NEC 870 Won't Change Protocol IP Address

[tbriggs42]

I have a NEC870 printer that was working as a network printer using a
Hawking print server and a Linksys wireless router. The router failed
and was replaced by an Airport Extreme router. While working with the
Linksys, the NEC870 had an IP Address of 192.168.1.102 on my lan. The
airport extreme uses a 10.0.x.x numbering system for the IP addresses
on my lan. Since the NEC870 has a NIC, I wanted to connect the NEC
870 to the Airport Extreme using one of the Extreme's ethernet ports.

The problem is I can't access the NEC870's network
administration,which is usually done by using a web browser and the IP
address of the printer. The printer won't reset to factory defaults.
I have followed the directions in the NEC network user's guide to
reset the printer, i.e., turn off the printer, hold down the operator
panel button and then turn the power back on. The printer still
prints out a network settings page with the IP address from my linksys
lan (192.168.1.102). The second method, using network administration
is not available because there is no longer a 192.168.x.x lan.

I tried turning off the power, disconnecting the NIC, powering up the
printer, then turning off the power, reconnecting the NIC and powering
up again, but the network settings page still reports the same
192.168.1.102 IP address.

Is there some other way to force the printer to return to default
settings? If not, the printer is useless as it can not be connected
to a pc. It's not the best printer ever, but it still has a useful
life and I don't like to discard hardware until it is totally useless.

Would appreciate any ideas.

-Tom

 

[Paul]

I have a NEC870 printer that was working as a network printer using a
Hawking print server and a Linksys wireless router. The router failed
and was replaced by an Airport Extreme router. While working with the
Linksys, the NEC870 had an IP Address of 192.168.1.102 on my lan. The
airport extreme uses a 10.0.x.x numbering system for the IP addresses
on my lan. Since the NEC870 has a NIC, I wanted to connect the NEC
870 to the Airport Extreme using one of the Extreme's ethernet ports.

The problem is I can't access the NEC870's network
administration,which is usually done by using a web browser and the IP
address of the printer. The printer won't reset to factory defaults.
I have followed the directions in the NEC network user's guide to
reset the printer, i.e., turn off the printer, hold down the operator
panel button and then turn the power back on. The printer still
prints out a network settings page with the IP address from my linksys
lan (192.168.1.102). The second method, using network administration
is not available because there is no longer a 192.168.x.x lan.

I tried turning off the power, disconnecting the NIC, powering up the
printer, then turning off the power, reconnecting the NIC and powering
up again, but the network settings page still reports the same
192.168.1.102 IP address.

Is there some other way to force the printer to return to default
settings? If not, the printer is useless as it can not be connected
to a pc. It's not the best printer ever, but it still has a useful
life and I don't like to discard hardware until it is totally useless.

Would appreciate any ideas.

-Tom

The NEC Superscript 870 laser printer manual is here.

http://printers.necsam.com/public/printers/ssnew/ss870/usrguide.pdf

The Ethernet option is a separate installable kit. According
to the instructions here, you have to return the NIC on the
printer, to the "factory" state. (PDF page 4, box in lower left
corner, explains how to reset NIC.)

http://printers.necsam.com/public/printers/ssnew/ss870/870NICQS.pdf

Glossing over the manual, I see the words "bootP" used, and according
to Wikipedia, that is a precursor to DHCP. So what is going to happen,
by the looks of it, is you use the NEC CD that came with the printer,
to see up a bootP server on your PC. The printer, will attempt to use
bootP protocol, and will search the network it is connected to, looking
for a bootP server. Once it finds your PC, it'll acquire the address
that you set up in the bootP server setup software. So, you'd go into
the NEC bootP software, enter a 10.x.x.x private address, and then
the printer should pick it up. Printing the status page on the laser,
should then reflect the new address. (I don't know enough about bootP,
to know whether it is dynamic, requiring the PC with bootP server
to always be available, or the printer is smart enough to store
the address inside its own nonvolatile memory. Judging by your
symptom description, it appears to "remember" who it is.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootp

Paul

 

[Gurney]

I have a NEC870 printer that was working as a network printer using a
Hawking print server and a Linksys wireless router. The router failed
and was replaced by an Airport Extreme router. While working with the
Linksys, the NEC870 had an IP Address of 192.168.1.102 on my lan. The
airport extreme uses a 10.0.x.x numbering system for the IP addresses
on my lan. Since the NEC870 has a NIC, I wanted to connect the NEC
870 to the Airport Extreme using one of the Extreme's ethernet ports.

