Wireless Laptop to a wired network printer

cbuchach · 03-14-2011, 03:37 PM

So it's been quite a while since I've been on Anandtech but have run into a problem I can't solve.

I recently purchased a Samsung 3312ND laser printer and plugged it into my wired network. The printer is wired into a DLink655 wireless router. I initially used DHCP but have subsequetly set up the printer static with a 192.168.0.160 IP and the same subnet and gateway as my home network.

I ran the Samsung setup program on my main wired machine and found the printer without any problem and works great.

I did the same thing on the wireless laptop and cannot find the printer. The setup software allows you to directly enter the IP or name and tried both, neither worked. Disabled the firewall with no go. I also tried directly adding using the windows 7 add printer specifying the IP address and does not work.

So what I am doing wrong--how can I get the wireless laptop to see the wired printer?

I have temporarily shared the printer through my wired computer and homegroup and the laptop can print to the printer that way, but the whole point of the network printer was to be able to print directly to the printer bypassing any computer.

JackMDS · 03-14-2011, 04:10 PM

What type of Firewall you have?

Did you install the Printer's utility as well?

cbuchach · 03-14-2011, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackMDS

What type of Firewall you have?

Did you install the Printer's utility as well?

The laptop only uses Windows Firewall and I disabled that. The router of course uses NAT. I installed the printer's software and driver on my wired machine. I could continue the install of the printer's software on the laptop, but it advises against it as it does not detect the printer during its setup.

JackMDS · 03-14-2011, 04:42 PM

Try the laptop via wire too.

cbuchach · 03-14-2011, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackMDS

Try the laptop via wire too.

Just plugged it into the network and installed the printer and it immediately found and installed the printer. Printed a test page and it worked.

Then pulled the network cable and initialized the wireless connection. The print job fails and the Samsung printer driver says the Port is not connected.

cbuchach · 03-15-2011, 03:23 PM

To get more basic--I assume it should be possible to print to the wired printer from the wireless laptop--correct?

postaled · 03-15-2011, 03:43 PM

Why not just share the printer from your desktop?

cbuchach · 03-15-2011, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by postaled

Why not just share the printer from your desktop?

That is what I am doing for the time being. My goal for the network printer however was to have the printer available even if my desktop machine is off.

owensdj · 03-15-2011, 06:54 PM

To answer your later question, yes you shouldn't have any trouble printing from a wireless laptop to a network printer connected to ethernet.

What TCP/IP settings does your laptop get when it's using wireless? Make sure the IP address is on the same subnet(192.168.0.x) as the wired devices. Can you ping the IP address of the printer when you're connected by wireless?

JackMDS · 03-15-2011, 07:08 PM

If the Printer is connected directly to the Wireless Router (wire or Wireless).

A Wireless computer that connects to the Wireless Router should be able to print.

To print directly form a Wireless computer to a Wireless printer (not through the Wireless Router) the Wireless has to be configured to Ad-Hoc and it losses the general network connection.

cbuchach · 03-15-2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by owensdj

To answer your later question, yes you shouldn't have any trouble printing from a wireless laptop to a network printer connected to ethernet.

What TCP/IP settings does your laptop get when it's using wireless? Make sure the IP address is on the same subnet(192.168.0.x) as the wired devices. Can you ping the IP address of the printer when you're connected by wireless?

So the laptop is set to DHCP and is currently assigned 192.168.0.199, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, Gateway 192.168.0.1. Printer: static IP 192.168.0.160, subnet 255.255.255.0, Gateway 192.168.0.1.

I was able to ping the printer with the wired computer.
Ping does not respond with the wireless computer.

cbuchach · 03-15-2011, 09:35 PM

OK--I figured it out. In the router's log, the MAC address of the printer was being denied access to the network. I had MAC address filtering turned on (I thought it only applied to wireless devices). Turned it off and the wireless laptop found the printer.

I still am not quite sure how the wired computer found the printer however. Thanks for the help.