Adding 3100cn to Mac

Question

Hi All,
I'm having trouble adding my new 3100cn to my Mac. I'm using a router and my Dell pc has no trouble. I've installed the software on the Mac, but when I go to add the printer (in Printer Setup Utility,) the Add button is ghosted. Have I installed the software incorrectly? I'd appreciate any help.

David

iHeartMacs · Answer

Welcome to the painful world of the 3100cn. You may find this printer to be biggest annoyance ever.

In printer setup, the little printer/plus sign icon 'add' is greyed out? I don't know what might be causing that.

If you can 'add' a printer, you'll need to choose 'IP Printing' from the dropdown list in the window that pops up. Then, you'll want to choose 'LPD/LPR' in the next dropdown list.

You want to put the IP address of the horrible 3100cn in the 'Printer Address' text area, and leave the 'Printer Queue' one blank.

Below that, the printer model dropdown list should show 'Dell'. Choose that, and the window should expand to show 'Dell Laser Printer 3100cn v31........blahblah'

Pick that (It's your only choice, sadly.)

The printer should show up in the printer list. If you want to change the name from the IP address, to something more fitting, like "3100cn - Unsupported, Underpowered, and a PITFA" click on the 'show info' icon, and have at.

Good luck. When I'm the one answering the questions, you'll need it.

davidbenj · Answer

I guess luck was on my side. Once I added the ip address, I was able to click the Add button. Works great now! Thanks for your help! David www.digitalgraphicsdesign.com

iworm · Answer

OK, I think I figured this out. I saw another post where someone used the Xerox Phaser 6100 Mac OS X driver instead of Dell's. I tried to print and this time got the 'print 100 pages of one letter funky characters' printout. Well, at least it was printing something. So, it occurred to me to go back to check my page setup, which relates to a minor OS X gripe I have. Although the print setup says 'standard' page, the page setup listed the 4' X 6' borderless prints I use for the Photo printer. I inadvertantly saved this as the 'standard'. There should be a way to confirm this from the print setup!! Anyway, I changed it to 'US Letter' and it printed just fine! I then re-added the printer with the Dell driver and it printed as well.   In summary, the printer was telling me something was wrong using the Dell driver, but not what (incorrect page setup). With the Xerox driver, the printer was told to 'ignore the problem, just print it'. The good news is that the Xerox driver does work for those having problems with the Dell one. The downloaded Xerox docs indicate it works through CUPS which I'm not very familiar with. I just ran the installer and added it exactly like the Dell one.   Finally, I have the Tiger disk sitting here staring me down. I really want to upgrade, but not at the expense of more printer woes. Can anyone report on experience with Tiger + 3100cn? As much of a headache as this has been, I really do like this printer. Thanks!!

iworm · Answer

I'm in the same boat but not having the same luck getting it to work. Using Panther on my PowerBook, I installed the 3100cn software and added the printer as described. From the mac, things look good. However, from the printer I get an "Invalid Job" message. I also tried connecting using the "Socket/HP Jet Direct" as well as "LPD/LPR". Both give the Invalid Job message. When I use the "Internet Printing Protocol", the file is never sent and I get the endless "Network host is busy" message. From Safari, I can pull up the printer status on the network with no problems. I can also print from other PCs on the network without issues. I just updated with the latest firmware but it didn't help. Any other ideas?

Message Edited by iworm on 05-26-2005 12:43 PM

iHeartMacs · Answer

You shouldn't have any problem with Tiger. I've printed sucessfully to my 3100cn after an upgrade and install. In fact, the configuration was eaiser. If I recall, Tiger found the old driver (save your CD! It's not on the website!) from the Panther install.

Of course, it's taken Dell 2 months, a printhead, transfer roller and 3 drums to fix my 3100 of its various streaks, stripes, and lines, so this week is the first time I've seen it work right.

It still won't allow me to change settings, and still crashes if I try and print from
Photoshop, but hey, it's not like I expect a printer to print...

keatherk · Answer

More trouble here. Will this work? We have a PC with Windows XP and an iMac with OS9.2. Both computers currently share a DSL connection through an ethernet broadband router. We bought the new Dell 3100cn printer hoping to share it between the two computers. So we wired a Linksys print server to the router and connected the print server to the printer with a USB cable. PC printing works fine. We are having trouble setting up or configuring the mac. Linksys does not support the mac. Any suggestions

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Adding 3100cn to Mac

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