How to use HP Officejet J4450 in Precise Puppy?

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of printers
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Cecil
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How to use HP Officejet J4450 in Precise Puppy?

#1 Post by Cecil »

I have searched the forum here for several hours and have tried everything to get my printer to work. I really want to switch to Puppy but cannot fathom how every attempt I make to get a lousy printer to work fails miseraby. To waste almost an entire day to fix this printer in Puppy versus Plug and Print from Windows makes me wonder whether I have a hole in my head. Anyway, here is the problem:

Using Precise Puppy 5.4.2.3
Printer is HP Officejet J4550 (All in One)
Router is Belkin N750 DB

All of our Windows computers print from this printer which is atttached to the router. Used CUPS to try to identify printer on router but there was no instructions as to how to identify the printer this way. I read a post that suggested taking the ppd file off HP Printer Installation CD and placing it in a certain folder but there was no ppd file on the CD. Finally, as suggested by another poster, I connected the printer directly to my PC and tried to add it using CUPS. However, the printer model is not listed in CUPS so it appears that I am out of luck for a printer that is barely three years-old. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated for getting the printer to work with Puppy and possibly networking it on the Belkin router. It should be noted that the printer (along with its scanner function) worked fine when trying out Ubuntu. Thanks for your help in advance.

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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Location: Stratford, Ontario

#2 Post by rcrsn51 »

The source for printer setup information in Puppy is here. From there, you can download the hplip_print-3.12.10a.pet, which supports your Officejet j4500 series.

How do you have the printer connected to the router - with an ethernet cable? By wifi? Through a USB port?

When you ran CUPS, was your networked printer being auto-detected?
I read a post that suggested taking the ppd file off HP Printer Installation CD and placing it in a certain folder
Did you read that in this forum? That almost never works.

Cecil
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Joined: Tue 25 Dec 2012, 17:42

#3 Post by Cecil »

Wow. Thanks for the prompt reply. The printer is connected to the back of the router by a USB connection.

Cecil

Cecil
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue 25 Dec 2012, 17:42

#4 Post by Cecil »

And the printer was not detected by CUPS when attached to the router.

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#5 Post by rcrsn51 »

Cecil wrote:The printer is connected to the back of the router by a USB connection.
Have you installed the PET yet?

As a test, connect the printer directly to your Puppy machine by USB. It should be auto-detected in CUPS. Follow the steps to install it.

Once you have it working, report back for info about the network setup.

In CUPS, you may need to run Find New Printers several times before the device is detected.

Cecil
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Joined: Tue 25 Dec 2012, 17:42

#6 Post by Cecil »

Tried to install hplip_print-3.12.10a.pet from the Puppy Package manager but it does not come up when I search for it. Do I get it from another source? Thanks for your help with this.

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#7 Post by rcrsn51 »

Cecil wrote:Tried to install hplip_print-3.12.10a.pet from the Puppy Package manager but it does not come up when I search for it.
Go to the link I posted above and scroll down the page.

Cecil
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#8 Post by Cecil »

Thank you. I will get it installed tonight and report back.

Cecil

Cecil
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#9 Post by Cecil »

Installed the pet package but CUPS does not identify the printer when attached to the USB port on the back of the Belkin router. However, when I plugged the printer directly into my computer USB slot, CUPS recognized the printer and successfully printed a test page. Now all I need is for CUPS to recognize the printer when it is connected to the Belkin router. Thanks for your help with this matter. It is greatly appreciated!

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#10 Post by rcrsn51 »

Did you trying running Find New Printers several times?

If CUPS still cannot find the printer, go back to "How to Install Your Printer/Scanner in Puppy" and read item #2 under "Things to Know".

Follow the link. It has instructions for manually setting up a networked printer. Note that you will need the IP address of the router.

Also run the "mpscan" command and report back with the results.

Cecil
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#11 Post by Cecil »

Will do. Thanks again and I will report back tomorrow AM.

Cecil

Cecil
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Joined: Tue 25 Dec 2012, 17:42

#12 Post by Cecil »

Okay, here's where we are. I clicked on Find New Printers at least 20 times over a 25-minute period with no success. I typed the following command mpscan -p 9100 aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd into the console (urxvt) terminal with no response, just another blank line.

Finally, I tried to find my router IP address by checking the website checkip.dyndns.org which returned one IP address but this IP address was different from the one produced by the command netstat -r

Any ideas?

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#13 Post by rcrsn51 »

Cecil wrote:I typed the following command mpscan -p 9100 aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd into the console (urxvt) terminal with no response, just another blank line.
When you type the command, you must use the actual IP address of your router.
Finally, I tried to find my router IP address by checking the website checkip.dyndns.org which returned one IP address but this IP address was different from the one produced by the command netstat -r
When you run the netstat command, the "default" line is probably your router. Try it with the mpscan command.

Cecil
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#14 Post by Cecil »

This is what I get when I run netstat -r:

# netstat -r
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
default router.belkin 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
192.168.2.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
#

Which would I use for the mpscan command? Thanks.

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#15 Post by rcrsn51 »

Try

Code: Select all

mpscan -p 9100 192.168.2.1

Cecil
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#16 Post by Cecil »

Nothing happens. Just another blank line with a command prompt.

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#17 Post by rcrsn51 »

Look in your Network menu for the program called PeasyPort.

Scan your entire IP range 192.168.2.0-254 for Port 9100.

Then repeat for Port 515.

Do you have the Puppy firewall running?

Cecil
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Joined: Tue 25 Dec 2012, 17:42

#18 Post by Cecil »

I pasted the following into the PeasyPort IP window: 192.168.2.0-254
I put 9100 into the Port window and hit scan which gave no result.
I then put 515 into the Port window and hit scan which again gave no result.

I never enabled the firewall but not sure how to check to see if it is running.

Cecil

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rcrsn51
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#19 Post by rcrsn51 »

If you start your web browser and enter the address "192.168.2.1", does that take you to your router?

Do you still have Ubuntu installed? Its printer setup might give you some hints about where your J4450 is hiding on the network.

Cecil
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Joined: Tue 25 Dec 2012, 17:42

#20 Post by Cecil »

Internet Settings
WAN MAC Address 08:86:3B:46:26:03
Connection Type Dynamic
WAN IP 76.29.235.228
Subnet Mask 255.255.248.0
Default Gateway 76.29.232.1

LAN Settings
LAN/WLAN MAC 08:86:3B:46:26:02
IP Address 192.168.2.1
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server Enabled

Features
Firewall Settings Enabled
Remote Management Disabled
SSID belkin.602
Security WPA/WPA2-Personal (PSK)
UPnP Enabled
WPS Enabled
Guest Access Disabled
SSID Guest Access Disabled
Password/PSK Guest Access Disabled

Does this help at all?

Cecil

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