Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HP Printer/Wireless - A Question

voicegy

voicegy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2002
1,429
17
Sandy Eggo - MacRumors Member since 1-1-2002
I'm thinking of purchasing an HP color printer that has wireless printing capability. It has built-in wireless 802.11b and wired Ethernet support. My question is, I have a TiPowerBook that has wireless capability, but at home I don't use a basestation for connectivity - I'm hard wired via ethernet to a cable modem. Since the PowerBook IS outfitted with an AirPort card, do I need an AirPort BaseStation (or equivalent) to print to this HP device, or do you think I can print directly to it via the built-in AirPort card without having to purchase a wireless access point device?
 
It would be interesting to see if Internet Sharing via Airport would work. As long as the printer is assigned a valid IP and the connection to the PB is consistent, it should work OK.

Which model are you getting? I have experience working with HP PSC2510s (wired/wireless MFP) and they've been pretty good.
 
Rower_CPU said:
It would be interesting to see if Internet Sharing via Airport would work. As long as the printer is assigned a valid IP and the connection to the PB is consistent, it should work OK.

Which model are you getting? I have experience working with HP PSC2510s (wired/wireless MFP) and they've been pretty good.
Click to expand...

Rower -
How did you get the 2510 to print wirelessly? Was it without a router or not? The reason I ask is because I work for a certain retail outlet (that might or might not sell Macs anymore) and nobody including the HP rep can get this thing to work without a router. I hope this isn't hijacking the thread, but perhaps that info would be helpful to those that might be looking at purchasing one. Thanks in advance.
Apmonia
 
I've had wireless issues with it, too.

I attempted to set it up on my Airport at home, but it never managed to establish a wireless connection. Honestly, I think this is due to the really idiotic setup HP uses - why should you have to hardwire the printer into your WAP's ethernet port to get establish a wireless connection?

I spent a lot of time with HP reps while beta testing and never got it resolved, even with a 2nd unit. It may have been my original (Graphite) ABS, since it only has the one ethernet port, and not the WAN and LAN ports more recent ones do, but who knows.
 
In my house we have both the HP 2510 and the 5850 wireless printers. Both are on our network, and were very easy to install. They do however offer a direct PC to printer connection. Its in the HP set up instructions. I beleive its calld Ad-hoc. For give me as I am not the most knowledgable person when it comes to networking. If I get some time later tonight I will try and set up the direct connection. Ill let you know how it goes.
 
Rower_CPU said:
The options are infrastructure and adhoc - neither worked in my situation.
Click to expand...

Yes, those are it. We use infrastructure. I know it took us about 3 hours to get the 2510 working correctly, it was a bit of a chore. Had to directly wire it into the router at first. I would agree that the HP setup is not the best. Sorry to hear you couldn't get it to work, I love having wireless printing.
 
Here you are Sir. I was able to get set up the HP 5850 (which I just recieved yesterday and opened tonight espicially for you) to connect in Ad-hoc mode. It was very easy to do. Here is what I did.

1. Opened box and read instructions (always helpfull)
2. Plugged in printer, inserted paper, and ink cartridges.
3. Read manual, and found out to set up ad-hoc, you need to hold down the network and then press the resume button, while still holding down the network button. Release the rume button first, then the network button. Press netwrok button again and a networking page prints out. ( The networking page doesn't really tell you much, other than that the print is in ad-hoc mode now, and the SSID, which is HPSETUP, as if you couldn't tell that was the printer)
4. Went to my airport signal thin in the menu bar, and selected HPSETUP.
5. Opened Printer Set up utillity and selected Rendez-Vous. Then clicked on add printer. It searched for a second, then it found the 5850. Clicked OK.
6. Printed a test page. Every thing works great. No need to install any CD software or anything. Although I think it would be best to secure the ad-hock network. I assume anyone within the area could technically print on the printer right now. (Goes and turns off printer)

So thats basically it. If you have any questions feel free to ask, ill do my best to answer them. Also Bestbuy.com has this thing for 199.99 +plus tax and free shipping. CompUSSR has it for 179.99 last time I checked. I purchased it from Best Buy as I can easily return it without any restocking fees if I change my mind. Might be something to consider. Good luck with you new printer. I like mine alot.
 
Impressive. I ask a question about a particular printer, and a fellow MacRumors member goes out and buys it, tests it out, and answers my question. God, I love this site. :D

Brilliant - Rendez-Vous - of course! I've ordered it thru Amazon via my other favorite site, MacInTouch.com, 'cause buying items through that site helps support it.

Wow. Thanks again. :)
 
The printer arrived. I followed directions. It works. :p

Thank you for your interest and support. It ain't the fastest thing in the world (my poor little 400 MHz TiPowerBook is shoving out information via my built-in AirPort card while I'm cruising around on the net via the cable modem) but it does the job.
 
note that you can only use one network interface at the time - if you plug in the ethernet cable, wireless stops working. disconnecting ethernet enables wireless.

adhoc should work, but i have had absolutely no trouble setting up a hp5850 wirelessly via wireless router [infrastructure mode as hp calls it].
 
JFreak said:
note that you can only use one network interface at the time - if you plug in the ethernet cable, wireless stops working. disconnecting ethernet enables wireless.

adhoc should work, but i have had absolutely no trouble setting up a hp5850 wirelessly via wireless router [infrastructure mode as hp calls it].
Click to expand...

At first, that's what happened. I noticed that I could print wirelessly straight from the computer to the printer only when I unplugged the ethernet cable from the computer, then AirPort sent the job to the printer. That was just unacceptable. So I went to the Network system preference / Show / Network Port Configurations. I arranged the configuration so AirPort was first, followed by Built-in Ethernet. (something that was NOT in the documentation...I have to admit, this adhoc set up did take a little playing around with.)

Once that was done, no more unplugging and plugging cables. (and deserved KUDOS for my best friend up in LA, Ric, for suggesting that little trick)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back