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  • Wireless printing (sorta)

    My wife's laptop connects to our network via wireless (secure and locked on - LinkSys router). The printer we have (Office Jet J6480) is wired to the router.

    My computer can print anytime to the printer with no issues but...

    My wife's laptop always displays that the printer is offline so when she prints it gets put into the queue and never printed.

    She complains to me and I go into the printer properties on her laptop, right click the printer, and select "use offline" and then the print jobs get printed.

    A week later, when she tries to print, the same thing happens. I can't find anything in the settings that would cause this (and I used the CD to install the printer drivers).

    Any sugestions? Her connection to the internet is fine and she is not connecting to another WiFi (we have several in the neighborhood - many unsecured).

    Edit: Someone suggested disabling DHCP on my router - I did that to see if it works or not.
    Last edited by draggar; 01-08-2009, 11:43 PM.
    Quote Dalesys:
    ... as in "Ifn thet dawg comes at me, Ima gonna shutz ma panz!"

  • #2
    Hmmm that's certainly strange... off the top of my head I'd guess that something is happening like the laptop is sending a request for the printer's status and then not getting anything back. The first thing I'd check is the connection's reliability, specifically looking for lost packets... there are various "net monitor" tools that will tell you this information. My initial thoughts are that *possibly* the wi-fi isn't getting a 100% signal and losing packets. For TCP/IP (aka the Internet), the protocol has built in rules to resend the packet if no acknowledgement and to expire old packets.... but Windows Networking (which I assume the Printer is connected via) is it's own protocol and not TCP/IP and might act differently... on the other hand you did say the Office Jet was wired... and it might just default to TCP/IP to avoid exactly that.

    Another thought is that possibly the firewall on the router isn't set up properly to allow data between the laptop connection and the printer.
    Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart!

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    • #3
      Just a had a thought: You say you have to tell the laptop to work online again.

      Is there a possibility that your wife takes the laptop outside of wireless range, and during that time Windows tries to contact the printer (and MS Word is notorious for needing to know about the printer) and marks it offline since it can't connect?

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      • #4
        My money is on firewall software on her laptop. Open the ports the print drivers use and see what happens.

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        • #5
          My money is that it's not properly set up. Have you tried hooking the printer up to the desktop and setting up the networking that way?

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          • #6
            I have some computers that are wired to the hub and print fine with it, it's only this laptop when connected wirelessly. I may try my work laptop - connect it wirelessly and see if it works this way but I don't think I'd be able to leave it long enough for the isue to start up.
            Quote Dalesys:
            ... as in "Ifn thet dawg comes at me, Ima gonna shutz ma panz!"

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            • #7
              Can you do a ping to the wireless printer? Or Router?
              try doing an endless ping and see how often it faults.

              Is this a shared printer (having to log into another machine & then print) or is it a networked printer, having it's own IP?

              Cutenoob
              In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
              She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

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              • #8
                No issue with connectivity to the router - she always has internet access, it's just the printer.

                Oddly, today she printed for the first time in a day or two and it printed fine.
                Quote Dalesys:
                ... as in "Ifn thet dawg comes at me, Ima gonna shutz ma panz!"

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