Networked Printer Problems

Ok I'm desperate. I have an HP Photosmart 6510 all in one wireless printer. I hooked it up and it does not work. I know how important details are in order for you guys to try and come up with a solution so bear with me.

I'm Running Windows 7 and in Printers and Devices the Printer reads as Online and as the default printer. I can Ping the printer's NIC with no issues and the drivers are up to date, and I double checked that I was using the correct port, that it was configured correctly (the port has the correct IP address) and that all of the necessary processes and services were running properly.

Everything seems fine until I try to send a print job to the spooling service and then the status indicator in Printers and Devices changes from Online and Ready, to "trouble shooting needed". The printer doesn't make any indication that it received the print job (no printer preparation noises ect.) and doesn't print anything.

I can print fine from my laptop however and everything on it reads the same right up until the point on the Desktop where fails.

There are no error messages, it just fails to print and when I run the trouble shooter it tells me that there is a job in the queue, I go to the queue and whatever job I sent has an "error" and the whole thing freezes up until I delete the job from a queue. It then goes back to saying that the printer is online and ready.

Ok I think that's it, let me know if I forgot anything. Any Ideas?

Try to delete and re-install the printer in tandem with a PC/Router/Printer reboot? That's generally where I start when gremlins appear...

"When in doubt, power out"

Already did, several times. I dont suppose there is a common issue that I'm just not privy to is there? F*cking gremlins... XP. In the past on different projects I've rebooted 5 times to no avail and then randomly on the sixth time, everything just magically starts working again.

No hints over here - sorry. Are these the only 2 PC's that use the Printer? Can you "share" the printer from the other PC and do it that way? That's how I run my home network since my printer is USB/LPT Only, and the PC it's connected to remains on 24/7 (works very well for my needs)...


Maybe someone else has run into this and will know exactly what to look for. For grins, can you try disabling the Windows Firewall and try again?

Lol that was the first thing I did. I have Vyper though so I might try making a special rule for the TCP/IP port that the printer is connected to. Though that shouldn't be it, as I made sure to allow all communications between the printer and my computer when I was first prompted when the printer first connected.

Goddammit... *FACEPALM* Sigh, there must have been a bug or something, the Vipre firewall was blocking access, of course it wouldn't tell me that it was, or why or how the change was made, but eh, thats "end user" software for you :/

Well there you go! I generally stay away form 3rd party firewalls and rely on my NAT router to do the serious port blocking as needed. Never felt the need for a "fancy" software firewall unless you are worried about apps phoning home (I'm not ). Hardware NAT Router + Windows Firewall = No LAN issues since XP SP2 .

So all is good now?

Yeah I might have to switch to that, I just went with what my Network Admin Suggested. I'm a hardware engineer and don't have an enormous amount of practical experience with network troubleshooting, It's a wonder how after 4 years of Physics, Engineering Labs, Calculus and various other higher level math you can still fall prey to simple issues outside of your area of expertise . I can design the layout for a complex circuit board but I don't think to double check the firewall on my home PC. Just shows you how multifaceted and complex this industry is, and how important practical experience is.

Yep - Real world experience can't be matched IMO I'm far from a Network Engineer!

Go figure...