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Yet another network printer thread. Help Please.

S

Steffz07

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2009
34
0
So i got a new Macbook Pro two days ago. I've connected to my network fine and its all going great. However today i wanted to print something off chrome and i realized that I could not find the printer. I went into system prefs and tried to add a printer but the section for "windows" is all grey.

My printer is connected to my PC (vista) which is connected (wired) to my Belkin router. My MPB is connected wirelessly to my router. My mom has a Dell computer running vista and can print off the printer.

I cannot use the CUPS method cos whenever i click "add printer" it comes up with a broken page.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Steffz07 said:
So i got a new Macbook Pro two days ago. I've connected to my network fine and its all going great. ....
Click to expand...
Make sure that your printer is shared from within Windows. On the Mac side, the Finder Help menu will tell you how to setup the Windows-shared printer as your Mac printer.
 
I downloaded Bonjour for Windows but when i run the application it says:

No Bonjour Printers are available

So thats probably not helping...=S

And i tried to connect to my computer through Finder>Go>Connect to Server and type in my host computers IP but it doesnt work. Unless there is another way to connect to networked computers that i dont know of?

And yes, printer sharing is enabled because my mom can print with her laptop wirelessly. I also checked the settings on the PC and printer sharing is enabled.

Im guessing Vista is the bane of efficient networking??
 
What brand and model is the printer? Is it a real networkprinter with ethernet/WiFi or is it USB connected and shared from Vista?
 
The printer is an HP PSC 1610. Its an all-in-one printer from the psc 1600 series.

No, it is not a network printer. It is connected via USB to my pc and shared.

Someone mentioned to me that the setup i have is not very friendly with the default OS X method of sharing. He mentioned something about giving the printer a MAC address?? Something along those lines.
 
Steffz07 said:
...

Someone mentioned to me that the setup i have is not very friendly with the default OS X method of sharing. He mentioned something about giving the printer a MAC address?? Something along those lines.
Click to expand...
"Someone" is pulling your leg. Each network interface has its own manufacturer-supplied MAC address. If your HP has both an Ethernet port and is Wi-Fi enabled, then it will have two MAC addresses. If it does not have a network interface, then it will not have a MAC address. There is no way for you to give it one unless you can add a network interface.
 
Okay, so what i understood from that is that the manufacturer supplies the MAC address? But dont i have an option to change the MAC address of my laptop or any other device on the network via the router setup (192.168.2.1)?

Or is laptop MAC and "other device" MAC different?

I digress, so is there any way for the issue to be resolved??
 
A MAC address is only relevant to devices connected via ethernet or wifi or bluetooth -- NOT to a printer connected by USB.
You have a shared printer not a networked printer.
You need to learn how to share the printer on Windows and then Add the printer on OS X.

You also need to install a network-capable driver for psc 1600. The HP driver on OS X is for USB connection only. Install the three-part hpijs:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/macosx/hpijs
 
Steffz07 said:
... But dont i have an option to change the MAC address of my laptop or any other device on the network via the router setup (192.168.2.1)?

Or is laptop MAC and "other device" MAC different?

...
Click to expand...
The network address that you listed above is an IP address. To be specific, it is an IP address in IPv4 format. The IP address and MAC address have nothing to do with each other. In the case of the IP address in your post, it was issued by the DHCP server within your router.
 
Haha, yea i knew that was an IP address. I was just being more specific when saying "router setup" and giving you the default gateway of my router so you could better understand what i was talking about.

I understand that the DHCP server assigns an individual IP to all devices connected to the router and that all devices connected have a MAC address in 6 hexadecimal pairs.

But i guess all this is irrelevant to solving my problem??
I can't seem to find a way to connect to my printer via the host PC.
Is there even a way? Or is it impossible?
 
Steffz07 said:
...
I can't seem to find a way to connect to my printer via the host PC.
Is there even a way? Or is it impossible?
Click to expand...
I already told you to share the printer from Windows. The MacOS X Finder Help menu will tell you what to do on the Mac side.
 
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