A Router/Wireless Router question

I’ve been using for years a reliable Thompson Alcatel Speedtouch 4 port Modem router and I though it’s about time I went wireless. In the Alcatel I have 1 Mac, 2 PC’s (sorry) and an HP network printer. All has worked fine and the PC’s can also use the printer and the internet connection. Fantastic.

When trying out a DLink wireless router, also with 4 ports, nothing can see the printer, although the internet connection is fine for all connected machines. DLink Supprt have said I need to change the IP Address of the printer, which 1.) I’m not sure I can do and 2.) Why should it be necessary when the Alcatel didn’t require this? The DLink is on loan, so I had thought of buying a Netgear modem router. Is this likely to have the same problem?

Thanks for the help.

Kryten.

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I’ve used Linksys here for many many years, and have been very happy with it. I had one other brand (can’t even recall it’s been so long ago) and that died and was replaced under warrantee, but in the interim a friend had loaned me a Linksys. I liked the Linksys so much that I bought one and kept the replacement router as a spare in case of lightning strikes. I’ve had to use it once in that capacity…

Walter

On Jun 2, 2008, at 12:46 PM, Kryten wrote:

I’ve been using for years a reliable Thompson Alcatel Speedtouch 4 port Modem router and I though it’s about time I went wireless. In the Alcatel I have 1 Mac, 2 PC’s (sorry) and an HP network printer. All has worked fine and the PC’s can also use the printer and the internet connection. Fantastic.

When trying out a DLink wireless router, also with 4 ports, nothing can see the printer, although the internet connection is fine for all connected machines. DLink Supprt have said I need to change the IP Address of the printer, which 1.) I’m not sure I can do and 2.) Why should it be necessary when the Alcatel didn’t require this? The DLink is on loan, so I had thought of buying a Netgear modem router. Is this likely to have the same problem?

Thanks for the help.

Kryten.

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Thanks Walt, nice to hear that. I’m not sure that Linksys and DLink are the same are they??

K.

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No, they’re not. Completely different companies.

Walter

On Jun 2, 2008, at 1:03 PM, Kryten wrote:

Thanks Walt, nice to hear that. I’m not sure that Linksys and DLink are the same are they??

K.

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When trying out a DLink wireless router, also with 4 ports, nothing can see the printer, although the internet connection is fine for all connected machines. DLink Supprt have said I need to change the IP Address of the printer, which 1.) I’m not sure I can do and 2.) Why should it be necessary when the Alcatel didn’t require this?

There should be an admin page you can browse to that the router has imbeded in it’s firmware. The DNS routing would be setup there.

Have you tried going through the Print&Fax System settings to set up the printer again as a test?

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Eeerrrr…..thanks Chucka….good point, I thought I had, but I’ll get back to you on this one. I have a feeling the DLink sees the connection but names it as Unknown. I was thinking that DLink support would have known what had to be done, but that’s just me being optimistic LOL.

I’ll check out your suggestion and come back later.

K.

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While I’ve been very happy with Linksys routers in the past I much prefer the Airport Extreme base station I now have (although I would swap it for a Time Capsule). It’s only got three LAN ports but does have a USB one plus a few extra features.

Apple’s AirPort grabs 10.6% share of 802.11n WiFi market tinyurl.com/489d4z

Roger

Roger Houghton Bath, Somerset email@hidden ========================

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Linksys is owned by Cisco now, aren’t they?

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On 2 Jun 2008, 7:54 pm, Joe Muscara wrote:

Linksys is owned by Cisco now, aren’t they?

Yep.

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At 12:46 -0400 2/6/08, Kryten wrote:

When trying out a DLink wireless router, also with 4 ports, nothing can see the printer, although the internet connection is fine for all connected machines. DLink Supprt have said I need to change the IP Address of the printer, which 1.) I’m not sure I can do and 2.) Why should it be necessary when the Alcatel didn’t require this? The DLink is on loan, so I had thought of buying a Netgear modem router. Is this likely to have the same problem?

It depends on how the printer gets its IP address. If it uses DHCP or bootp then it’s a setting in the router or on some computer in the network, that the printer will pick up when switched on. I have an old LaserJet 4 where the IP address is set through the printer front panel. It has to be set to use an address in the subnet that the router allocates to the local network. My Netgear router uses 192.168.0; my first SMC router used 192.168.254, and my first wireless SMC used 192.168.1. The LJ4 would have to be configured manually for each one. A DHCP capable printer would just follow the router.

David

David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK. HP-UX specialist of hpUG technical user group (www.hpug.org.uk) email@hidden www.ivdcs.co.uk

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Thanks David, I’ll have to look into this. I thought it was just going to be a simpler matter! Do you think a Netgear will involve any diddling with the printer’s IP address?

