TL;DR: Changed ISP and printer cannot/does not acquire a lease on new
network equipment.

The backstory: I have an HP LaserJet 4050 with an HP 615n 100BASE-T
NIC. I had this working on an AT&T Uverse 2-WIRE router with no
problems and no set-up needed, other than enabling DHCP on the printer.

Then, I moved to an area that is not serviced by Uverse, so I had to go
with cable. My cable modem (which is actually a router) is an Arris
Touchstone Data Gateway. I have 7 computers with 7 different operating
systems, all of which had no trouble acquiring IP leases through DHCP,
but the printer will not or cannot acquire a lease from this gateway.
(So technically this is not a "Linux Question," but I'm asking for a
little leeway here from some network experts!)

I've looked at every setting available through the gateway's web
interface, and even tried setting a fixed IP, but I cannot get an
established link. The printer's status page will show a stall at
"Status: Initializing BOOTP/DHCP IN PROGRESS" The NIC is communicating,
though, as wireshark will show an IGMP message from the printer's default
IP (192.0.0.192) to a couple of different multi-cast addresses.

Any hints in diagnosing are appreciated. If further info is needed,
please let me know.

"7 different operating
systems, all of which had no trouble acquiring IP leases through DHCP" Unless you have run out of leases on this router a normal request for an ip lease ought to work on this unless you have something like HP jetprint maybe.

Guess you could easily set up a computer to supply dhcp and directly connect this to the computer.


Other ideas may be some speed setting oddity, cable gone bad, settings in printer frozen.??

Thanks, jefro. As I understand it, I have a couple of hundred private addresses at my disposal, so that's probably OK. (I only ever have one or two other addresses leased out at the same time, anyway.) I've checked the hardware and cabling, and that is OK as well. Further, I did a factory reset of the printer, and I agree it should just work, just like it did with the previous router, but its not.

Thanks again. Further ideas, anyone?

You did a factory reset of the printer - so why is it then apparently trying to get a lease for its old IP address? Or is "192.0.0.192" its default address after a factory reset? Which would be strange since after a factory reset with DHCP enabled, the machine should not have a default address that it is going to try first.

Try setting the printer's "BOOTP/DHCP"to "NO" and leave "DHCP" option enabled. It looks to be stalling on "Status: Initializing BOOTP/DHCP IN PROGRESS".

If you in fact did not factory-reset your router, check the printer's network configuration and do a "DHCP Release" to make it stop querying your new router for an invalid IP address.

I had a quick look for newer firmware for this printer and it seems firmware upgrades are available only on newer DIMMs to replace the DIMM shipped with the printer. In other words, new firmware cannot be flashed onto the chip; it is available only as a hardware upgrade, most likely to enterprise customers. Interesting; I haven't come across that before. Not sure what else to suggest. Perhaps you could get your hands on another router to supplement or replace your new Arris Touchstone router?

Have you tried a cold reset with the JetDirect card in place? http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/p...pl10822#N1020B

Thanks for your reply, Eric. Yes, 192.0.0.192 is the factory default IP.[1]

Also, I tried turning off BOOTP as you suggest (I used that same guide to try a fixed IP.)
Neither of those configurations (BOOTP or fixed IP) seemed to do anything. There is a separate
support page[2] seemingly squarely on issue, but it was not helpful either.

As a side note, if you look at item 9 of the document you cited, under the section
for the 4050, it advises to leave BOOTP at YES; apparently the server will choose
whichever is correct/needed. At any rate, I tried it again, to no avail.

Your suggestion to release the IP is interesting. Under the "Basic Configurable TCP/IP
Parameters" section in the document you referenced is the comment that "Only if the HP JetDirect
is configured by DHCP" will the option to release the IP address be present. Since
that option is not present for me, we can assume re-setting to factory defaults
has resolved that issue.

Thanks again.


