assign IP address manually to connected devices

shmu26

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Feb 18, 2014
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windows 8.1
netgear VEGN2610 wireless router-modem (from my ISP)
HP officejet 6830

this wifi printer tends to go offline.
It seems that it is competing with my main PC (which is on a wired connection) for a certain standard IP.
I saw a post from someone who said he fixed this problem by manually assigning a separate IP address to the printer.
In my router settings it displays the IP of the connected devices, but I can't find where I can change them.
any ideas?
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
You can set the IP address of the printer directly on the printer (either through HP setup software or the menu system). You may be able to enter the MAC address of the printer and have it always point to a specific IP address. This is known as a reservation of an IP address.
Either way will work. You will want to look at the DHCP settings of the router and allocate a static IP address OUTSIDE the range allowed by the standard DHCP server.
 
It is in the router settings, exactly where I can not say as different routers have different GUI's. I set mine up under "Access Control" and "Static Lease" which also limits who can connect to your network.

Access Control, for me, limits what MAC addresses are allowed to connect. An extra form of protection.
Static Lease, for me, sets which MAC address gets which local IP address.
 

shmu26

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hmmm, I don't seem to have an option either in the printer or the modem to assign a static IP.
the software of the printer has a tool for IP but it doesn't really allow you to assign one that you pick yourself.

So I thought that instead, I will assign a static IP to the PC itself.
I got stuck on the default gateway. my router does not seem to tell me what the default gateway is.
 

shmu26

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"The PC does not control IP addresses just the router does especially considering the printer is Wi-Fi."

in that case, will it help to assign a static address to the PC? I assume that I should change only the last set of numbers in the address.
 
You can go about one of many ways.

If your router supports DD-WRT or Tomato firmware you can flash it to that, from there you can set a device to have the same IP address everytime from the router.

Otherwise you can set the IP of the printer from the printer or the HP utility.
On your router you have what is called a DHCP range. This is the range of IP addresses you allow the router to assign. So lets say you set your router to have the IP of 192.168.1.1 and the default subnet is 255.255.255.0 so only the last set of digits is changed and all devices will be 192.168.1.xxx. This leaves you (getting rid of .1, .0, and .255) with 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.254 for total IP address so 253 addresses. Your DHCP range specifies the range of those address the router will assign, so if the range is .100-.254 then the router will only assign addresses to devices in that range. So if you want to set something as a static IP at the device it needs to be in the correct IP subnet range (192.168.1.xxx) but OUTSIDE of the DHCP range, thus for this example the Printer would need to be set to an IP between 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.99.
You should then also either set your problem PC to be its own separate IP address or set it to dynamic (assigned by router).
 
The router will not list a default gateway address.

For the sake of your home network the router's address is the default gateway address and so on your PC or Printer you would put the Router's IP as the default gateway.

If your ISP gave you a static IP for your web connection then you would need to configure a gateway address that they would provide you, since you likely have a dynamic IP connection to your ISP you don't need to input anything into the router's config for a default gateway.
 

shmu26

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this is wierd -- I tried to redo the settings on the printer, and I needed to input the network key, so I did it the easy way and broadcast it from the router.
but then my router settings said that my neighbor's PC is a connected device!
so I changed the key, and even changed the network name. but my neighbor doesn't go away.
my laptops needed to reconnect, though.
then I downloaded "who is on my wifi" and my neighbor doesn't show up on it, but he still shows in the netgear "genie" . wierd.
 

shmu26

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apparently, the netgear genie is displaying devices that connected, and the IP they last used. but it doesn't mean they are presently connected.
the "who is on my wifi" app does tell which devices are presently connected. that's a little more helpful, I would say.

as regards the printer going off line, it behaved itself okay yesterday and this morning, so I am going to leave it alone for the meantime, rather than mess with the static IP business, which is a bit challenging for me.

when I changed the network key, I had a problem with one of my windows 8.1 laptops. Of course, it couldn't connect, but it also did not show the option for "forget network.", so I was stuck. The popular solution offered on the web requires going into the command line and manually removing that entry.

instead, I just changed the name of the network. a sloppy workaround, but it works okay and is not overly technical. As long as it is your own network, of course.

 

shmu26

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problem came back.
I chatted with HP rep
He typed the printer's ip into browser, which brought him to an intranet page where he could set manual ip and another thing:

I set the manual ip on the printer, which was assigned as well as change the radio channel this will allow the the printer to make a constant connectivity.

You only need to check the radio channel to 11 or not & the pritner's ip address is 10.0.0.2 or not.