For all you netowrk experts out there!! Network + Printer Driver problem

lcharm

I've recently moved into a servicd office with my business partner and we've set up a basic wireless network for broadband and wireless printer sharing (using a cable router).

Broadband is working fine but for some reason everytime i disconnect from the network and reconnect, even though the network folder identifies that a printer is on the network, when I go to the print menu on any program & it shows the printer is offline even though it isn't.

I end up having to reinstall the driver everyday i come to the office to be able to print over the network! My business partner is not experienceing this problem for some reason. Any ideas?

I'm using Vista and the printer is a HP Photosmart C7280 All in One if that helps.

kwikbreaks

Have you tried installing the printer through the add printer wizard? That should ensure that the driver software gets installed on your PC correctly.

Can you identify any difference between your (non working) machine and the one that does work? Opsys etc. Is the printer connected to the other machine and just shared or does your router support it directly.

Given that printers are dirt cheap it may be simpler to just buy another from your local supermarket and plug it in directly to your PC.

BTW - I doubt the scanner functions will work across a network so you may need to anyway.

Marley06

Vista is known for this bug, you're not alone.

There's currently no fix for it (that i know of) however, there is an easier way around it, instead of re-installing the printer driver daily.

Simply pop open the run command of your computer (Winkey + R)
and type double backslash, followed by the name of the computer that the printer is connected to (EG the computer called "DESKTOP1") would look like
\\DESKTOP1

You may be prompted to authenticate yourself with a username and password of the computer (part of the problem, with the vista bug). Once authenticated, right click the printer, and click connect.

Vista will then re-authenticate you, and refresh the printer status. It may sound long winded, but really only takes a few seconds, i hope this sorts your problem out,

Lynden

lcharm

Hi Lynden The printer is not connected to a particular computer, it's only connected to a cable router wirelessly as it's a wireless printer so I'm unsure what I would need to type after the double backslash. The printer always shows up on the network sharing folder itself but whenever i select it on Word for example it shows as offline despite it actually being online on the other laptop (which also rruns Vista).