[1] http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/p...mr_na-bpj02738
[2] http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/p...mr_na-bpj06889

Thanks to gezley and alland. Yes, I did a factory re-set, which got me from 0.0.0.0 IP to the factory default of 192.0.0.192; it also got me an odd hostname of "NPIA8323B" (some of which is some of the NIC's MAX address) where the hostname is usually "JetDirect", a subnet mask and a gateway IP (same as IP). However, this didn't lead anywhere.

As to the firmware (I'm really kind of ignorant on networks), but do you think that would be an issue across routers? I don't have an extra router around to try, and I'd rather not spend the money just to test the idea.

Thanks again.

For all the hardcore network guys, here is a sample tshark capture of the printer asking for a lease (I think):

So., clearly the printer is talking, but it appears to be getting no response.

Is this a help?

Since the option isn't present, you can assume that the factory reset caused the printer to revert to a static IP address.

No, that's the printer telling everyone it has the static IP address "192.0.0.192". No DHCP Discovery packets are sent, so obviously the printer never asks for an IP address.

Enable DHCP (or its older sibling, BOOTP) or change the static IP address, netmask and gateway to match your local network.

Great! Now we're getting somewhere - there is no DHCP request and obviously no DHCP ack. But, the printer's BOOTP/DHCP is set to "YES."

HP's Support Center document "HP Jetdirect and Embedded Jetdirect Inside Print Servers - How to Determine, Reset, and Configure an IP Address on an HP Jetdirect Print Server"[1] says, among many other ways to set the IP, that to use DHCP:

So, if the print server, "when turned on for the first time or when it is set to factory defaults...broadcasts BootP and DHCP requests," but that is not happening, the question is, why?

A couple of things to note: (1) the print server was reset to factory defaults; (2) the interface on my LAN that is capturing the Wireshark output will see other DHCP requests from other computers; and (3) I took this printer back (some time ago) to where my old network was still set up (just to make sure something didn't break in the move) and it received a lease from that router just fine.

Is it possible the new router is somehow blocking the DHCP request?



[1]http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-bpj02738

That's a very good question. Perhaps the firmware is slightly buggy, causing it to time out too early? But then whay would it default to 192.0.0.192? Have you tried deactivating DHCP, power cycling the printer, then turn DHCP back on and turn the power off/on yet again? Many JetDirect print servers have to be power cycled before new settings take effect.

No, not really.

Some switches (and routers with built-in switches) run an older version of the Spanning Tree protocol (802.1d), and the default configuration of this protocol introduces a delay of about 30 seconds from a link on a switchport goes active before the switch will start forwarding frames, which can be enough for some older DHCP clients to time out. But if that was the case, you would have seen Spanning Tree frames in Wireshark every 2 seconds.

Have you tried connecting a PC directly to the printer (using a crossover cable if your PC doesn't support Auto MDI-X) and have Wireshark running as you turn the printer on? That will tell you for sure if the printer is sending out DHCP Discover packets.

Apparently, the printer itself is working fine, just not getting a response from the network. Here is a ~2 minute exchange between the printer and the network, with certain irrelevant UDP packets (DNS, NTP, etc.) removed:

Note it started as it should, broadcasting from 0.0.0.0, but never receiving (apparently) an offer from the DHCP server. It automatically shifted from BOOTP to DHCP. Then, the printer's default IP apparently kicks in (I can't explain this, but the HP documents cited earlier clearly state this is the "default IP of the printer") and the multicast DNS packets start flying.

Where does this lead??

It tells you that the printer is sending out multiple DHCP Discover messages, and that the router stubbornly refuses to answer. Are you certain the DHCP scope on the router has more IP addresses available?

Did you pick up these Discover messages by sniffing traffic on another switchport, or did you connect a PC directly to the printer?

Well, my gateway is telling me my DHCP server has addresses from 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.254, so there should be enough?? And yes, I sniffed this traffic on another switchport. Does that make a difference? I'm not sure I know how to connect directly (plug the printer's cable into a computer's card and sniff through lo? Or something else? And I don't know what Auto MDI-X even is!)