Maximum PC

I have a DLink DIR-655 router that I purchased mainly because it had a USB port that could be used for storage or printers (or so I thought). Storage devices (like external USB Hds work fine on the USB port. Printers don't work so well, even though DLink advertises this).

My biggest complaint about this is that there is a "bug" in their SharePort system that causes it to not work about 95% of the time on 64-bit machines (Windows Vista/Windows 7). Now, some people have gotten it to work, but only with a limited level of success.

What irritates me is that this IS a problem that people are complaining about on the Internet, and since most machines these days are 64-bit Windows, this could be a problem. In fairness to DLink, it did work fine when my machines were running XP 32-bit. NO problems. But when I upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit, none of them can print correctly. And it's not the printer, because when I plug the USB cord directly into the computer, it prints fine. From the router, it only prints half a page and then stops or prints a bunch of garbage.

Frustrating. I've tried everything from firmware updates to re-installing the printer drivers and SharePort to no luck.

I liked (and somewhat still do) like D-Link routers. They offer decent performance for the price, but maybe should have purchased the high-end model or maybe gone with a NetGear or something. Now I have to look into either putting the printer on an always-on PC and sharing it that way (a pain) or getting a USB print server (also a pain, and can be expensive, plus I waste 1 NIC port on the router for that).

It's sad though because DLink advertises that the router will act as a print server too for USB printers, but I have yet to get it to work with my Win7 64-bit machines, and their latest SharePort 3.1 release doesn't help form what I can see...

I'm just a little frustrated and angry at D-Link now....

I just recently purchased a DLink wireless print server for my brother and his wife and the most frustrating thing that I found with both the DLink router and wireless print server that they have is the fact that whenever I updated the firmware for either device, I had to reset all of the settings (username, password, security type, encryption level, etc.) in order to get them set up properly to work with the Canon printer that I bought the print server for. I have never had to do that with the Linksys router and wireless print server that I have on my home network.
As for 64-bit OSes, I can sympathize with your frustration there as well. A lot of networking equipment manufacturers (and other vendors) seem to be dragging their feet in getting their equipment to work with 64-bit operating systems, despite the fact that these OSes are becoming more mainstream in the way of driver and application support.

For updating the firmware, it doesn't surprise me that you have to reset everything, because by default, a firmware upgrade should reset everything back to their defaults (which is also a good thing to do anyway when you upgrade the firmware on anything, including your BIOS on your computer). Then go through and re-customize everything to your liking.

As to the 64-bit issue with my DLInk, I'm going to simply put a cheap older Pentium 3 (low power) computer (running WinXP Pro) as a print server for the time being, since I know this will work for sure. Nice thing about this is that I can network multiple USB devices from this computer. Bad thing is that I'm essentially "wasting" a somewhat useful computer for dumb tasks.

Just some FYI, the Belkin F5D8235-4 is apparently the twin for that D-Link unit, cuz it has all the same issues, which is very deceiving at the short end, and very frustrating at the other. My fiance had that belkin unit before I moved in and it wasn't long before I switched it out for my Trendnet, which may not have the USB option, but is still 100x better all around.

My solution (for now) is to run an older P3 (small mini computer I have sitting around) to run as a print server. A bit extensive for the task, but I know it will work, and it won't really cost me that much. I mean, the real way to go is to get a good print server, like an HP JetDirect or something like that, or just get a printer that has the NIC port already built in, but my all-in-one is doing just fine as it is, so I don't care to spend money to replace it just yet...

Hopefully, DLink will fix the issue, which seems to be with their SharePort utility and Windows 64-bit OSes (not sure if Vista 64-bit is affected, but from what I read, Win7 64-bit is definitely (note that it is spelled correctly) effected, and I can attest to this first hand).

I just sort of hate my idea because it wastes a perfectly good computer for stupid tasks, but it's probably what I'll do for now until I get another printer.