OK.

So I bought a netgear print server from ebay, and want to set it up. According to the manual, it should use DHCP so should be easy to set up. unfortunately it has been assigned a static Ip and I cant re-enable DHCP until I can connect to it. The IP address is 169.254.41.179, subnet 255.255.0.0.

How do i configure my router to be able to connect to the print server? Can anyone out there help?

I doubt the 169 address is static, that's the address range devices (including your Mac) use to make themselves happy when they are set to DHCP, have a network connection, but can't get a DHCP lease.

I presume the router was switched on when you plugged the ethernet into your print server, and that you have also tryed power cycling it? Check your cabling as well. It could (small chance) be a faulty ethernet cable.

Usually there is a reset to factory defaults proceedure, which you should find in the manual. This will bring it back to default config if you think it's a configuration problem.

Thanks for that.

Holding down the reset button on the print server prints out a config sheet. That IP address is shown regardless of whether the print server is plugged into the router or not. I have tried different network cables.

The config of the print server is quite different how it should be (according to the manual). My guess is that the last owner has changed the config file inside the server- which means the factory reset procedure (which i have tried numerous times) only resets back to the settings of this file (if this makes sense?). I know how to change this file back, if only i could see the server on the network!

Plug you mac in directly, and set a manual IP so the first three sections are the same

eg. 169.254.41.2

Make the subnet mask the same, don't worry about the router address

You should then be able to talk to it with a browser (if it has a web interface) or upload a config file according to their instructions.

Good Luck!