[ale] Networked Printer Problem

[aaron]

theacrossI have an Apple LaserWriter 12/640 PS connected via ethernet on my 
Mac OSeX / Linux / windBlows 98 home network, and the thing HAD been working 
fine for me for about a year. In fact, it was working well enough that I just 
bought a new $120 toner cartridge in hopes that my original $70 investment 
will keep printing for another couple thousand pages.

Recently, the device seems to be the cause of some severe traffic jams  my 
DLink  740p  gateway router and  Netgear 10/100 switch. When the printer is 
plugged in and turned  on, the traffic indicators on the routing boxes start 
strobing and even intermittently flash out, and attempts to load any net 
pages on any of the systems will time out or fail to resolve the DNS . The 
LED on  printer's network adapter, however, does not indicate traffic. 

I've been trouble shooting this for a while without success, including:
 -- checked all net cabling, reseated all connections and swapped out the 
printer's special RJ45<>Mac custom ethernet connector adapter with a known 
good unit. 
 --Tried various printer / router / system / switch connection combos, 
including connecting only one machine plus the printer to the gateway and 
connecting with a different 10/100 switch.
 --Updated the gateway router firmware to it's latest incarnation. Variously 
reset and fiddled with DHCP server settings and tried mapping the printer mac 
as a fixed address, etc.

I just confirmed that the printer's ethernet IS working, as I was able to 
directly connect the printer to my eMac, then read and update the printer 
configuration through the Apple Printer Utility software.

This is looking to me like some bizarre address or DHCP conflict, possibly 
some hack, but I can't do much tracing since the printer loads the network 
down.

Any suggestions that might help solve this problem?

with appreciation,
peace
aaron