Changing a printer from wired connection to wireless

[OrchidLady]

I recently installed a Belkin N150 wireless router [and can say that installation/setup was a breeze even for a novice!]. All computers are now connected, and able to access the Internet through the wireless.

My Brother MFC-685CW also purports to be wireless-capable. I followed the instructions from the Brother website, and the printer claims to be connected to the WLAN, but neither the computer which is currently connected to it by wire nor my entirely wireless netbook recognize the wireless connection.

After more research at the Brother site and elsewhere, I found:

1. The Brother site says the printer will only accept one connection (either wired or wireless). If this is the only problem, then I can get rid of the wired connection and go entirely wireless, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure I can get past the second issue.

2. The wireless router is using WPA/WPA2 with TKIP+AES encryption. The options in the wireless setup menu on the printer will accept either TKIP or AES but not both. I don't want to downgrade the router security to WEP -- so if the 685 won't handle the right encryption for the current router settings, I think I'll just stay wired to the printer until I'm ready to replace it.

On that note, can anyone recommend a good wireless all-in-1? I don't need color (although I don't see many black-n-white anymore anyway), but I do need to fax, scan and copy as well as print.

All advice appreciated!

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

If you can, you may consider manually assigning IP addresses and using WEP. WEP may not be as strong, but using that and manual IP's should keep the average user from just wandering onto your network, even if they do, they won't be able to use it unless they can spoof an IP. If they know how to do that they can probably figure out how to get past the WPA.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Or can you stay with WPA, use the printer wired to the router, and still use manual IP's and add the printer to each machine by IP? Quite easy to do.

 

[OrchidLady]

Thanks. The router doesn't have USB ports, but I will give some further thought to the WEP -- I can tell the router not to broadcast its SSID.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Well like I said, you may be able to set your network not to use DHCP, and just set all IP's manually. I guess I was under the impression that the printer had an ethernet port, and that you would be able to plug it into the router that way.

 

[OrchidLady]

If the printer is to connect to the router, it will have to be a wireless connection. The printer's instructions for setting it up to go wireless demand DHCP, and I don't think I'm ready to try to circumvent that, although I appreciate the thought. The router did assign the printer an IP address ...

For now, I'll leave the printer wired -- a new 7-port USB hub went a long way towards cleaning up my former snakes' nest of wires and cables

Thanks for the effort!

 

[thesmellofgreen]

I know this may be a silly question but did you change the network settings on the printer from wired to wireless. You have to specify it. It should be in general settings under network. To ensure everything else is set up correctly with the network I would use wps. There is an option to activate it in network settings. And most wifi routers will have a button to push, or a pun you can program to enter(in router configuration and settings) If its set up for wps push button simply push the button and shortly after activate wps on the printer. It will say scanning... configuring... connected. Simple as that. That way the router gives the printer all the proper setting for security etc. As for ip address I would see if your router does dhcp reservations. Essentially the same thing as a static ip except dhcp will continue as normal but the ip address specified is reserved for the Mac address you attach it to. And you dont have to worry about port forwarding. Other than that double check your software installation. When i wanted to switch from wireless to ethernet I had to reinstall because I only installed the drivers for wireless initially. Lastly, or perhaps sooner, check if the firmware is up to date. That's why I had to switch to ethernet. Very simple process and should be done even if you found a solution already. It is on brothers website under downloads I believe. Only other thing I could think of is possibly a firewall issue. I hope this helps!