computer help??

[boathead]

anyone good with computers?

my problem, cliff notes:

old laptop crashed. got a new laptop. attempted to hook up my wireless printer to the new laptop. downloaded driver software, as i needed a windows 7 driver. everything went smoothly except it got hung up, and gave me a message that says essentially:
IP of PC is 75.68.214xxxx and IP of Printer is 192.168.xxxxx, and they are not compatible.

i went thru the troubleshooting suggesting in the manual, and no luck. i was able, though, to operate the printer just fine with the USB cable. just no wireless.

any suggestions? I don't even know what IP means, so be gentle with any responses. i'd imagine i need to make them "compatible" somehow?

HP was no help, as they want $34 to talk me through it, with no guarantee of success, and i can get a new printer cheaply if i had to.

if it matters, it's an HP laptop, windows 7, and an hp photosmart all in one wireless printer.

[StressMonkey]

The 192 IP address your printer has is a private address that would be used for a local home network. Your printer is going to need to talk to your PC that is also on the local network. The PC's address looks like a regular, Internet IP address. Your PC would need to be on a 192 address on the same network.

How is the PC hooked up to the Internet? Is it behind a router your ISP gave you?

[boathead]

The 192 IP address your printer has is a private address that would be used for a local home network. Your printer is going to need to talk to your PC that is also on the local network. The PC's address looks like a regular, Internet IP address. Your PC would need to be on a 192 address on the same network.

How is the PC hooked up to the Internet? Is it behind a router your ISP gave you?

hey stresmonkey. i just moved into a new place, with new service, so maybe that has something to do with it. my isp gave me a modem. i already had a router. so yeah, the laptop is wireless, if i get your question.

[Iam918]

hey stresmonkey. i just moved into a new place, with new service, so maybe that has something to do with it. my isp gave me a modem. i already had a router. so yeah, the laptop is wireless, if i get your question.

sounds like you are going thru your wireless modem for your laptop & not your router.
you need to connect via your wireless settings on your laptop to your router itself so you can pull an IP from it.

[boathead]

your question gave me an idea...

i right clicked on my little internet access icon in the lower right hand corner, and opened available networks...

my network was showing as "public network"....i switched it over to "home network". might i be on the right track?

[boathead]

sounds like you are going thru your wireless modem for your laptop & not your router.
you need to connect via your wireless settings on your laptop to your router itself so you can pull an IP from it.

let me come back to this if i have to...for no other reason than it is over my head.

not sure how i would do this.

[Iam918]

1. Open Connect to a Network by clicking the network icon (lower right corner by the time) in the notification area.

2. In the list of networks, click the network that you want to connect to, and then click Connect.
--- You should see a list of available wireless networks, hopefully you know the name of yours so you can connect to it.

3. Enter the security key. You can either type in the key or insert a USB flash drive that contains the security key into a USB port on the computer. -- If you have secured your wireless network (which i hope you have!) you'll need to do this otherwise it'll auto connect.

[SP1966]

Local IP addresses usually begin with 192.168.1.XXX, the first three parts of the laptop and printer need to match, the last three digits must be different. Not sure if the wireless printer will work with DHCP, but if it does this will be the easiest way for a non-techy person to get things working.

Good luck!