Can't see network printer from one PC on network

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JCMII

I have a wired network with 3 and sometimes 4 PCs on it along with an HP
Laserjet 8150DN network printer. Two of the PCs can talk to and print on the
HP printer, but one cannot. The one that cannot see the printer had a new
hard drive put in and Windows XP Pro reinstalled and updated. When I went to
install the printer, I did what I had done on the other PCs, but I couldn’t
print from the newly set up PC. That PC, one of the other PCs, and the
printer are all connected to the same network switch which is in turn
connected to the rest of the network. I tried many things to get this to
work, and one thing caught my attention. I could ping the printer from my
“good†computer, but not from my “bad†computer. That indicated a network
issue rather than a print thing. I can see other shared resources on the
network from the “bad†PC. One thing I also noticed was that the printer IP
address started differently than all the other devices on the network
(printer IP starts with 169.254 and other devices on the network all start
with 192.168) I don’t know if this has any significance. I verified that
TCP/IP was set up the same on the “bad†computer as the “good†computer. The
printer’s IP address is static and everything else is automatic. Any ideas?
Thanks for any help.
 
JCMII said:
I have a wired network with 3 and sometimes 4 PCs on it along with an HP
Laserjet 8150DN network printer. Two of the PCs can talk to and print on the
HP printer, but one cannot. The one that cannot see the printer had a new
hard drive put in and Windows XP Pro reinstalled and updated. When I went to
install the printer, I did what I had done on the other PCs, but I couldn’t
print from the newly set up PC. That PC, one of the other PCs, and the
printer are all connected to the same network switch which is in turn
connected to the rest of the network. I tried many things to get this to
work, and one thing caught my attention. I could ping the printer from my
“good†computer, but not from my “bad†computer. That indicated a network
issue rather than a print thing. I can see other shared resources on the
network from the “bad†PC. One thing I also noticed was that the printer IP
address started differently than all the other devices on the network
(printer IP starts with 169.254 and other devices on the network all start
with 192.168) I don’t know if this has any significance. I verified that
TCP/IP was set up the same on the “bad†computer as the “good†computer. The
printer’s IP address is static and everything else is automatic. Any ideas?
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Check for any firewalls on the "bad" computer, including any antivirus
applications that have something such as "Internet worm protection"
which in fact is a firewall.

Presumably you have a router that is connected to the network switch (or
the switch is part of a router). In any event, somewhere on your network
you have a DHCP server that is assigning your computers IP addresses in
the range 192.168.A.x, where "A" is most likely either 1 or 0. Setting
the printer with a static IP address is a good idea, but it should be in
the same form as the computers on your LAN. You should set the DHCP
server to allocate a limited number of IP addresses, e.g., 192.168.1.100
through 192.168.1.110. Then set the printer to a static IP address
outside that range, e.g., 192.168.1.25.

You may have to then reconfigure the printer driver on *each* of your
computers as follows:

- Right click on the icon for a printer and select properties.
- Select the Ports tab. You'll see a list of ports, like this
screenshot:
http://screenshots.modemhelp.net/screenshots/Windows_XP/Printers/Properties/Ports/Index.shtml
- Because you have an HP printer, the port *probably* is "HP Standard
TCP/IP Port." It may, however, only be a "Standard TCP/IP Port."
- Either way, click on "Configure Port" and ensure that the IP address
is the one that you have set for the printer. If you have the HP version
of the port, you may have the ability to enter a printer name instead of
the IP address as well as a check box to "Always print to this device,
even if its IP address changes." You can check that box, but because
you've set the printer to use a static IP address, it won't matter.

Repeat the above for each printer to ensure that each computer is
directed to the new IP address that you set up for the printer.
 
II appreciate the suggestion. I reset the printer IP upper address to 192.168
and left the bottom two values alone. After that no computer could ping or
see the printer. I reset all the devices on the network to see if DNS would
ultimately resolve the problem, but it persisted. Then, while going through
the printer’s menus I found the “Reset to Factory Defaults†selection, which
I chose. I figured it might go back to the original IP address and I might
get some connectivity back. The new IP address turned out to be 192.168 and
seemed more realistic. I went to the “bad†computer and pinged the printer
and it worked. Then I loaded the printer on the “bad†computer and it
successfully printed a test page. I went to the third computer on the network
in another room and tried to change the port IP address for that printer. It
didn’t work. Then I deleted the printer support and reloaded it. It worked. I
did the same on the “good†computer and now all computers can use the network
printer. Thanks again for the advice.--
Jim
 
JCMII said:
II appreciate the suggestion. I reset the printer IP upper address to 192.168
and left the bottom two values alone. After that no computer could ping or
see the printer. I reset all the devices on the network to see if DNS would
ultimately resolve the problem, but it persisted. Then, while going through
the printer’s menus I found the “Reset to Factory Defaults†selection, which
I chose. I figured it might go back to the original IP address and I might
get some connectivity back. The new IP address turned out to be 192.168 and
seemed more realistic. I went to the “bad†computer and pinged the printer
and it worked. Then I loaded the printer on the “bad†computer and it
successfully printed a test page. I went to the third computer on the network
in another room and tried to change the port IP address for that printer. It
didn’t work. Then I deleted the printer support and reloaded it. It worked. I
did the same on the “good†computer and now all computers can use the network
printer. Thanks again for the advice.--
Jim
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. I'm glad things are working now.

In the future, keep in mind that the first 3 groups of numbers of the IP
addresses should be the same, not just the first 2. That is, 192.168.1.x
or 192.168.0.x.
 
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