Strange Printer Networking Issue

Carskick · February 25, 2009, 13:35 hrs

Hello,

A customer of mine had me do some work for here yesterday, and I ran into a strange issue. When I try to print from her laptop to her desktop, the printer just runs through a page of paper, but doesn't print anything.

Both systems are Windows XP SP2, the printer is an HP PSC1315, and I got the driver for the printer from HPs site, so it is the latest one. Printing from the desktop yields a proper print. The printer is hooked up to the Desktop via USB, and shared over the network. The desktop is wired to a netgear router, and the laptop is wirelessly connected to the netgear. The laptop has a Belkin 54G PCMCIA wireless card I just put in it. All other network functions work fine.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Mark H · February 25, 2009, 13:50 hrs

Is a firewall on the desktop not letting the laptop have complete access to it? Since you stated all network functions are fine, I am guessing it is not the case, but it is worth looking into.

Have you checked the laptop's printer spooler to make sure it is working properly?

Mark H

halokid · March 01, 2009, 17:03 hrs

perhaps try a updated printer driver?

Carskick · March 01, 2009, 19:44 hrs

Mark, I didn't think about that. I'll have to check and see if she has a firewall. I thing she had McAfee suite, not sure what it entailed. Still strange that it would get through to the printer, but just as a blank page?

Halokid, I got the latest driver from HP's site.

Thanks all. Any other ideas?

scuzzy · March 01, 2009, 21:49 hrs

You might try accessing the printer settings from within the laptop's printer driver and check the settings there.

If nothing is out of the ordinary, or if you can't access the settings, then delete the printer from the laptop and try reinstalling it.

Carskick · March 02, 2009, 00:09 hrs

Quote from: scuzzy on March 01, 2009, 21:49 hrs
You might try accessing the printer settings from within the laptop's printer driver and check the settings there.

If nothing is out of the ordinary, or if you can't access the settings, then delete the printer from the laptop and try reinstalling it.

I checked the settings on the laptop, the emulation ports it was using, driver versions, etc. nothing seemed out of the oridinary. I tried reinstalling it about 4 times trying a slightl different method each time. Same results. :(

mbaldw · March 03, 2009, 07:07 hrs

How did you install the printer? I've found that installing the printer as a local (i.e. USB) device on the computer and then changing the port works better than installing it as a wireless printer per se. In other words, I usually have more luck plugging the printer into the laptop via USB and installing it as normal, then going into the printer's Properties > Ports and changing the port from USB/LPT to be a networked one (i.e. \\Desktop_PC\printer).

Cheers,
Marc.

Carskick · March 06, 2009, 12:48 hrs

Hmm, I could try that next time I am at her house. Basically what I did, and usually do, is install the printer driver on the computer that is not connected to the printer, and when it asks for the printer, I tell it I will connect it later, and it finishes installing without detecting the printer. Then, I go to the printers, and add the printer over the network. Generally it finds the driver I just installed automatically, and it did so in this case as well.

I don't know when I'll be over there next, but I will definitely give that a try.

Jamie

Mark H · March 06, 2009, 13:55 hrs

I install my networked printer as a local printer attached to the PC. I then choose to add a new standard TCP/IP port, which is the networked one. This works on Windows XP and Vista. It is the same thing Marc does, but I do it more directly meaning I don't have to go back to change the port later.

Mark H

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Strange Printer Networking Issue