Using Network Printer

I have a wireless system with a network printer plugged into the router and there is also has a desktop computer plugged into the router. I had to reload the OS on the desktop computer, and to get the network printer to work again on the desktop, I used a TCP/IP port that had been established originally with the fixed address of the network printer, which is 192.168.0.50.
I have another desktop that is plugged into a wireless print server, into which a second network printer is wired which is working fine. The wireless print server is connected without wires to the original router and has the fixed address 192.168.0.25 in the original router.
I tried to set up the first network printer on the second desktop using the same port 192.168.0.50 that I used on the original desktop but it will not connect to the first printer. BTW, I can ping the printer from the computer, so they see each other. It now occurs to me that since the second desktop is connected to the router by means of the print server that perhaps I should be using the print server port 192.168.0.25 to connect to the printer. Am I correct?
Sorry this is so complicated.
If this is not correct, how do I connect the 2nd desktop to the first printer?
Thanks for reading this to the end.

 

I think we will need make and model of the router and the printer. Can you please supply these?

I think you should be connecting to 192.168.0.50 to print. You need to set up a TCP/IP printer port for that address (have a look at this thread)

Does your network look like the attached diagram?

 

Hi Reggie,
Your diagram is perfect.
The Netgear Router is WGR614v2
The Netgear Print Server is WCPS 606
The printer whose IP address = 192.168.0.50 attached to the Router is an HP Business Inkjet 1100
When I tried to install it on computer 2 I did set up a TCP/IP Port using 192.168.0.50, and you can see the port on the drop down list in the printer wizard.
This method worked on Computer 1 which is wired into the router but does not work on computer 2 wired to the print server. I should mention that Computer 1 is WINXP Pro SP2 and computer 2 is WIN XP Home SP2.
I really appreciate your help.
BTW, I did look at the thread you gave and that is exactly what I did to set up Computer 1 and it worked.

 

Reggie,
I thought you also might be interested in knowing that the install went perfectly until the last step when you are to click "finish ". Before I got to that screen, the 1100 was in the MS list of printers (actually it retrieved it using windows update), I used the printer CD to install the drivers, etc., I received the MS notification that the software could be malicious , and after clicking finish I get the message that the printer can not be installed?
Is there a way to remove the TCP/IP port that I created [192.168.0.50 ]in the printer wizard - so I can start over from scratch. I've looked all over Windows and can not see how to delete it?
Thanks for your help.

 

Before you do anything else, I'd check that this isn't a driver issue.

Try installing a local printer. Use the 192.168.0.50 TCP/IP port, but for drivers use HP Deskjet 500 drivers (the Windows pre-installed ones). Most HP deskjet printers will work with these drivers (quality and speed won't be great, but you should be able to get output).

If you then get working prints I think we are looking at a driver problem. If you don't get a connection, it is back to the port.

I have a pet hate of XP Home, so am not brilliant at the GUI. In XP Pro, you can delete a port from the Ports tab in any installed printer's properties. I'm not sure if you can do the same in XP Home.

 

Reggie,
On the same day, I installed the same printer using the HP disk, windows update and the printer wizard on the other desktop #1, onto which I had just installed a clean version of WINXP PRO SP2. If the drivers worked with the install on that machine, why shouldn't they work on computer 2? The only difference is the OS on #2, which is Home.
P.S. Reggie, I just noticed that if you look at properties for any installed printer and look at the ports tab, you can delete any of the printer ports from there. But of course you must not delete the printer port for that particular printer.

 

And if there is a dll or api conflict between the specific printer driver and another application on the PC .....

Using the Deskjet 500 is a simple test that will help rule that out. My experience suggests it is worth doing simple tests to rule out possible causes. You are of course free to ignore my advice.

You can delete the port currently used by the printer - as long as you reassign it to another port first

 

Reggie,
Your intuition was correct. I had tried to use the drivers for WIN NT rather than WIN XP. I discovered this after finding a list on a HP website of what drivers should be installed for that printer with XP and the ones I had partially installed were incorrect. I then looked at the installation disk and discovered that I pointed the Install wizard to the wrong files.
Once I corrected it, the install was immediate. I did not bother to remove the incorrect files because except for 2 which were identical in name and bytes, the others all had different names and I was afraid of removing files used by my other network printer. So all ended well and thank you for your help. I did learn a lot from this experience.

 

It had to be either a port issues (firewall blocking for example) or a driver issue as you could ping the printer (so network connection was OK) and print from other PCs (so the printer was on line OK). I started with driver as it was easier to rule out.

Well done for tracking down the exact problem. That's not an easy one to diagnose.