I forgot to mention what I did during my staff deveopment last thursday.
I decided to try to setup and configure an HP JetDirect EX Plus (Model J2382B). I got some useful information, most notably that this model didn’t really function with DHCP, but required BootP. Well who has BootP anymore? Anyway, after some research, a very helpful webpage (it was even on HP’s site – amazing) was found, giving some tools, etc…
Anyway, the original problem was that when the JD (JetDirect) was plugged in, it went through it’s startup mode then seemed to reboot. Then after unplugging the network, the device starts ups, but obviously doesn’t work correctly.
So then I’m thinking to myself: A, the device can’t handle 100Mb networks (it’s pretty old); or B, it’s busted; or C, something else is going on. As mentioned earlier, it was a BootP issue. So the handy-dandy reference site (mentioned earlier) had links to like 4-5 bootp download sites – none of which worked.
After some goofing around and stuff I successfully downloaded a Bootp program, which connected to the JetDirect. Step 1.
At this point I had a laptop and the jetdirect plugged into the 10Mb hub. So then I plugged them both into a 100Mb router – I set the laptop to use the DHCP from the router (don’t worry Travis, it wasn’t on the network…) and the JD should be picking up bootp from the laptop. Anyway, long story short, the JD wasn’t busted, and CAN handle 100Mb, it just couldn’t find a bootp server to tell it who the monkey it was.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we ALL had someone to tell us who we are?