Wireless Network - Cant Print..

About a year ago i bought a WRT54GS wireless router for my pc.....this
installed absolutely fine and my 2 kids are able to get great internet
access from anywhere in the house using their laptops.

Great stuff so far.............. .....i was given a Wireless G USB Network
Adapter as a freebie with the above purchase.

Im under the impression that this is what i need for the laptops to print
stuff using the printer attached to my main pc.
I have googled for info but just cannot crack it....It all sounds so simple
but when i try anything, nothing works.

I made sure printer was set for sharing.....then the laptops pick up the
signal but i cannot get them to send something for printing......
I installed the printer cd on the laptops....not sure if this was right cos
it seems to assume that the printer is on LPT1: how do i alter this.

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Dave

DB wrote:
> About a year ago i bought a WRT54GS wireless router for my pc.....this
> installed absolutely fine and my 2 kids are able to get great internet
> access from anywhere in the house using their laptops.
>
> Great stuff so far.............. .....i was given a Wireless G USB Network
> Adapter as a freebie with the above purchase.
>
> Im under the impression that this is what i need for the laptops to print
> stuff using the printer attached to my main pc.
> I have googled for info but just cannot crack it....It all sounds so simple
> but when i try anything, nothing works.
>
> I made sure printer was set for sharing.....then the laptops pick up the
> signal but i cannot get them to send something for printing......
> I installed the printer cd on the laptops....not sure if this was right cos
> it seems to assume that the printer is on LPT1: how do i alter this.

Assuming you're running Win2K or WinXP. If you're on Vista, you'll have
to stumble through that nightmare OS yourself...

Start, control panel, printers & faxes.

DELETE any existing reference to your printer

"Add Printer"
"Network printer"
"Browse for a printer"

you should get a list of available printers. If your printer isn't
there, you haven't configured the desktop right.

Check the firewalls on both the lappy and desktop are set to allow MS
File & Print Sharing through. To test this, turn the firewalls off - did
the printer appear in the list on the laptop? If so, check the f/w
settings. Hopefully you know how to configure them.

Next: did you enable printer sharing on the desktop, AND share the
printer out? Right-click on the printer, Select Sharing... and make sure
its set up. If the sharing option is greyed out, you probably don't
havea the service installed or running. right-click on your network card
in Control-panel, Networks... and ensure that File and Printer sharing
for Microsoft Netowkrs is enabled.

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:14:41 GMT, "DB" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Any help would be hugely appreciated.

What operating systems are running on the main PC and the 2 laptops?
John Jones, Detroit

Hi....

Both are running windows XP.........

The printer is set for sharing on the main pc........does this mean
anything..the printer is attached via USB to main pc...

I ask the Laptops to look for a printer and nothing returns,,,,the wireless
connection strength is excellent but it can find the printer. Am I misssing
something basic ?

Does wireless on a laptop mean "receive" only ?

Thanks again

Dave

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:10:57 GMT, "DB" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I ask the Laptops to look for a printer and nothing returns,,,,the wireless
>connection strength is excellent but it can find the printer. Am I misssing
>something basic ?

Have you looked at the things Mark M. asked you about in his message
on Tuesday evening?
John Jones, Detroit

I did try but i still cant suss it.....

One thing...do i need to use the USB Network adapter as the lappys have both
got wireless cards in them ?

Cheers

Dave

DB wrote:
> I did try but i still cant suss it.....

Did try what? Please keep some context with your messages. It might be
ok to snip everything in a personal letter, but in busy technical
groups, you cant expect people to keep all the conversations in their heads.

> One thing...do i need to use the USB Network adapter as the lappys have both
> got wireless cards in them ?

If they already have wireless cards, and the cards work, then get rid of
the dongle.

But first, please try printing when the laptops arae connected via WIRED
connections. If that doesn't work either, your problem has nothing to do
with wireless.

"DB" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:RU_2j.54211$(E-Mail Removed). uk...
> About a year ago i bought a WRT54GS wireless router for my pc.....this
> installed absolutely fine and my 2 kids are able to get great internet
> access from anywhere in the house using their laptops.
>
> Great stuff so far.............. .....i was given a Wireless G USB Network
> Adapter as a freebie with the above purchase.
>
> Im under the impression that this is what i need for the laptops to print
> stuff using the printer attached to my main pc.

