Networking HP 2100tn Printers with XP

[mirving]

I have an home office network with 5 computers running XP Pro and two HP 2100tn printers with an 8-port netgear switch. I used XP Pro to setup the network. Each printer is connected to one computer and the printer que is shared. The problem with this setup is that when the computer with the printer is turned off, then I can't talk to that printer. So I want to setup the printers on the network so that I can talk to them directly. I was able to do this when I had windows 98 with jetadmin. However, with XP I have to use web jetadmin but when I discover the devices I don't know what IP address to give the printers so that I can talk with them directly. Is there a way to have these printers obtain their IP addresses dynamically?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Lou0686]

Hi,

First and foremost, static IP addresses should be provided to the printers, not DHCP. DHCP addresses can change and you will lose connectivity to your printers.

As far as the IP addresses to assign, what IP addresses are you using for the XPs? Use an IP in the same subnet not in use.

Lou

 

[DNicol]

Note that there may be issues with how your XP workstations are getting their IP addresses assigned to them. Most notably if you have an ISP that has provided you with a router/switch that is handing out DHCP addresses. If this is the case, you will need to know the range for the DHCP addresses so that when you assign a static address to the printers, you do not use one of these addresses. You can also use IE to configure the printers, if they have an IP address already.