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dhrozen

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Unable to print to wireless HP printer from wireless Toshiba laptop running Windows Media Edition

Hello, All...

Am trying to troubleshoot printing issue for a neighbor. Don't have the PC or printer in front of me now, so pls. forgive in advance, if I forget to give any necessary info.  Should be able to get anything I'm missing.


 - They have an 802.11g wireless network (Linksys router), and an HP C7180 All-in-one printer.
 - The laptop "LAPTOP" can access the wireless network and can access the internet.
 - The printer is connected to a desktop machine "OFFICE" via USB.  The Desktop is connected to the Router.
 - The desktop machine "OFFICE" does not appear to have remote access configured. (I did not change this, but suspect it might need to have this so I can share the printer..? )
 - The laptop initally had the printer set up under "printers" area, but was appearing "offline".  
 - If you right mouse-clicked on the printer icon, and chose "use printer online".  No checkmark appeared next to it, nor, did menu change to "use printer offline".. so it appeared to have NO effect whatsoever.

 - In addition, the description under the printer icon had the number "3". (As if there were three docs in queue)  I deleted the printer, but it did not go away.  I rebooted the machine.  Then, it came back up and said "Deleting - Offiline"..  but the count was now down to "2".  I deleted a single print job that was sitting in there, and eventually, after stopping & starting spooler with "net stop spooler / net start spooler commands, was able to remove the printer from the list.  

 - When I checked the original port configuration (before I deleted the printer),  it appeared to be a virtual USB port.. and when I tried to configure it, the system would not let me.

 - I was logged in with a user that had full admin rights.

 - In one attempt to install the printer, I was unable to "browse" the printer.. it did not show up in the network list.

 - I finally re-intstalled it by choosing local printer, unchecking auto-detect, and setting up a TCP/IP port.  I used the IP address of the printer, used the default port it assigned, "IP_192.186.1.101" and left default port 9100 and RAW settings.

 - The printer shows up in the printer list, appears "READY", but when I print to it, it just gives the error that "This document failed to print... "   No other reason or explanation is given.

I am able to ping the printer ip address from the LAPTOP.  I am also able to open a browser window, type in http://192.186.1.101 and it opens the printer configuration pages, so the laptop can see the printer. but it just won't print.

The user had windows firewall turned on, and also Trend Micro's PC-Cillin 2006 - which had a personal firewall on.  I turned off both of these as part of the printer testing, but made no difference.

Printer network config page shows
Network status Ready,
Active Conn. type: Wireless
URL: http:192.168.1.101
Hostname HPE852D6
mDNS: Photosmart C7100 series [E852D7]

802.11 Wireless:
Hardware address: (lists MAC address)
IP address: 192.168.1.101
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Configuration source: DHCP
DNS server (lists IP for DNS server)
Wireless Status: Connected
Communication Mode: Infrastructure
Network Name (SSID) (Lists network name)
Signal Strength: 5
Channel 6
Auth. Type: Open System
Encryption 128-bit WEP
Access point HW address (lists address)
Total packets transmitted 170
Total Packets received: 7316

- Printer also has bluetooth, but we're not using that, and light next to Bluetooth indicator on printer is not lit. 802.11g light on printer is lit.  

Questions:

1. Should I be able to print to this printer from the laptop without having to go through the hard-wired desktop as a print server?  (My suspicion is no, that we would have to enable file & print sharing on this machine, but maybe I'm wrong)

2. Should I be configuring the new port as TCP/IP ?  (with 9100 / RAW) ?

3. Should I be configuring the new port as a virtual USB port again? if so, how do I do this? This choice was not there when I went to add a new printer port.

4. Is there any other firewall or security setting that I might be able to open? Do I need to do anything on the router configuration itself??

Thanks in advance for anyone who wants to help tackle this one.

If there is any other info that would be helpful, pls. let me know.

 - D



Printers and ScannersWireless HardwareWireless Networking

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dhrozen
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dhrozen

ASKER

Hi Turbo12 -

Thanks.. that's what I suspected.  I'll check with them and if they don't want to go the print server route, I'll just share out the printer on the desktop (this is how I usually do it, but wasn't sure if there was another way).

The desktop is running XP Home, the Laptop, Windows ME.  (gaaah).

The virtual USB port was deleted when I deleted the orig. printer (and did not show back up again) so I wasn't sure how to get it back without just attaching some USB device to the laptop to start it off...  

Either way, I'll just try the sharing and then assuming that works (which I am), I'll award the points.  

Thanks for the quick response!

D  : )
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dhrozen

ASKER

Assigning points. Unable to verify solution at this time as family has gone out of the country for three weeks. and don't want to make you wait any longer.  If still a problem, may re-post.  Sorry for the unconfirmed solution.  I suspect sharing will be the correct answer.   : )  Thanks!
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dhrozen

ASKER

Hi.. again, unable to confirm now since family is out of country for three weeks, but believe your answer to be correct.. thank you!
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dhrozen

ASKER

Turbo,
Let me know if you got the points.. I initially clicked on wrong link..(on my own comment!)  then saw a screen that said something like.. explain why you are assigning points to yourself).. I realized I hit something wrong, hit the IE back button, and then accepted YOUR solution (by clicking on the correct link!) but then it didn't say anything about awarding the points!  If you don't get them, let me know and I will see if a moderator can assist getting them to you.

: )
Printers and Scanners
Printers and Scanners

A printer is a peripheral which makes a persistent human readable representation of graphics or text on paper or similar physical media. Traditional printers are being used more for special purposes, like printing photographs or artwork, and are no longer a must-have peripheral; 3D printing has become an area of intense interest, allowing the creation of physical objects. An image scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands" to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse engineering, test and measurement, orthotics, gaming and other applications.

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