Brother wireless printer will not install under Windows 7

[Baby Mac]

I have a Mac mini (mid-2010), Brother MFC-9840CDW multi-function device (built-in wireless), Windows 7 (64-bit) running on Boot Camp, Windows 7 built-in firewall turned off, Westell router

Attempts:

Brother website, "Wireless Setup Wizard for Windows," dated 2007. I appropriately responded to the prompts, only to have the program end without making any noticeable changes.

Brother website, "Full Driver & Software Package." It could did not find my printer to install. It did see my neighbor's printer.

Called Brother. Factory reset of the printer, printer WAN setup WEP with password, printer setting WAN enabled. When wireless failed, we tried to connect the printer via ethernet cable to the router directly. Also pinged the IP address of the printer and input the IP address in the Brother install program instead of having Windows find it on its own.

Called Apple. The tech did not have a clue. Said she would pass me to a lead/supervisor, but no one ever picked up.

Windows could only see the printer if I connected the USB cable directly from the printer to the Mac mini. But I do not want to run it that way. That's why I got the CDW model ("W" for "wireless"). It worked wirelessly under XP on my old PC that the Mac replaced.

Has anyone got their wireless Brother running under Boot Camp/Windows 7?

 

[balamw]

Don't have one, but have you upgraded to the latest firmware (5/2010) linked from the W764 downloads page?

B

 

[TheShinyMac]

Why don't you call him and ask him for help Just call their support line if you haven't already

 

[Baby Mac]

Update

Brother refused to support it's printer under Boot Camp.

Apple's initial tech told me to cycle my router on and off and then left me on indefinite hold while transferring me to a more experienced tech.

After hours on the phone with Microsoft, who took over my mini and was doing downloads, registry edits, etc., it turns out that while my printer was communicating with my router, my Mac mini was communicating with my neighbor's router. And I was the one who corrected the issue.

They are calling me tomorrow to find out why Acrobat Reader will not install.

The printer has built-in wireless and so does the mini, but they are going through the router. Anyone had experience pairing a wireless printer directly to a Mac with built-in wireless?

 

[Consultant]

Why are you doing that with windows?

You bought a Mac. Try to use OS X for most tasks.

 

[balamw]

LOL. That happened to me once. I was trying to figure out why I couldn't connect to a given computer on my network only to find out I was on the neighbor's network.

The printer has built-in wireless and so does the mini, but they are going through the router. Anyone had experience pairing a wireless printer directly to a Mac with built-in wireless?

Why does it bother you so that the router is in the mix? Does it not work?

And, yes, my Canon printer is connected to my Macs in OS X and Boot Camp just fine. However the wireless signal goes via the router wireless from the Mac to the Wireless Access Point (router) and then back to the printer.

B

 

[Baby Mac]

I thought they should be able to communicate directly, since they both have built-in wireless. For folks without a router, folks should be able to print wirelessly directly.

I may say goodbye to the router if I drop the phone company's DSL for my cable co's internet service (which, who knows, may also include a router), so I was curious (not bothered) if someone had connected directly.

 

[balamw]

I thought they should be able to communicate directly, since they both have built-in wireless. For folks without a router, folks should be able to print wirelessly directly.

I may say goodbye to the router if I drop the phone company's DSL for my cable co's internet service (which, who knows, may also include a router), so I was curious (not bothered) if someone had connected directly.

At least now your question makes some sense.

You generally don't want your wireless devices talking to each other directly. This is called ad-hoc (a.k.a. peer to peer) mode and is generally not the way wireless devices want to talk to each other. They usually want to use infrastructure mode. (See e.g. here for some explanation http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessfaqs/f/adhoclimitation.htm).

In infrastructure mode some wireless access point is needed to create the network. The good news is that you can make your Mac (either in OS X or windows) create the network for your and have the printer connect to that. (Example: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20051119155606277 creates a network for a Nintendo DS to connect to.) Or, better, add a simple wireless access point to your wired only network. (This can be a router with the routing behavior disabled, I use my Airport Extreme in this way, but you could go with something cheaper e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156232)

More likely, any ISP will provide you with a wireless router these days. It gives them a lot more control over their network and most clients have laptops these days.

B