new to Macs, what do I need?

[mactastic]

I would assume that throughout this ordeal you have powered down your cable modem several times, but thinking back to my own days with cable broadband (sigh... oh happy days) I remember having to power down the cable modem, wait 30 seconds, power it up, wait till all lights were steady green, then powering down and restarting the modem again before it would accept a new MAC address from a different source (like when switching from a directly-connected PC to a router). Just to make sure though, if you haven't already done this, I would run through that procedure.

 

[thorshammer88]

Thanks mactastic,

I think ive tried powering down and booting up the modem, PC, and airport in just about every different conceivable order. I cant even remember if I tried the way you just mentioned, I think Ill try it again. Thanks

 

[thorshammer88]

Holy Hell that did it! I cannot believe that something as simple as that fixed it, I dont understand why it didnt work earlier when you mentioned it Patrick, strange. I am a much happier person now. Thanks very much to both of you.

 

[thorshammer88]

As soon as I got done sending my previous message my computer froze up. When I shut down and booted it back up this message popped up saying that my disks need to be checked for consistency, does this have anything to do with the network? Is this something I should be worried about? Thanks

 

[patrick0brien]

As soon as I got done sending my previous message my computer froze up. When I shut down and booted it back up this message popped up saying that my disks need to be checked for consistency, does this have anything to do with the network? Is this something I should be worried about? Thanks

-thorshammer88

Well you got me there. It may be a "windows thing", because I've never heard of that happening while working with an AEBS network before.

BTW- I have to administer three AE routers, (an AEBS and 2 AEx's) to 12 computers amongst my three roomates and I, and only three are Macs, and haven't seen it here.

Yeah, we're geeks...

 

[thorshammer88]

I'd rather be a geek and know what the hell I am doing here. Anyways, I think its the hp printer software. Everytime it tells me to disable the windows firewall to install the printer, I do, then when I tell it to check for the printer again, it freezes and I have to reboot.

I tried calling HP technical support and got the reroute to India, so as expected that call ended going nowhere fast. I wasted 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, I should have learned by now though.

I am using the ethernet cable that came with the HP printer to connect my router and computer, I thought I would just be able to connect my printer and router using a USB cable, but it looks like thats not working. Can I just use the USB to wire my computer and printer together? When my imac comes in will I be able to print wirelessly from it? Thanks again

 

[ITASOR]

This might help, maybe not.

 

[mactastic]

Holy Hell that did it! I cannot believe that something as simple as that fixed it, I dont understand why it didnt work earlier when you mentioned it Patrick, strange. I am a much happier person now. Thanks very much to both of you.

Stupid cable modems.


But you're the second person I've saved with that trick. It was explained to me by the guy who installed my cable one time, and I can't believe they don't put that in big red letters on the modem.

And I think why it didn't work earlier is because you were powering down and up once, then trying to hook the device up, but it actually has to happen twice to be effective. I think it's some kind of lame attempt at security of some kind.

Anyway, glad to help. Hope your network problems clear up.

Edit: Hey, are you hooking your printer up to the USB on the AEBS, or are you connecting some other way?

 

[thorshammer88]

well, I did have the airport hooked up to the printer directly via USB, but the printer wasnt being detected on the network and my computer would freeze everytime I tried to load the software. Now I just have the computer linked directly to the Printer using the USB. The printer works with this PC, but Im not sure if it will on my imac when it comes in next week. Do you think it will with this setup?

Thanks again for your help

 

[mactastic]

Did you check the list to see if the printer is compatible with Airport printing?

 

[thorshammer88]

According to HP it is compatible with mac's for wireless printing. I was trying to figure out how the mac would get the signal to the printer. Would the mac connect directly to the printer via wi-fi? Or does it connect through the airport, though the LAN, up to the computer and back to the printer through the USB? These are the only two ways I can think of

 

[patrick0brien]

According to HP it is compatible with mac's for wireless printing. I was trying to figure out how the mac would get the signal to the printer. Would the mac connect directly to the printer via wi-fi? Or does it connect through the airport, though the LAN, up to the computer and back to the printer through the USB? These are the only two ways I can think of

-thorshammer88

The latter. Hook the printer to the airport and it should be available to everything connected to it - wire or wireless. Be aware, you need to have that Airport enabled for USB printing in order for it to work at all. See 'Wireless Settings"

 

[mactastic]

Wait, I don't think you can print via the USB on an AEBS / AEx from a Windows machine. Apple support doesn't seem to say anywhere that you can. Can you? Maybe with the installation of Bonjour...

Edit: Oh wait, try this.

 

[patrick0brien]

Wait, I don't think you can print via the USB on an AEBS / AEx from a Windows machine. Apple support doesn't seem to say anywhere that you can. Can you? Maybe with the installation of Bonjour...

Edit: Oh wait, try this.

-mactastic

Well, I've been fairly successful doing so - but I admit, I don't print from Windows at home too terribly often.

 

[mactastic]

-mactastic

Well, I've been fairly successful doing so - but I admit, I don't print from Windows at home too terribly often.

Yeah apparently they've changed THAT one too since I got my AEBS! Thus my edit.

 

[thorshammer88]

Thanks guys, I was finally able to get it to work by hooking the printer back up to the airport with the USB. I just manually put in an ip for it cause hp's software kept freezing my computer up.

Only thing is now when I print, everything comes out all squished and very small. Im trying to mess around with the settings.

I wish the problems would stop and hope that setting up the mac will be easier.

 

[patrick0brien]

Yeah apparently they've changed THAT one too since I got my AEBS! Thus my edit.

-mactastic

 

[mactastic]

I wish the problems would stop and hope that setting up the mac will be easier.

It'll be like night and day. I've never spent more than 15 minutes setting up my macs to print. I've spent many hours trying to get a couple of these printers at work hooked up to my XP box.

 

[thorshammer88]

I promise guys, last question. This is really aggravating me. The fonts that are being printed out by the printer are different than what is being shown in word. Everything is tiny and squished all together. Any ideas? Thanks