changing printers on jetdirect ipx?

[Tony]

I aplogise for my naivety in this question.

A peer to peer network of about 30 Win98 PCs are all printing to a HP
4100 printer using JetDirect via IPX - not TCP/IP. If I have to
replace the printer (with the same model), or the network card in the
printer, do I have to alter all the PCs to point to the new printer's
MAC address or can I use the Name of the printer to replace that of
the old one. I.e. do I have to alter all 30 PCs or just the new
printer?

I FEAR that I will have to alter all the PCs if the IPX only
recognises the printer by its MAC address. Oops! and I thought IPX was
such a neat way to set them up!

TIA for advice/experience.

Tony
remove xxx to reply by email.

[Ben Myers]

Tony,

I don't remember much any more about IPX. Does it have some sort of addresses
similar to IP? If so, then MANUALLY set up the printer's JetDirect card with
the same addressing as the card it replaces. If not, I would suggest using HP's
Install Network Printer Wizard software to set up the new printer, using the Mac
address of the new JetDirect card. This might be a real pain though, because
you would have to repeat it 30 times.

If you are replacing the printer with the same model, swap the old JetDirect
card into the new printer, assuming that the old JetDirect card is still working
OK. When I've been able to use the same model of JetDirect card in old and new
printers, I have saved myself a lot time configuring JetDirect cards when
swapping in a new printer by installing the old card in the new printer. This
is 1000% faster than manually entering in the network parameters from the
LaserJet control panel, altho I suppose the Install Network Printer Wizard could
also do the job quickly by accessing the JetDirect via its MAC address.

I hope some of this helps. I just don't do any Netware any more... Ben Myers

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 21:39:00 +0000, Tony <tony_brown@esatxxxclear.ie> wrote:
I aplogise for my naivety in this question.A peer to peer network of about 30 Win98 PCs are all printing to a HP4100 printer using JetDirect via IPX - not TCP/IP. If I have toreplace the printer (with the same model), or the network card in theprinter, do I have to alter all the PCs to point to the new printer'sMAC address or can I use the Name of the printer to replace that ofthe old one. I.e. do I have to alter all 30 PCs or just the newprinter?I FEAR that I will have to alter all the PCs if the IPX onlyrecognises the printer by its MAC address. Oops! and I thought IPX wassuch a neat way to set them up!TIA for advice/experience.Tonyremove xxx to reply by email.