HP Laserjet P1102W not seeing wireless

[miguels]

The firmware has been updated, printout says its firmware datacode 20110512

It works fine connected by usb to my new Mac Mini Server

When Trying to print a document from the Ipad, it does not show any printers available, the wireless light on the printer just continually flashes.

Could someone walk me through the setup for this printer in wireless mode

many thanks
Michael

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

What WiFi router do you have? The iPad cannot print to a wireless printer without a WiFi router being present to allocate IP addresses. That router needn't be connected to the Internet but you do need something that can allocate the IP addresses and is a WiFi enabled device.

Tim

 

[miguels]

Hi Tim,
I have a modem and a Motorola WR850G router providing cable wifi to my home. All is working without problems.
The printer is sitting well within range of the wifi but does not have an ethernet port to connect it direct to the router.
I dont know much about this router set, but I did manage to put the MAC address of the printer into the router, but it still cant see a printer.

Michael

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Is this printer able to be connected via USB and WiFi at the same time? I would have thought those would be mutually exclusive. What happens if you disconnect the USB connection? Does the printer then connect via WiFi to the router?

Tim

 

[miguels]

Tim,

It wont see a printer with the usb disconnected.
The printer can print a page of test data, below is an extract of some ofthedata which may mean something to you.

Network information
Status . not connected
Host Name. NP183FD6D
total packets received,transmitted,bad packets received. all zero entries
IPv4 address = 0
IP Subnet Mask = 0
IP Default Gateway = 0
IP configured by = MANUAL
DHCP/BOOTP SERVER = 0.0.0.0
WINS SERVER= 0.0.0.0

IPv6 link local address = no entry in these three lines
IPv6 Stateless addresses =
IPv6 DHCP Addresses =

802.11b/g wireless
Status = enabled
Communication mode = Ad Hoc
Authentication = none(open)

My normal wifi network is secured by WEP and not open.

Software driver 20100406
Firmware datacode 20110512 dated 9 June 2011

Hope this is of some help

Michael

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

OK - that information was helpful because it's set up in Ad Hoc mode. The iPad WiFi cannot communicate in adhoc mode it needs to be setup in 'Infrastructure' mode. Do you have any other WiFi devices on this router at the moment?

Tim

 

[miguels]

Tim,

Yes, I have an ipad2 and a macmini both working ok

Michael

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Yes - so you need to change the setting on the printer so that it communicates in Infrastructure mode. Then it should connect to the router and all should be OK. I'm not familiar with this particular type of printer, so I don't know how to alter the settings to switch it from ad-hoc to infrastructure; presumably there's something in the User Manual.

Tim

 

[miguels]

Tim,

A little progress.
I have discovered that if I remove the USB cable and then print out the printer device config it now says,

Status, enabled
Communication mode, INFRASTRUCTURE
Network name is now correct
Authentication is also correct, WEP

But when trying to print an email from the ipad it still cannot see a printer and the wireless light just keeps flashing on the printer.

All the previous data I sent you is the same.

Michael.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

When you say the wireless light is flashing, do you mean in response to you trying to print - or it flashes all the time whatever you do?

Tim

 

[miguels]

Tim

After the power up sequence, it flashes about ten times, stops for half a second or so, then flashes again ten times etc,etc.

I have just powered down everything including the router and modem and tried again to print an email. - no success

Have also reloaded the printer driver from the original disk. When the driver loads it asks you to choose usb or a network printer, mine does not display any network printers at all, so have tried loading every way possible without any success.

I thought this air print was supposed to be automatic and easy if you bought a HP air print enabled printer which I have done,

Michael

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

The problem seems to be with the printer not connecting to the router for some reason. I don't think it's an iPad related issue at this stage. Can you log onto your router and look on the Administrative pages for WiFi-connected clients? Can the router 'see' the printer? If the router can't see the printer, then it's not getting an IP address and so the iPad has no chance of connecting.

Tim

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Tim,

A little progress.
I have discovered that if I remove the USB cable and then print out the printer device config it now says,

Status, enabled
Communication mode, INFRASTRUCTURE
Network name is now correct
Authentication is also correct, WEP

But when trying to print an email from the ipad it still cannot see a printer and the wireless light just keeps flashing on the printer.

All the previous data I sent you is the same.

Michael.

Does the test page still say 'Not connected' - I'm assuming that it does and that the IP addresses have still not been allocated. This is a printer/router problem, not an iPad problem. Since you can connect to the Internet using your iPad and a WiFi connection to your router, then we know the router is 'handing out' IP addresses successfully. Just a thought..how far from the router is the printer? Are you 'out of range' by any chance....just a random thought...

Tim

 

[miguels]

Tim,

Still says not connected and no IP addresses allocated.
Just to be sure I have moved the printer to three foot away from the router without any change in symptoms
My Mac works fine on the same router and the printer prints perfectly from the macs usb port.

Michael

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

This is weird because (a) clearly your router is handing out IP addresses to the iPad and, when connected by USB, the printer (b) you can connect the iPad to the Internet - hence WiFi is working.....OK, wait a minute - idea!!

OK - you say that the printer has WEP enabled from the test page. So have you entered the WEP authentication key? Clearly the printer needs that key to be able to communicate via WiFi. You must have entered that too to be able to use the iPad on WiFi....

Tim