Date: 07/12/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: google

(UPDATE: Still looking for suggestions, as the first one didn't seem to be the problem. I left in the part about the lightning, but I really don't think that is that problem because I haven't been able to access the printer since we first replaced the router, about a month before the lightning.)

I hope there's not something painfully obvious that I'm missing here, but I've gone through all the troubleshooters on my computer, and unless I'm using the wrong search terms, a Google search gets me the same suggestions that I got from the troubleshooters. If you have a solution for me, that would be perfect, but if you can at least give me some ideas for other things to try, I would appreciate that just as much.

I am using a 4 year old Toshiba laptop (although that probably doesn't matter) with Windows XP. It is connected to the internet through a wireless connection to the main family computer. The internet works fine, and always has. A couple of months ago, however, our router died (I don't remember what brand it was) and we got a new one (Linksys). Since then, I haven't been able to connect to the printer. Several weeks ago, we had a lightning storm and a lightning strike hit very close to the house. It blew out our router, our cable modem, and the ethernet card in the main computer. We bought a new Linksys router, but I still can't send anything to the printer. The ethernet card is still blown, but the modem is now connected through a USB adapter.

I don't know how much of that information is useful, but basically, I can't figure out how to print to that printer. My computer tells me that it can't detect the printer, and to make sure it is turned on and online. The printer is shared, and my parents have run the network setup wizard on the main computer. I've tried running the wizard on my computer, but it insists on bridging my connections and that makes the internet stop working entirely. I don't remember having to do anything complicated to connect to the printer before...it seems like I just searched for it and it was there. Ideas? Thanks. :)

(P.S. My dad has a similarly aged Sony Vaio laptop that also used to be able to print remotely, but it can't either.)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/724740.html