I was trying to set up my wireless printer (HP) with my Lion MacBook Air (2011). And I've got myself into a mess on two fronts:
1) In order to set up the bonjour printer, I need the updated Lion drivers. To get them, I have to have the printer connected, and add it to the printer system preferences, when it should automatically download them. But I can only connect the printer via wifi since I have no ethernet. So to do that I can't be connected to the internet at the same time. So I can't download the drivers because I'm connected to the printer, and I can't download the drivers when I'm not. Is there any way around this, short of buying an adapter, just for the first-time set-up? I have visited HP's website, and there seems to be no other way to get the drivers. It's an Officejet Pro Wireless 8500 all-in-one Print, Scan and Fax.
2) This is a related issue. Trying to set up the printer, I had the 'bright' idea to try setting up a new network to see whether I could connect to the printer locally while still being able to download the software online. Since I only wanted to try it out, and decided that I would delete it afterwards, I accepted the default settings and decided (yes I'm an idiot) that I wouldn't set up a security password. So I set it up and connected to it from the menu-bar, but couldn't get the printer to work, so disconnected. Then I went back to system preferences to try to delete my new network. Trouble is, it is not appearing in the list there. So I looked in the menu bar again, and the network name is no longer showing there either. So somewhere on my mac I now have an totally unsecured network I can't find to delete, nor can I find any way to give it a password!
I know that I have been a total idiot in this matter, but can some kind person please save me from my folly and tell me how to either delete or secure my new network, and whether I can get my printer to work?
Thanks!
1) In order to set up the bonjour printer, I need the updated Lion drivers. To get them, I have to have the printer connected, and add it to the printer system preferences, when it should automatically download them. But I can only connect the printer via wifi since I have no ethernet. So to do that I can't be connected to the internet at the same time. So I can't download the drivers because I'm connected to the printer, and I can't download the drivers when I'm not. Is there any way around this, short of buying an adapter, just for the first-time set-up? I have visited HP's website, and there seems to be no other way to get the drivers. It's an Officejet Pro Wireless 8500 all-in-one Print, Scan and Fax.
2) This is a related issue. Trying to set up the printer, I had the 'bright' idea to try setting up a new network to see whether I could connect to the printer locally while still being able to download the software online. Since I only wanted to try it out, and decided that I would delete it afterwards, I accepted the default settings and decided (yes I'm an idiot) that I wouldn't set up a security password. So I set it up and connected to it from the menu-bar, but couldn't get the printer to work, so disconnected. Then I went back to system preferences to try to delete my new network. Trouble is, it is not appearing in the list there. So I looked in the menu bar again, and the network name is no longer showing there either. So somewhere on my mac I now have an totally unsecured network I can't find to delete, nor can I find any way to give it a password!
I know that I have been a total idiot in this matter, but can some kind person please save me from my folly and tell me how to either delete or secure my new network, and whether I can get my printer to work?
Thanks!
HP's documentation isn't the greatest in the industry. I spent an hour trying to set up wireless printing on my mother's printer earlier this month before I realized that it didn't actually support wireless (just Ethernet). Apparently they use the same model number on 2 similar models, one of which has wireless, and one of which doesn't.