Lexmark Wifi Printer/Airport Extreme Issues

[MBP13]

Hi. I have a Lexmark Wifi printer that is set up in my room to work with my MacBook Pro and iMac. Until yesterday, I had a Linksys router that wasn't broadcasting a secured network. Now I have an Airport Extreme Base Station that is broadcasting a secure network. I'm having issues trying to get my Lexmark printer to pair up with a password protected wifi network.

The wifi indicator on the printer is green, but I'm unable to print. I'm really going to need to get the printer up and going for school, so I appreciate you helping.

I can attempt to set up the wifi printer by doing the "push button" method by pressing the WPS button on the router (does and Airport Extreme even have a WPS button? I know it has a button on the back, but is it the WPS button?) Still after doing that, it doesn't connect. When I try to reinstall the printer by using the installation CD is says my version of Mac OS X isn't compatible.

Please chime in if you can help me. When My printer was working perfectly with Mac OS X Lion before I switched to a Base Station, but now it's saying that my printer software isn't compatible with this version of Mac OS X. I've even downloaded drivers from Lexmark's website.

 

[skorpien]

Rather than reinstalling from the CD, try deleting it and adding it again from your Printer preferences. Since switching base stations, the IP address of the printer has changed and may require that you add it again to get it to work.

 

[MBP13]

I've given up trying to get the printer to work with the two Macs over wifi. The Lexmark is now hooked up to the Airport Extreme Base Station.

When I got to scan something, I'm given two options: Scan to Network and Scan to USB. How do I set give me the option to scan to my Macs

Thank you!

 

[skorpien]

How are you connecting your printer to the Extreme? Is it with Ethernet or USB? Scanning will not work over USB.

Have you tried downloading the latest software from Lexmark's site? It may have a more up-to-date, Lion compatible version of the software on your CD.

 

[MBP13]

The Lexmark is connected via USB cable. So I need an ethernet cable?

Yeah, today I downloaded the latest drivers for the Lexmark that were Mac OS 10.7 Lion compatible.

 

[skorpien]

Yes, the USB print server on the Extreme (or any AirPort for that matter) does not support multifunction printers. Only the printing will work via USB. If the printer is a network printer, it should have an Ethernet port that you could attach to the Extreme. This should hopefully get things working for you.

 

[MBP13]

Alright, I just connected a tan phone looking cord to the printer, then connected it to a port on the Airport Extreme Base Station. It's still giving me those to options to scan to (network and USB).

What do I do now?

 

[skorpien]

I'm honestly not sure. I don't have much experience with Lexmark scanners. Though I would assume you'd want to send it to your network considering you've connected your printer to your router. You may need to open the scanning software you installed on your computer and then scan using that instead of scanning from the printer.

 

[MBP13]

Thanks dude, I appreciate your help!

Can anyone else chime in and help?

Right now, I wish Apple made their own printers..setting them up would be a breeze.