Need help--Connecting a printer to an access point?

Okay, so here's my issue:

I have my main PC downstairs, which is hooked up to my cable modem and wireless router. However, the main computer I use it my laptop, located two floors up. What I want to do is connect my printer, by itself, to the network. Can I do this using a wireless access point? Or do I need a wireless print server? The printer in question is a Canon Pixma MX700 which has networking capabilities; I currently have it hooked up to the network via the wireless router. I would really appreciate some help with this

Based on your statement is sounds like the printer is already on your network. You do not need an access point to connect it. The printer already has a network port. Review your documentation on how to setup an IP address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway. By default network devices are DHCP enabled although i would not recommend that for a printer. You also do not need a wireless print server because your printer already has a network port. You just need to configure it based on your LAN settings.

Hello,

I am assuming you are wanting to put your printer which has an ethernet port but not wireless away from your router.

Today I setup my HP printer which has an ethernet port on it to an access point and it seems to be working fairly well.

I don't seem to trust generic print servers. I have a Linksys print server (USB connection) that works with my Brother laser printer but when I tried it with my HP 7680 (printer/scanner/copier/fax) it did not work. For about $150 I could have bought a HP print server (Jetdirect) that I guess was compatible with the printer and HP software.

I was doing a search on newegg.com and found a cheap AP (EDIMAX EW-7206APG) that someone else mentioned he used for putting a printer on it so that is why I got it. Since there are different modes you can use with an AP I was not sure how I would configure it. However, what worked for me is the mode called 'Station-infrastructure'. I don't know if that is a universal term. I had to connect the AP to my PC to configure the mode and the connection to my wireless router. After about 15 minutes out of the box I was able to use my printer again. One thing I found promising was that the IP address stayed the same for the printer.

One thing though I reinstalled my HP software just to make sure I was using the latest software and had a small problem during installation. The HP install software goes out and 'discovers' printers on the network and could not find it during installation. I entered the IP address and it still did not work. I moved my wireless router to where my printer was and plugged the printer into a ethernet port and continued with the installation which the software then found the printer. After that I moved the router back to where it needed to be and was able to print/scan.

I would think a USB print server adds issues/problems that make it harder to work than an AP. Unless like I mentioned if you get a compatible print server that works for the specific printer the AP should work better.

I have been using my HP OfficeJet printer for about 3 weeks now with the Access Point and I am having some problems although not major ones.

I would have thought hooking the printer to the access point should not have made a difference compared to having the printer directly connected to my router but apparently it does.

Right now I am able to print from my 2 Windows computers however I am having a problem with a MacBook running Snow Leopard. It is my wife's computer and the OS is in German (her spoken language) so I cannot easily determine how she configured it. I was reading some posts in the HP website and I guess you either HP or Bonjour to print. I was watching her do the installation of the HP software (in German) but it looked like the Mac OS popped up a window so I am not sure if she is using HP only drivers or OS X drivers. I am not a Mac person so I don't know exactly how it all works.

The other thing the printer does is allows you to scan to a computer however you need to have the 'full' HP software installed. On my notebook I only installed basic printer and scanner driver's so it does not allow my computer to use the 'scan to computer' option. However, my wife and daughter's computer have the 'full' software installed and it works if the printer is directly connected to the router but not if the printer is connected to the AP.

HP's forums have postings that basically say the same thing when using an AP.

I have 3 computers at home and each time that I run the HP software I have to connect the printer directly to the router for the HP software to find the printer. I would have thought if the printer is on the network (via ethernet or wirelessly thru the AP) it would not make a difference but apparently it does. If anyone reads this and has an understanding of why this happens I would like to know.

What I will do now is move my printer next to my router and remove the AP so all functionality should be available to me.

thanks, David