Question : I am unable to get a IBM infoprint 1412 network printer to print

Have a network, windows XP service pack 2, behind a Linksys WRTG router.  I have setup 3 network printers.  An OKI laser, a Brother MFC, and this IBM 1412 (lexmark e332n).  The latter has been troublesome.  When I first set it up it worked, but somehow DHCP and BOOTP got disabled and the printer stopped working.  So I reset the printers IP address.  But when I try to connect to that ip address it times out.  The other two printers work fine and there is no problem with the internet.  Do I need to setup a static ip for this printer?  Do I need to first delete the printer icon?  Or port?  Or configure a new tcp/ip port?   If you have any idea's, I would be very appreciative.  And oh by the way, when I first reset the printer's ip I got a standard 192.168.1.108.  And this worked for awhile.  But now, it seems the printer resets to a 192.254.1.104?

Answer : I am unable to get a IBM infoprint 1412 network printer to print

Set up a static IP address for the printer.  I recommend this because:

1. Your computers are (most likely) set up to print to the printer using a Standard TCP/IP port in XP.
2. If your printer changes IP address (as you've described), all of the Standard TCP/IP ports don't change, so all the clients are still trying to connect to the old IP address.
3. If the IP address from DHCP is dropped for whatever reason, there's a chance that the printer's IP address could be assigned somewhere else.

To keep from having to reinstall the printer, etc. you can just create another port for the static address that you've assigned to the printer.  To do this, go to your Printers and Faxes control panel and click on "File" and then "Server Properties".  Select the "Ports" tab and click on the "Add Port" button.  Select "Standard TCP/IP Port" and click "New Port"; from here it's the same wizard that you used before.

Once you've created the new port, go to the printer's properties, click on the "Ports" tab and put a check in the box for the port you've just created.  See what that does.

As a best practice, printers should always have static IP addresses.

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