K.

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At 08:52 -0400 3/6/08, Kryten wrote:

Thanks David, I’ll have to look into this. I thought it was just going to be a simpler matter! Do you think a Netgear will involve any diddling with the printer’s IP address?

I don’t think the make of router will make a difference, other than if its default local subnet happens to be the same as the one your printer is set to. All of the three I quoted could have had their local subnet set to any non-routable one (*) - it’s just handy to use the one the router uses after its reset button is pressed.

• = 1 x Class A subnet -10 (hosts 10.0.0.1 to 10.255.255.254) 16 x Class B subnets - 172.16 to 172.31 (hosts 172.16.0.1 to 172.31.31.254) 256 x Class C subnets - 192.168.x (hosts 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.255.254)

David

David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK. HP-UX specialist of hpUG technical user group (www.hpug.org.uk) email@hidden www.ivdcs.co.uk

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Thanks David - I’m completely out of my depth here. Can’t find anything in the Router’s set up that gives me a clue about Printers or their connection/settings. Don’t understand why with the Alcatel it just worked by plugging it in, job done, but with this DLink I have to diddle with it. Pah.

Since the router can’t see the printer, I can’t change the IP anyway. Maybe I should do it through the Alcatel, but I’m not sure it’s an option. The printer btw is 10.0.0.10, whereas the DLink is 192.168.1.1 but when I look at all the settings I really don’t know what I’m looking at. The Alcatel is 10.0.0.138.

Thanks for the advice though. Much appreciated. Maybe I’ll get someone out to look at it.

K.

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This may be a dumn question….but are you using both routers at the same time?

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No at all a dumb question old fruit. No I’m not. I did attach the Alcatel to the DLink and then plug the printer into the Alcatel, but it didn’t work.

I tried using the Alcatel as a switch, but the DLink does not see anything connected to the Alcatel, whether it’s a computer of a printer.

Can’t work this out as it works the other way around using the DLink as a switch with everything connected to the Alcatel. Hope I’m making sense here.

K.

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DO NOT use both. They are both trying to control the ip address, so not a good thing. If you have a way of checking the settings of the Dlink, you need to find out if it is dynamically setting the IP address (DHCP). If it is, then the printer must also be able to accept DHCP addressing.

What kind of printer is it? Does it have a control panel or are it’s controls accessible through a network connection?

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Thanks Chucka. It’s a HP Laserjet 1320n - IP 10.0.0.10 but in order for me access it via Safari I have to disconnect from the DLink and reconnect to the Alcatel. Config is done via IP address. The DLink also accessed by Safari is not very user friendly. I’m sorry but to it talks in gibberish. I’ve had a quick look at the settings in the Dlink and DCHP is enabled.

K.

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Hmm…. Ok, do you have the printer manual, and does it explain the network settings? I took a look at the 1320n manual and there is a minimal amount of info on how to check network connection. It says to “check the network light on the network (RJ-45) connector on the back of the printer”. It says that if one of the lights is on solid then the printer is connected to the network. What do you see?

To enable you to get to the printer controls and use the HP Toolbox software, do you have a hub you can use between the computer and printer temporarily to gets the settings changed? You need to make sure the printer is not set to a single address.

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I just had a thought, how about connecting the printer directly via the USB port and change the settings that way?

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Well yes, it does have one solid light. As a hub presumably I can use my Alcatel router which allows me to connect via 10.0.0.10 and then what do I look for? For instance how would I know if the printer is set to a single address?

Now that you mention it, I don’t recall having a proper manual. Like everything these days it’s either a PDF or bla.bla which in this case it is.

K

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On 3 Jun 2008, 7:25 pm, Kryten wrote:

Well yes, it does have one solid light. As a hub presumably I can use my Alcatel router which allows me to connect via 10.0.0.10 and then what do I look for? For instance how would I know if the printer is set to a single address?

If you only use the Alcatel to get the printer settings changed first, fine. The main thing is to make sure the printer is not stuck on the 10.0.0.10 address. In the HP Toolbox (which is the web app built in to printer, or so their manual implies) you should see a setting options for how it receives it’s address. To get to the printer just browse to the 10.0.0.10 adress. There is a DHCP setting there someplace, make sure it is active, and make sure to save the new settings.

Once that is out of the way you will more than likely have solved the problem.

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Chucka, sincere thanks for the input. Makes good sense. I’ll have a stab at it tomorrow and see if I can’t completely b*gger things up.

What’s your mobile? lol..

Thanks again.

Kryters.

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Just an update to this. All I had to do was HTTP the printer via my old router and change the IP address and Subnet Mask to within the range of the new router and the printer is now usable by all connected machines.

Thanks for all the input gents. Much appreciated.

Kryters

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