Troubleshooting a wireless printer

[mastrog]

Hello all,

Just wondering if anyone had any advice for the following problem.
We attended to a customer who had recently bought a HP Photosmart wireless printer. They were trying to get it setup via a wireless Belkin router, to print wirelessly via a Vista laptop.
We followed the instructions in the user manual, and we couldn't get the printer to 'see' the network...When looking for the SSID, the network name wouldn't even come up.
We moved the printer close to the router (about 6 meters), and nothing. It would discover other networks, but not the home network!
There was a cordless phone next to the router, which we didn't remove, but could this possibly be interfering with it?
We would like to resolve this for the customer, but we already spent too much time on it, and they didn't want to continue to spend more money on it.

Please post any experiences you have had with wireless printers.

Thanks!

[MHCG]

Is the router set up to broadcast the SSID?

[mastrog]

Yep. The Vista laptop was able to connect to it no problems...

[Bryce W]

Its possible the printer doesnt support the encryption method that the router uses. Ive had similar situations where the security method wasnt supported (it only took WEP) so the AP didnt show up at all. Try removing the security on the router temporarily. Also, of course, make sure other devices can see the wireless network to make sure its working.

[mastrog]

We did try turning off the security completely, but no result.

[Jory]

I hate those wireless HP printers with a passion. I've seen them drop the wireless connection for no reason, and won't reconnect no matter what you do. I screwed with one for over an hour on site, and then it just started working by itself.

You should check the network diagnostics. It should print of a page with all your settings that you can check against the computer to make sure it's correct. If it's never connected before make sure the settings are correct, and if it still doesn't work try running the router in a open configuration and see if it will connect.