Wireless printer problem HEEEEEELP!

[BoffinMum]

We've just got Virgin broadband, which is great except it can't find our HP C4780 wireless printer. The wireless light is lit up on the printer, so I know there is some communication, but there seems to be no means of entering the user name and password. I have tried everything on the hp site to no avail.

I have also tried to download a bit of special hp software that is supposed to get around this, but my xp professional pc won't let me do this even though I have minimised the security settings and have administrator rights. All Active x controls and the like have been set to enable/prompt.

A printout of the network setting indicates that it sees the network but can't get the ip address.

I uninstalled the printer software and reinstalled it, but the pc can't even see the printer in the list now and won't even print via the usb port. So in short, I am a bit buggered and need urgent help.

Not sure if this will help at all. Seems to be common problem with the printer.

Seems to be a case of playing with the router settings. May help if you say what the router is, make, model, version.

Hello Nick! It's a Virgin media super home hub (Netgear). Everything worked fine with BT Broadband, probably because we had no security on it, but we've got wpa auto on this system which is no doubt the source of the problem.

Disable the WPA. Make sure MAC filtering is off and that DHCP is on. Try changing the channel number, try setting a different network name. See if any of that then gets it working.

How do I disable the wpa etc??

You need to log into the router and check the settings. Can't tell you how to do that, as it varies from router to router. Check router instructions and Virgin Broadband online help.

Hope this setup info will help.

You need the software CD from HP and a USB cable. You will need to know (or set if you don't know it) the wireless encryption info, called the #network security key' in the HP site.

You should enable encryption if possible to protect your Virgin connection (and any PCs etc) from abuse by neighbours or someone driving by. (I assume that once it is working, Nick would have reminded you to enable encryption again.)

Already did that, NetworkGuy, but I am stuck in some sort of software loading loop whereby I plug in the USB cable, then the PC tells me it has seen a mass storage device, asks me to download a driver, and then says there is a problem with the signature on the software, do I want to continue with installation, I say yes, and it downloads something and then says click on finish, which I do. Meanwhile the HP CDROM is whirring around and around and hanging on an installation due to the PC USB issue, I am then directed to plug in a USB cable but it can never find the printer, i.e. the list is completely blank, so it directs me to click on back and then I repeat the whole thing ad infinitum. Saw on HP forum that this may be a known issue and tried to download some software off the HP site but it didn't download successfully.

It's.Doing.My.Head.In!

Have had Virgin engineer round.

Effing hopeless.

They now want 60 quid to connect up the Acer to their broadband network, and to connect the printer.

This is getting ridiculous. Everything worked with the BT connection.

Sorry they've left you less than happy. No Virgin cable service here, so cannot compare notes.

I'd suggest saying to them that you cannot afford that much (and hopefully someone can suggest an alternative here on MN or maybe over on www.ThinkBroadband.com [but best use different name, and not mention they have been]).

Right, I have solved it, no thanks to Virgin. Running old Netgear wireless box as a slave, plugged into the Virgin homehub. I can now use the Acer and print wirelessly from it as well. Just have to work out how to print wirelessly from the Dell and I am sorted. It has taken three days of my life fiddling around to get this far, and I have no idea why they coulnd't have given me this advice in the first place.

Need advice about security on wireless. I tried to use the IP address on the bottom of the box to get in and change the password, but it tells me the server is taking too long to respond and I can't access it. Ideas?

Direct physical connection to the box is sometimes necessary.

Is security currently enabled on both wireless boxes? Or is that the problem... that security is now not enabled, thus anyone within distance can access it?

Virgin homehub is secured, slave wireless box isn't, but I will whizz in there and use another ethernet cable to see if I can connect that way to secure it.