If the laptop ALREADY have wireless why would they need to add something
else?

If you have the printer attached to the PC then setting it up as shared
should be sufficient.

There are any number of networking issues that could be interferring. Least
of which being WORKGROUP settings on the PCs. They should all be set the
same.

But try this first, get the IP address of the PC that has the printer
attached. The simplest way to do this is 'Start->Run->cmd' and then use the
command line 'ipconfig' This will run the ipconfig program in a command
shell. This will show you the PC's current IP address. You can use the
command 'ipconfig /all' to get greater detail if needed.

Then take that IP address to the laptops and use this
'Start->Run->\\1.2.3.4' where 1.2.3.4 is replaced with the IP address of the
PC, discovered using ipconfig. This should pop open a file explorer window
on the laptop. There should be printers listed in that window. You should
be able to right-click on them and 'Connect' the laptop to that printer.

> I made sure printer was set for sharing.....then the laptops pick up the
> signal but i cannot get them to send something for printing......
> I installed the printer cd on the laptops....not sure if this was right
cos
> it seems to assume that the printer is on LPT1: how do i alter this.

It's OK to have installed the printer software on the laptops (well, usually
it's OK). But you'll probably want to open the Printer control panel on the
laptops and just delete any printer reference the installer created. The
driver can be on on the disk without one being set up. It may help in
dealing with the sharing later. Otherwise the 'Connect' command suggested
above would attempt to copy it from the source PC sharing it out.

Try the \\a.b.c.d viewing and report back if that works.

-Bill Kearney

Thanks everyone for the help......im still not there but will list all my
settings so that it might point to something wrong....

I still cant get the printer to be detected on the laptops........

All it shows is MSHOME....but no epson printer.

Dave


"Bill Kearney" <wkearney-99@hot-mail-com> wrote in message
news:7ZadnRc_x-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "DB" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:RU_2j.54211$(E-Mail Removed). uk...
>> About a year ago i bought a WRT54GS wireless router for my pc.....this
>> installed absolutely fine and my 2 kids are able to get great internet
>> access from anywhere in the house using their laptops.
>>
>> Great stuff so far.............. .....i was given a Wireless G USB
>> Network
>> Adapter as a freebie with the above purchase.
>>
>> Im under the impression that this is what i need for the laptops to print
>> stuff using the printer attached to my main pc.
>
> If the laptop ALREADY have wireless why would they need to add something
> else?
>
> If you have the printer attached to the PC then setting it up as shared
> should be sufficient.
>
> There are any number of networking issues that could be interferring.
> Least
> of which being WORKGROUP settings on the PCs. They should all be set the
> same.
>
> But try this first, get the IP address of the PC that has the printer
> attached. The simplest way to do this is 'Start->Run->cmd' and then use
> the
> command line 'ipconfig' This will run the ipconfig program in a command
> shell. This will show you the PC's current IP address. You can use the
> command 'ipconfig /all' to get greater detail if needed.
>
> Then take that IP address to the laptops and use this
> 'Start->Run->\\1.2.3.4' where 1.2.3.4 is replaced with the IP address of
> the
> PC, discovered using ipconfig. This should pop open a file explorer
> window
> on the laptop. There should be printers listed in that window. You
> should
> be able to right-click on them and 'Connect' the laptop to that printer.
>
>> I made sure printer was set for sharing.....then the laptops pick up the
>> signal but i cannot get them to send something for printing......
>> I installed the printer cd on the laptops....not sure if this was right
> cos
>> it seems to assume that the printer is on LPT1: how do i alter this.
>
> It's OK to have installed the printer software on the laptops (well,
> usually
> it's OK). But you'll probably want to open the Printer control panel on
> the
> laptops and just delete any printer reference the installer created. The
> driver can be on on the disk without one being set up. It may help in
> dealing with the sharing later. Otherwise the 'Connect' command suggested
> above would attempt to copy it from the source PC sharing it out.
>
> Try the \\a.b.c.d viewing and report back if that works.
>
> -Bill Kearney
>