thorin

No *expert* on networks, but I have some experience--from what you have said--

Quote:

Correct me if I'm wrong--I use *printer sharing*--the printer is set up as a

local printer

attached to one of my computers--that computer has to be on--print jobs are sent to that computer over the network for printing.

On my other computers, I have to add a *

network printer

* that points to the computer that has the *local* printer connected to it--so on one of the computers without the printer attached, it says *\\my computer's name with the printer attached\my local printer driver name on the computer that has the printer attached*.


I assume that a print server is a stand alone device that's connected to the network, and has the printer attached to it rather than one of the computers on the network--and it receives a print command from one of the attached computers and handles sending that document to the printer for output.

Seems like you should be adding a *network printer* to each of your computers that points to that print server device on the network.

Your documentation should tell you how to access the print server--i.e. its name as it will be seen on the network.

Does your router have built-in DHCP function for your local network--i.e. it assigns IP addresses automatically to NIC's attached to it--or is your system set up with static addresses?

Your print server has to have an IP address for the router to route print jobs to it--my router uses local DHCP--and depending on what computer is started first--or what port on the router a computer is attached--the IP address for a given computer can change--the best way to allow ZoneAlarm to not choke if your router re-assigns IP's to different computers is to tell ZoneAlarm to allow a *range* of IP addresses on the local network that corresponds to the *range* of IP addresses that your router will assign to devices that it sees.

So, in ZoneAlarm, go to the *Firewall* tab, select *Add >>*, select *IP Range*, *Trusted* is the default zone, type in the beginning IP address that your router starts with for assigning IP addresses, and then type in the ending IP address you want to include, and finally a brief description of your network that will show in ZoneAlarm's *Firewall* listing (I used *Home Network*).

Although I'm not familiar with the CompUSA printserver, printers are typically setup through these devices as "local" printers.  They are not using Microsoft's "file and printer sharing", they are printing through a "local" port--except the local port is a tcp/ip port instead of a lpt or usb port.  (Check the 'Ports' tab of any of your printers' properties page and you should see one or more tcp/ip ports.)

As the others have said, shut off ZA until you get the printer working.  Then turn ZA back on and try to print a test page.  It's been awhile since I've used ZA, but it should pop up an alert window, and you'd tell ZA to make a rule allowing this traffic permanently.

The printserver probably has a built-in webserver for configuration, so you should be able to use your web browser to navigate to the ps's ip addr.  If you can do that, you've at least got a connection to the ps.  If you can't, then that's the first issue you've got to resolve.

Printservers shouldn't really require installing any software to make them work.  However, they generally do need a fixed ip addr on your network.  If the ps is setup to get its ip via dhcp, then that ip can shift and your computer won't be able to find it.  I think that's the purpose of much of the software that comes with the ps--to overcome that limitation.

Personally, I never install software along with the printserver.  I instead use a static ip addr for the ps, then use a web browser to navigate to the ip addr and configure the ps.  IMHO, more software just means more places to troubleshoot.  Then I manually add an ip port (during "Add Printer" wizard) and tell the wizard to use that port.  The rest just breezes through, as easy as installing a lpt printer.

Are you being instructed to do any of this, or is the software setup routine trying to do everything for you?