicate properly.

[PrntRhd]

You cannot not use the same IP as assigned to the Brother printer and still keep the Brother on the network, rather you have to assign the Dell a unique address. (Each device must have a unique IP)

You will likely have to download the print driver from Dell as XP will not likely have the driver available natively.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R238986&SystemID=PRN_LSR_5100CN&servicetag=&os=W764%20&osl=en&deviceid=6784&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=40&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=343851

The reason you likely have to download the driver is because the Dell printer does not have a full print server inside the printer containing the driver files.
Add the printer in Windows XP using Add Printer wizard as a Local Printer, create a new TCP/IP printer port for the new assigned address, and then browse to the unzipped downloaded print driver file to create the printer.
Instructions for DELL_LASER-PRINTER-5100CN_A05_R238986.EXE

Download

1. Click the Download Now link to download the file.
2. When the File Download window appears, click Save to save the file to your hard drive.

Extract Files
1. Browse to the location where you downloaded the file and double-click the new file to unzip the download package
2. Click Continue.
3. Specify the location to unzip the files.
4. Click on the OK button to extract files.
After the files are extracted the message all files were successfully unzipped will appear.
5. Click the OK button to exit from the installer.


Install the driver using the Windows 'Add Printer Wizard'

[Jolleyi]

I have 2 responses to reply to so i'll do them in sequence
LochLomonder
I have a linksys wireless router (hooked up to my cable modem) into which my desktop (running XP) is plugged.
I also wireless link our laptops to this router. I have an existing printer (the brother MFC) which is wireless on IP address 192.168.1.100
I have plugged in the dell to the router as it does not (to my knowledge) have a wireless capability.
I read in the manual for the dell to go into it's own menu and print out a printer settings sheet (this can be done without the printer being hooked up to any computer). I've attached the printer setting sheet which shows it's IP address as 10.0.0.20
PrntRhd
I downloaded as you wrote and then used the wizard on my XP PC
I hit the "browse for printer option" but it does not seem able to find any.

I hope this explains where i'm at.
Any help appreciated
Thanks
Ian

[LochLomonder]

Jolleyi,

The printer won't be seen on the network because of the current IP address. Assuming you're using DHCP, and the dynamic IP addresses will be in the region of 192.168.1.100, 192.168.1.101, and so forth, you can actually set an IP address manually on the printer. Here's how...

This page (http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=ai&l=en&s=gen&docid=DSN_6176ACA40AE3A9D7E040AE0AB8E13707&isLegacy=true) explains how to set the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway address on the printer. You should be able to get the subnet mask and gateway address from your router. If nothing's been modified, they should be 255.255.255.0 and 192.168.1.1 respectively.

For the IP address, use 192.168.1.2. This is outwith the range of the addresses used by the DHCP on the router, but will still be seen on your network. It's always better to have a static IP address for a printer used in this manner. After you've saved the settings on the printer, reboot it and you should be able to see it on your network.

[PrntRhd]

Lets start with some basics:
If you do an IPCONFIG on the PC, what LAN address range are you getting?

Run>CMD>type IPCONFIG and enter.

Is it a 192.xxx.xxx.xxx or is it a 10.0.0.xxx range?

[Paul Komski]

I will just add (1) that if you do not have WinXP with SP2 or later that you need to disable the Windows Firewall before installing the software under WinXP and (2) that the printer should be capable of grabbing its IP address automatically. In the latter case, when the printer is not attached to the router the IP address should print out as 0.0.0.0.

If your daughter needs this urgently than try attaching it directly to a PC using USB.

PS If you don't know which version of Windows you are running just enter winver into a command prompt.

[Jolleyi]

The good new is that after following LochLomonders instructions I now have my laptop (running vista) hooked up and printing via the Dell.
The not so good news is that i cannot seem to get the PC (running XP) to find the dell on the network.

