printing in adsl router enviroment

**HipHoper** · December 29th, 2008, 11:14 AM

Greetings from the "holy land" for the new years :O)

Installed a new X61S laptop in an office with other 2 computers, All with xp pro sp3, Connected through an Siemens ADSL router.
Computers are protected with NIS 2009 configured with FULL TRUST for all computers.
I had some problems trying to print several times from the X61s to an xerox all in one x215 printer which is connected to the secretary computer.
I could ping from the laptop to the sec. computer, But couldn't ping back.
I found out that the windows firewall was enabled on the laptop in addition to the NIS smart firewall, So I disabled it and managed to ping from the sec. computer to the laptop.
Although the laptop tried to access the sec. computer in order to print, Might the windows firewall be the reason for not being able to print ?

**Niclo Iste** · December 29th, 2008, 11:48 AM

Full trust or not I have a strong feeling if you disabled the firewall on NIS you'll be able to print again.

**HipHoper** · December 29th, 2008, 12:34 PM

Hi Niclo !!!

Nope, It didn't even let me pinged the computer when I've disabled norton ! After I disabled windows firewall, It did let me ping the laptop, So I guess this time it might not be the NIS

**NooNoo** · December 29th, 2008, 01:39 PM

Check the router for firewalling...

**HipHoper** · December 29th, 2008, 01:42 PM

I've checked all the router's firwall settings that was knows to me, And they were disabled. As I mentioned before, The X61s allowed to ping only after I disabled the winxp pro built in firewall.....
I guess I'll have to wait and see if problem re-occurs....

**NooNoo** · December 29th, 2008, 01:53 PM

Some routers require you to check a box or add printing as a service of the router.

**HipHoper** · December 29th, 2008, 02:00 PM

Thanks Noo for the tips, But this printer is connected to the sec. computer via USB cable and is shared by xp file and print sharing. I have few clients with the same router, And there isn't a problem sharing several printers with it.

**MobilePCPhysician** · December 29th, 2008, 03:49 PM

did you setup an account on the computer with the printer, that has the same name and password as the laptop?

**Matridom** · December 29th, 2008, 04:21 PM

try creating a shared folder on the same computer as the printer then try and connect. If it errors out, it will give you more constructive feedback on what the issue is. once the share is accessible, the printer will almost guaranteed to work if it's already shared.

**HipHoper** · December 29th, 2008, 07:52 PM

Thanks Mat, It is great idea.

For some reason, I didn't see the laptop in the NIS computer map, But that
might be because it's login is password protected.

MPC, They don't use same name, And only the laptop is password protected at login, Which makes a screen popup with username (In grey - which I can't change) and password, When I try to access it via command line (i.e. \\x61s).
I will wait to hear from the client for the next few days and will try what Mat suggested, It might give some clues if there's a problem

**HipHoper** · December 30th, 2008, 06:22 AM

Well....The client called AGAIN with his printing problem. I've noticed I can access a shared folder on the sec computer which the printer is attached to.
I also noticed that he had like 5-6 printing items on his printing quene, While there was a red question mark on the printer's icon in the tray, So like yesterday, i've deleted all the printing jobs and it printed the test page without problem.
From what he told me, there might be some freezing of his Adsl router every few hours, So maybe he tries to print in this time of freezing (Although he told me that he tried to print an email immediatly after recieving it).....

**NooNoo** · December 30th, 2008, 08:04 AM

Only the laptop has a password? That might be the problem - printer sharing is at best flakey without proper accounts/passwords on all the machines.

**HipHoper** · December 30th, 2008, 08:14 AM

The thing is that previously X60 laptop also with password and such was working well for few days on this network. If problem will persist after replacing Adsl router, I'll configure users for this laptop

**NooNoo** · December 30th, 2008, 08:15 AM

You need to configure users for the pc with the printer as well.

**HipHoper** · December 30th, 2008, 08:21 AM

Thank you so much Noo for your great tips and willingness to help. Will take that into account (pun intended lol) if client will contact me again regarding this subject. Noo....You are a relentless problems fighter :O)