The problem is I can't access the NEC870's network
administration,which is usually done by using a web browser and the IP
address of the printer. The printer won't reset to factory defaults.
I have followed the directions in the NEC network user's guide to
reset the printer, i.e., turn off the printer, hold down the operator
panel button and then turn the power back on. The printer still
prints out a network settings page with the IP address from my linksys
lan (192.168.1.102). The second method, using network administration
is not available because there is no longer a 192.168.x.x lan.

I tried turning off the power, disconnecting the NIC, powering up the
printer, then turning off the power, reconnecting the NIC and powering
up again, but the network settings page still reports the same
192.168.1.102 IP address.

Is there some other way to force the printer to return to default
settings? If not, the printer is useless as it can not be connected
to a pc. It's not the best printer ever, but it still has a useful
life and I don't like to discard hardware until it is totally useless.

Would appreciate any ideas.

-Tom

What does this have to do with the XP OS? NOTHING.

Ask elsewhere

 

[tbriggs42]

The NEC Superscript 870 laser printer manual is here.

http://printers.necsam.com/public/printers/ssnew/ss870/usrguide.pdf

The Ethernet option is a separate installable kit. According
to the instructions here, you have to return the NIC on the
printer, to the "factory" state. (PDF page 4, box in lower left
corner, explains how to reset NIC.)

As mentioned in my post, I used the NEC 870 Network User's Guide and
followed the instructions on P.7 to restore factory defaults, and it
did not work.

Glossing over the manual, I see the words "bootP" used, and according
to Wikipedia, that is a precursor to DHCP. So what is going to happen,
by the looks of it, is you use the NEC CD that came with the printer,
to see up a bootP server on your PC. The printer, will attempt to use
bootP protocol, and will search the network it is connected to, looking
for a bootP server. Once it finds your PC, it'll acquire the address
that you set up in the bootP server setup software. So, you'd go into
the NEC bootP software, enter a 10.x.x.x private address, and then
the printer should pick it up. Printing the status page on the laser,
should then reflect the new address. (I don't know enough about bootP,
to know whether it is dynamic, requiring the PC with bootP server
to always be available, or the printer is smart enough to store
the address inside its own nonvolatile memory. Judging by your
symptom description, it appears to "remember" who it is.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootp

    Paul

Thanks for clarifying BootP. Before my first post, I had tried the
Network install disk and BootP. BootP won't recognize 192.168.1.102
because it no longer exists. BootP won't recognize 10.0.x.x. I can
only speculate why. My LAN was windows oriented on a Linksys router
and used internal IP addressing in 192.168.x.x range. When the
Linksys failed, I replaced it with an Airport Extreme (because I have
added a Mac Pro to the LAN) and the Airport Extreme uses a 10.0.x.x
range. I have not been able to assign an IP address to the printer in
that range and it has not picked one up from DHCP. While I understand
IP addressing a little, I don't know it well enough, so I thought just
resetting to factory defaults would let me then reassign the printer
to the new LAN IP addressing.

I think you are right about the printer storing the IP address and I
believe the problem is to learn how to make the printer give it up.
Unfortunately, NEC no longer supports printers and they are no help.
When I ran into that wall, I decided to try newsgroups to see if
anyone had an idea of how to get the printer to give up the previously
assigned IP address and take a new one. Neither following the "how to
reset factory defaults" nor BootP work.

-Tom

 

[tbriggs42]

Pardon me, sir, I suppose a rude reply should not receive a rude
reply, so please don't consider this as rude as yours.

It's hard to imagine why a hardware problem on Windows XP does not
belong here. If I didn't specify that I was using Windows XP, I
suppose that might lead to your confusion, but doesn't excuse your
rudeness.

-Tom

 

[JohnO]

Gurney (his latest in about a dozen names over the last six months) is a
troll. Ignore him.

Pardon me, sir, I suppose a rude reply should not receive a rude
reply, so please don't consider this as rude as yours.

It's hard to imagine why a hardware problem on Windows XP does not
belong here. If I didn't specify that I was using Windows XP, I
suppose that might lead to your confusion, but doesn't excuse your
rudeness.

-Tom