First thing to do is a factory reset on the router. While powered ON, hold the reset button for 30 seconds, then release. This will return the router to its default state. Most routers are designed to work "out of the box", so by resetting you should be able to hook up your laptop and wireless printer. Usually the router uses the 192.168.1.x network (so all devices will range from 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254), and the router itself will have the specific IP of 192.168.1.1. Most network devices also default to DHCP, which means they will query the DHCP server running on your router for their network configuration. The wireless SSID will probably be “linksys”, and wireless security will be disabled.
So once you do the factory reset, everything will usually just work by default. Just connect to the Linksys’s SSID, leaving wireless security blank. The manufacturer knows that ppl would otherwise have trouble getting connected if they didn’t make it as easy as possible.
Of course, one difficulty is that although the printer will get connected it won’t be immediately obvious what IP address it’s using. But once you start the installation process for the printer drivers, the installer should be able to locate the printer through the discovery process.
Since using DHCP to assign an IP address means the IP address can change from time to time, that’s not good for a printer. You should either change the printer to use a static IP, or else reserve the IP it’s currently using by going to the DHCP section of your router’s web interface (
http://192.168.1.1 ) and binding the printer’s MAC address to that IP. NOTE: Not all routers have this feature, and I don’t know if yours does or does not. If not, then you’ll have to manually assign the IP address of printer using a static IP. If I knew the specific make/model of printer, I might be able to provide more specific details.