After 18 years using Macs I have problem I can't solve and would appreciate any assistance.
My setup is a new Netcomm NB9W wireless router, a Brother MFC-620CN Printer connected to the router by ethernet, my G4 Powerbook wirelessly connecting to the router, and two PC laptops which also connect wirelessly. The router is set to DHCP.

Up until recently I had a Draytek Vigor router and everyting worked fine. Recently I changed to the Netcomm for the built in voip and basically since around that time I cannot find the Brother printer driver that I installed when I go to 'Add A printer'.

I have tried everything - trashing all prefs and reinstalling the software, zapping the PRAM, etc., and yesterday I did a clean install and then reinstalled the printer driver - yet again - but still no, luck. I even connected my Mac to the router directly with ethernet in case the wireless connection to the router wasn't logging the printer when the driver was loading.

Basically if I go to the Printer & Fax control panel the printer literally doesn't appear, so I can't Add it. All the other laptops have no problem printing.

Any ideas anyone? Thanks in advance!

nortius maximus

well first of all .. If you had added the printer beforehand .. there is no way that it was just going to disappear. Unless a hand removed it or perhaps a script changed things.

Secondly what applications have you tried to print from rather than attempts at finding the printer? I found that my first addition of a printer to OS X gave me some qualms in that Printer Utility did not show it.. but I simply went to a text document and asked Text Edit to print.. and print it did.

Can you set an IP address on the Brother printer? If you can, you might be able to set it up as an IP printer. Otherwise, the solution might be to buy a cheap hub and plug everything in to that instead.

try directly connecting your printer to your powerbook via USB and adding the printer that way, then connect to it wirelessly. I have done this before and it then showed up wirelessly.

The problem sounds like the printer isn't getting an IP.

Currawong is right - try to set an IP for the printer. The Netcomm router should have a DHCP client log lis so that you can find the printer. If the printer isn't listed in your client log you can bet it's not getting an IP from the router.

Thanks everyone
The problem isn't with the printer or the IP address - everyone else in the house can print no problem, and I have tried both a static IP and DHCP on the printer.

The problem is actually 'prior' to even the printer - which is why i think it is a strange problem on my Mac itself.

What happens normally when you install this driver (because it is both a USB and Network printer) is that after installing there is a restart and then a dialogue comes up asking if your connection is direct (USB) or Network (LAN etc). You then choose which it is and the printer driver configures itself appropriately. I am not getting the dialogue box after restart and there is the root of the problem. I cannot 'choose' a printer because the driver is not 'configured' during the restart.
Now it MAY be that somehow the Mac's interface with the network (ie via the router) is causing the problem, with not being able to chose which driver to configure. I am still stumped.

I will try connecting direct to the printer with USB and then install as suggsted as my next step.

Any further ideas?
thanks again
nort

have you repaired permissions anywhere in this?