Latex 310 - hardwire? Crossover? Etc.

[303DC]

Just had my L310 shut down after printing about 4-5 feet of a 23' job. Never had this problem before, but I don't really trust my router. I'm wondering, is there a better method for connecting to the printer? I'm hardwired in from my computer to the router, and the printer is hardwired to the router. Should I start using a crossover cable, maybe? Can I send the data to the printer from the rip completely before printing (using Flexi Cloud)?

Thanks in advance from a very frustrated guy that is having a heck of a time losing very expensive wrapping material.

 

[GAC05]

I don't know about an HP printer but the cross over cable works fine with Flexi cloud and Mutoh printers.
Is your router handling any other traffic? It would seem best to keep it separated from most everything else if you can.
I use the cross over cable for the printer and the wireless card to connect to the office router and web.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[AF]

Check you power save settings on the PC and make sure nothing is set to sleep after a duration.

 

[303DC]

Power save wasn't the issue. However, I did just connect it to a spare laptop I had (fairly powerful machine actually) VIA a crossover, and that's going to work fantastic for me. Thanks anyhow.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Ideally, you would add in a 2nd Ethernet adapter to your computer and set it up on a different IP subnet than your original adapter (i.e. 10.0.0.5 / 255.0.0.0). Then, set your printer IP on the same subnet as the new adapter (i.e. 10.0.0.10 / 255.0.0.0). Then run a cable directly from the printer to the new Ethernet adapter (taking the router out of the equation). I see no reason to use a cross-over cable. Your adapters most likely auto-detect anyhow.

 

[303DC]

Ideally, you would add in a 2nd Ethernet adapter to your computer and set it up on a different IP subnet than your original adapter (i.e. 10.0.0.5 / 255.0.0.0). Then, set your printer IP on the same subnet as the new adapter (i.e. 10.0.0.10 / 255.0.0.0). Then run a cable directly from the printer to the new Ethernet adapter (taking the router out of the equation). I see no reason to use a cross-over cable. Your adapters most likely auto-detect anyhow.

This is essentially what I did. I have a spare laptop, which is actually pretty powerful. It's got both wireless and an ethernet adapter. The wireless adapter connects to my network for simple file sharing, and then the printer laptop will contain my RIP software, and is hardwired to the printer VIA crossover on 10.0.0.x as you mentioned. This works fine, and eliminates the possibility of a router/switch failure, which I think is what I encountered last night.

The reason I need to do this is because I have my office in a room separate from the printer, and running the cable that far isn't an option at this point. I might as well just use this laptop as a RIP machine, essentially, which it will work just fine for. The only thing now is the problem that Flexi only allows you to run on one machine with Cloud. Stupid design.

 

[303DC]

I just got off the phone with HP, and they apparently recommend having a hub/switch in between the printer and the computer for some reason, and recommend against a crossover cable for larger print jobs. That doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

I just got off the phone with HP, and they apparently recommend having a hub/switch in between the printer and the computer for some reason, and recommend against a crossover cable for larger print jobs. That doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me.

Me either, unless they are worried about an older Ethernet adapter not automatically switching (crossing-over). In the case of an older Ethernet adapter being used, adding a modern switch would automatically make the cross-over if needed.

 

[303DC]

Me either, unless they are worried about an older Ethernet adapter not automatically switching (crossing-over). In the case of an older Ethernet adapter being used, adding a modern switch would automatically make the cross-over if needed.

Exactly... and the hardware on my computer is gigabit, so yeah, that's interesting.

 

[greysquirrel]

Re:hp recomending switch...its easier for them to troubleshoot over the phone...a monkey can troubleshoot a switch...power off power on...green means go...

 

[303DC]

Re:hp recomending switch...its easier for them to troubleshoot over the phone...a monkey can troubleshoot a switch...power off power on...green means go...

Haha, you're probably right. Truth be told, I used to be a networking tech for a few years and know quite a bit about it, so I had a bit of a laugh when he tried telling me a hub would be better because it reduces a "funnel effect". I just sort of said "oh, okay, thanks". No point in arguing with the guy, he's just doing his job.

 

[dypinc]

I just got off the phone with HP, and they apparently recommend having a hub/switch in between the printer and the computer for some reason, and recommend against a crossover cable for larger print jobs. That doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me.

They are right you should NOT be running a high bandwidth network connection through a router. Also set a static IP on the printer. If you have a router dishing out IP addresses connected to the switch be sure to reserve the IP of the printer in the router setup so that it does not try to assign that IP address to something else.

Another option is if you have two network ports on your RIP computer you can connect it directly to the printer. Assign different static address to both those ports, with subnet mask being the same address but different from your other network.

We used crossover cables way back in the nineteen hundreds, but almost all current network ports auto-switch if a direct connection is used. Crossover cable were only used for direct connection back then and never needed used when going through a router or switch.

 

[303DC]

They are right you should NOT be running a high bandwidth network connection through a router. Also set a static IP on the printer. If you have a router dishing out IP addresses connected to the switch be sure to reserve the IP of the printer in the router setup so that it does not try to assign that IP address to something else.

Another option is if you have two network ports on your RIP computer you can connect it directly to the printer. Assign different static address to both those ports, with subnet mask being the same address but different from your other network.

We used crossover cables way back in the nineteen hundreds, but almost all current network ports auto-switch if a direct connection is used. Crossover cable were only used for direct connection back then and never needed used when going through a router or switch.

Right, but most run of the mill routers and switches these days are cheaply made Chinese crap that are flaky at best. This crossover cable that you claim is "ancient technology" is still in use to this very day because it's a failproof method of connecting one device to another.

Sorry, but you make no sense and contradicted yourself. "They are right you should NOT be running a high bandwidth network connection through a router." then you go on to say, "Crossover cable were only used for direct connection back then and never needed used when going through a router or switch.".

So yeah, there's that. lol

 

[dypinc]

Right, but most run of the mill routers and switches these days are cheaply made Chinese crap that are flaky at best. This crossover cable that you claim is "ancient technology" is still in use to this very day because it's a failproof method of connecting one device to another.

So what device network ports today do not auto-switch? I haven't seen any for a long time now and I am sure your L310 port will auto-switch.

Sorry, but you make no sense and contradicted yourself. "They are right you should NOT be running a high bandwidth network connection through a router." then you go on to say, "Crossover cable were only used for direct connection back then and never needed used when going through a router or switch.".

So yeah, there's that. lol

Nothing said here advocating connecting your printer to a router, only statement was about not needing crossover cables when connecting to a router.