I seem to be close to getting what I want, but so far no joy...

What I want to do.

Print from my laptop via a wireless connection to a printer hardwired to the router.

Current configuration:

Printer: Brother 2170W (ethernet capable)
Desktop PC: Older Dell running Windows XP Home SP 2
Router: Verizon/Actiontec (FIOS service)
Laptop: Dell Latitude D610 with WiFi turned on

What I've done so far:

* Connected the printer to the router via an Ethernet cable
* Installed the printer on the PC (which is wired to the router) and successfully printed
* Installed the printer on the Laptop while it was connected to the router via WiFi -- the laptop saw the printer on the network (just as did the PC). The install, which was the same as I used on the desktop PC, went without a hitch.

Problem
When I try to print from the laptop the print job spools, shows up in the queue, but never prints. Eventually it shows an error (no details) and I delete it from the queue.

So -- any ideas?

Would this be a case where I should use the PC as a print server vs. connecting the printer directly to the router?

Thanks for any pointers. This is not a do-or-die situation. As soon as the ice melts I'll go get another Ethernet cable and connect the laptop, which usually sits close to router. Just thought it would be neat to print from another room...

Thanks,

Steve A.

When I tried this with my home network setup, the printer seemed to loose its handshake signal with the router (and thus the rest of the network) whenever the printer went into standby mode after whatever interval was specified in the printer settings. Bascially, it went to sleep and wouldn't wake up to a signal from the router. Turning the printer off then on would restore the connection, but what a pain to keep a printer fully on all the time in the house.

I then just connected the printer to a nearby PC, and printed via a shared connection to that PC. Not as elegant, but it worked more consistently and reliably than the direct ethernet connection.

How did you install the printer? If printer is network capable it already has a print server built in. So first you have to find what IP address print server acquired. After that install printer by creating new standard TCP/IP port. Download BRAdmin pro from Brother.com. - it will make printer management easier.

I have a printer connected via a separate print server (actually another router with a parallel port) and I have to associate the IP of the print server function in the router to the printer port in the printer properties.

So, yes, basically as gladiator said....

I'd just use the PC as a print server if the PC is always running. It's just less hasle than troubleshooting the issue you are having, but that issue would probably be fixed by creating a new tcp/ip port as suggested by gladiator (and the printer is connected to the router via ethernet and has a static IP configured, there is a difference between and ethernet printer and a shared printer on a print server). Just type a \\hostname with the actual "computer name" of desktop PC and it will show you the shared printer. Double click on it and it will install.

Question: What protection software are you running? If it contains a firewall, its the number one culprit for the problem you describe. Any Norton or McAfee firewall will block what you are trying to do by default. Preventing whatever a home user might want to do on their own network is what they excel at.

BRAadmin, and setting a static IP is a good idea as well, but if you do this you may need to update the port your printer is set up to print to. I just set one of these up last Friday, took me a while to figure it out since I don't see these very often.

dew.

Thanks, all -- much to chew on.

I'll retry this weekend when I can afford some down time. The Brother utility mentioned is on my installation CD. I'll RTFM and see what it can do for me. My corporate laptop is probably running a firewall -- not the Windows firewall based on what I seen in Control Panel -- so I'll investigate how to turn that off as well during the installation. Can't see how I can leave it off though...

Steve A.

If it's a corporate laptop I don't really think you have an administrative rights.
But you always can try...

Hate to leave a thread like this open.

I got an email back from Brother within 1 business day. The basic issue was that my printer's IP address was being assigned dynamically, but that it was recorded in my laptop (this is my interpretation, so be kind) under an alias. Somehow over reboots, etc., the alias no longer resolved to the correct IP address. Or something like that.

Anyway, the fix:

* Configure the printer to have a static IP address
* Configure the printer driver on the laptop to use that explicit IP address.

Works great, even when the laptop is using WiFi from another room.

So if anyone stumbles across this thread looking for the answer, the answer is: contact Brother customer support... :)

Steve A.

Always good to hear good tech support experiences. I could write a book on the bad ones....

dew.