I did and IP config on the Vista laptop as follows

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Ian>IPCONFIG

Windows IP Configuration


Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : nv.charter.com
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a1b3:35c6:f2a2:3046%9
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.106
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : nv.charter.com

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

C:\Users\Ian>

Then an IPCONFIG on the PC running XP

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : nv.charter.com
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.107
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>

I took the following steps
Control panel
printers and faxes
add printer (up pops the add printer wizard)
I hit network printer and the browse
Up comes four lines

Microsoft windows network
MSHOME
YOUR-E7C4726E5B
WORKGROUP

It seems that I have 2 networks? the MS home with my desktop pc on it, and WORKGROUP which I assume has my laptop, but i cannot expand it.
Unfortunately no Dell to be found
I disabled my Online armor firewall (because of my having this, windows firewall was already disabled).
Appreciate any suggestions for adding the printer to my Desktop PC.
Thanks to all
Ian

[Jolleyi]

forgot to add that i used my XP desktop to PING the Dell on 192.168.1.2 and it came back with 4 sends and 4 receipts.
thanks
Ian

[Paul Komski]

You don't have two networks. Both PCs (Vista and XP) are on the 192.168.1.x network. The router, as the default gateway, is 192.168.1.1 and it appears as if the printer now has the IP address 192.168.1.2

Workgroups are just groups and have nothing to do with IP addresses per se. MSHOME is, as it happens, the default workgroup for a WinXP Home PC.

You cannot be far from configuring XP since the printer is accessible from the Vista machine and is on the same LAN.

Which SP has WinXP been updated to?

I suggest you keep all firewalls turned off (not a major worry when behind a router for a short space of time) and uninstall any printers. Reboot and try to reinstall the Dell printer.

You should be able to grab the name of the printer on the network from the settings on the Vista box and either enter this or the Dell Printer IP address when prompted from the Printer setup wizard. The name YOUR-E7C4726E5B would appear to be the name of the WinXP machine on the network.

[Jolleyi]

I am running version 5.1 (build 2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.101209-1647 : service Pack 3)
I go ahead and try as you suggest.
Thanks
Ian

[Jolleyi]

This is pretty frustrating. I deleted all other printers and went thru the local printer option to set up the dell.
Everything looks the same as for the VISTA PC except that instead of a green check mark on the printer icon there is a black one and it will not print a test page.
I downloaded XP drivers from the dell site R167000 and selected the PS version
the troubleshooter seems to be of no help.
Seems like i'm almost there but not quite
Ian

[Paul Komski]

I downloaded XP drivers from the dell site R167000 and selected the PS version

Not sure what you mean by the PS version. Oh now I see and I think you need the R138944.EXE

I believe the correct download for XP is HERE (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=ai&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R138944&SystemID=PRN_LSR_5100CN&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=6784&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=40&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=185881).

[Jolleyi]

Tried the one you suggested no luck.
then found the Service tag on the printer J4zzz61 which if you plug it in to the dell download site suggest the following for XP PC's
R167000 driver
R174993.exe firmware
R138944
So i ran these but still the black check mark persists.
For good measure I ran them all again with a reboot of the printer and the pc each time.
Still no luck in getting the check mark to go from black to green.
Close to tearing my hair out now.
Thanks for all the help so far.
Ian

[Jolleyi]

Look like problem might be solved.
I checked to see if all printer settings were the same between the XP desktop and the Vista laptop
From the ports page (Control panel, printers) i noticed that when i hit configure, the vista machine had the IP address in both the Port name and Printer name or IP address.
I also noted that the vista machine had the LPR box checked, rather than Raw, and what looks like lp in the queue name.
I copied the setting to the XP desktop and it printed ok.
The printer icon still has a black check mark rather than a green one but it does appear to to print from other applications, (not just the test page).
If anyone has an idea why this might be i would appreciate knowing.
Thanks to all
Ian

[LochLomonder]

Jolleyi,

It looks like you're using the PostScript (PS) version of the driver. I think this should be the PCL version. To work things backwards, I would recommend you do the following:

Uninstall the printer on the XP machine.

Double-click the Add Printer icon.

Click Next.

Click Local printer attached to this computer, make sure Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer is not selected and then click Next.

Click on Use the Following Port and choose the TCP/IP port you created already for the printer (192.168.1.2) and then click Next.

When it comes to choosing the printer, Click on Have Disk and then navigate to where you saved the files extracted from the R167000.EXE file you downloaded (the default is C:\Dell\Drivers\R167000\Win_x32\PCL)

The file you want to open is called dlxcrzi.inf. Open this and you'll be given the choice of your printer. Choose it and click on Next or OK to continue and it should load the necessary files.

Send a test print to the printer and ensure it's working properly.

[Jolleyi]

Worked great, Thanks.
Still shows a black check mark on control panel, printers, but what the heck, it works
Should I do the same on the vista laptops?
Ian

[Jolleyi]

Changed the vista laptops to PCL version they work fine too. Pity the guy at Dell support did not advise me to use PCL. He said I should go with PS!!
Thanks to all
Ian

[LochLomonder]

Ian,

I'm glad to see everything's working fine for you :)