Home Network Help Needed

[CosmoPilot]

I bought an Airport Extreme today and need some advice/guidance.

My old router was a combined modem/router (Ambit). I disabled the WAN function, so I'm now using it only as a modem. I plugged the Airport Extreme and set up a new wireless network.

I have 3 iphones, an iTouch, AppleTV, 1 MBP, and 1 Toshiba laptop. All are connected to the Airport Extreme (wirelessly...no issues!). I have a desktop HP (Vista) connected to the AE via ethernet. It is connected with no problems either

I have an HP Officejet J4540 (all-in-one) printer. Part of the reason I got the Airport Extreme was the appeal of sharing a printer via the USB port on it. I installed Bonjour for Windows on the Toshiba and my Desktop PC. I'm now able to print with all three computer. However, I also need the all-in-one capability, so I'm thinking of connecting it back to the HP desktop, but I'd still like to be able to print with the laptops.

Here's my issue:

All my windows computers can "see" all the computers on the network. However, my MBP computer cannot see any other computers. In other words, I can't see the desktop computer that is plugged into the AE via ethernet. Nor can I see the Toshiba laptop.

I'm thinking, if I can figure this out I can then add a printer from the network that is plugged directly into the desktop PC.

On both the Toshiba and the HP desktop, I have file sharing turned on.

Any thoughts/help?

Cosmo

 

[JediMeister]

Make sure that all the IP addresses of the computers are on the same subnet. If they are, you may be having a workgroup issue; if not, you need to figure out why your computers are getting different addresses.

If you have XP, right click on My Computer on one of the PCs, choose Properties, then go to the Computer Name tab and see what the Workgroup is named. If Vista, right-click Computer and Properties, and under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, will be the Workgroup. 7 should be exactly the same as Vista. On your Mac, to see what workgroup if any is set or to provide one, navigate to Network preferences, click advanced in the bottom right, and choose the WINS tab. Put the same Workgroup name into the field, click OK, then Apply.

Now, on the Mac, to add a printer connected to a Windows system, go to Print & Fax preferences, click the +, and on 10.5/10.6 you can just choose the Windows tab, choose the workgroup, and find the printer. You may need to install the drivers on the Mac to ensure compatibility.

 

[CosmoPilot]

Make sure that all the IP addresses of the computers are on the same subnet. If they are, you may be having a workgroup issue; if not, you need to figure out why your computers are getting different addresses.

If you have XP, right click on My Computer on one of the PCs, choose Properties, then go to the Computer Name tab and see what the Workgroup is named. If Vista, right-click Computer and Properties, and under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, will be the Workgroup. 7 should be exactly the same as Vista. On your Mac, to see what workgroup if any is set or to provide one, navigate to Network preferences, click advanced in the bottom right, and choose the WINS tab. Put the same Workgroup name into the field, click OK, then Apply.

Now, on the Mac, to add a printer connected to a Windows system, go to Print & Fax preferences, click the +, and on 10.5/10.6 you can just choose the Windows tab, choose the workgroup, and find the printer. You may need to install the drivers on the Mac to ensure compatibility.

Workgroups was the ticket. All is well now. I can't figure out why Windows never seems to play well on Networks. Maybe it's just me, but the Macs seem to just make things simpler.

Again, thanks for the help.

Cosmo

 

[JediMeister]

Glad to hear it!