Sorry to my regular readers, who are about to take a snooze... I don't usually post techie stuff here but this needs to be recorded for posterity and I don't really have any where else to put it. So here goes:
First of all, make sure this is the printer for you. I haven't used it much but it seems ok. The pages have a pretty pronounced curl when they first come out of the printer but they do flatten. My main objection is that the fan is very loud. It's also a bit disconcerting that the lights dim when the printer wakes up. :) But these are minor things. It prints fast, does duplex and handles legal sized paper, and Consumer Reports rated it very highly for cost-per-page (meaning it's cheap to use, relatively speaking). All good things. I've never had a Brother printer before; I've had several HPs and they have all been like tanks, dependable and lasted forever, but this time I wanted one with built-in wireless and this was the one Consumer Reports liked the best. I know, taking their advice isn't the sure bet it used to be... we'll see how this turns out.
Now, about the install. You need to install the driver from the CD (as of OS X 10.5.7, anyway) but beyond that just disregard the whole thing. The instructions on there are somewhere between incomplete and flat out wrong, and will just waste your time. (note I speak only for OS X; they might be just fine for Windows)
To get the printer actually working, you need this document:
Macintosh - wireless setup without a network cable
I don't know if Brother changes the names of their documents when they update them. If that link doesn't work, try going here:
and look for the document by title. anyway, this is *completely* different from what both the program and the documentation on the CD say, and this works.
Some things to note:
- The process feels something like a magic incantation, and it's easy to skip a step. If it doesn't work, you probably missed something; starting all over from the beginning is generally required if anything goes amiss.
- If pressing "Go" three times doesn't turn the status light amber, it's not going to print the printer settings report; it'll just wake up the printer but not print anything. Just press "Go" three more times and it will work.
- If you aren't able to bring up the "Brother Web Management" screen in your browser, try power cycling the printer. Be sure to wait for it to pick up its IP address before continuing; you can confirm this by printing another report (yes, this process does waste a ton of paper, unfortunately).
- I originally had my Wireless Security (in Airport Utility) set to "WPA2 Personal", but with this setting the printer was unable to connect to my network. I changed it to "WPA/WPA2 Personal" and that worked ok.
- It's not real clear that when you are using WPA for your Authentication Method, the Encryption Mode is TKIP and you can ignore the four WEP Key fields, even though they have default values in them. Just enter your Passphrase (the password needed to connect to your network)
- I don't know what the User ID and Password fields are for but you can ignore those too.
Lastly, I somehow missed the fact that I was following the "without a network cable" directions and had one plugged in (that is, I had an Ethernet cable connecting the printer to my Airport Extreme router). I have *no* idea if that made any difference or not, but if you try doing this without one and it isn't working, maybe it's worth a try.
The printer does seem to have good range; my office is in the front of the house and the Airport is in the back, and so far it's working fine.
That's all - good luck!!!! Feel free to add more tips and tricks in the comments if you feel I missed something.
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