Member Avatar for calboyy

I have an interesting problem that has me scratching my head for a solution. I have an older HP Officejet that wirelessly connects to my network. But it doesn't work with 802.11N and I want to use it with my new Router and equipment I purchased. So, to keep everything working, I kept the DHCP on both routers working and everything is configured so that all computers on the second router have access to interent etc. But, the computers on the second router can't see the printer on the first router. Is there any way to get them to see each other?

Notes:

-DHCP Start for Router 1:
-DHCP Start for Router 2:
-Computers can input IP address of HP Officejet and see information screen

The wireless network setup is as follows:

SMCD3GN - Wireless Modem/Router #1: 802.11B/G
-->Wirless Connection--> HP OfficeJet 7100 Printer
-->Wired Connection--> DLink DGL-4500 Router #2

DLink DGL-4500 - Router #2: 802.11N
-->Wired Connection--> Computer 1
-->Wireless Connection--> Computer 2
-->Wireless Connection--> DLink DAP-1522

DLink DAP-1522 - Bridge/Access Point:
-->Wired Connection--> Computer 3
-->Wired Connection--> Xbox
-->Wired Connection--> Computer 4

Thanks!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by larieu

Dani AI

Generated

The situation described by is the classic symptom of two consumer routers creating separate, NAT'd subnets so broadcast-based discovery (Windows Network Neighborhood, Bonjour/mDNS, NetBIOS) doesn’t cross between them. That explains why a printer attached to the upstream router can be invisible to clients on the downstream router even though raw IP access might work in some configurations.

The cleanest, most reliable fix is to place every device on a single LAN so discovery and printing work normally. Practical steps: give the downstream router a static LAN address inside the primary router’s subnet (but outside its DHCP pool), disable the downstream DHCP server, and connect the two boxes LAN-to-LAN (do not use the downstream router’s WAN port). Configure the downstream AP to allow mixed b/g/n and a wireless cipher the older HP supports (some legacy printers require WPA/TKIP or WPA/WPA2 mixed). This preserves the downstream router’s wireless speed while keeping one DHCP/NAT boundary.

If keeping two subnets is required, add proper routing and turn off NAT on the downstream router (or use DMZ/port-forwarding for the printer). In that case: find the downstream router’s WAN IP on the primary subnet, add a static route on the primary router for the downstream subnet via that WAN IP, disable NAT/enable router mode on the downstream device, and open the downstream firewall to allow printer ports (raw 9100, IPP 631, LPR 515) and discovery traffic. Many consumer routers lack easy NAT-disable options, so this approach can be harder than the single-subnet one.

Useful quick checks: confirm with ping <printer-ip> and tracert <printer-ip> from both sides; ensure AP/client isolation is off; reserve or assign a static IP to the printer; and add the printer on clients as a TCP/IP (raw/port 9100) printer if discovery still fails. was correct to flag NAT as the root cause; ’s link was on a different symptom.

Member Avatar for royng

This problem is weird and i have never experience before. Try the below link

You can also google and try finding a solution. I am interested in this problem

Member Avatar for calboyy

This problem is weird and i have never experience before. Try the below link

You can also google and try finding a solution. I am interested in this problem

Unfortuantely that link you sent me is a different issue since both computers were on the same router.

I have tried googling this, but I haven't come across an issue liek this. I have a feeling that since both routers are using their own DHCP's, this won't work out.

Member Avatar for royng

I am nit very sure about this. Try seeking the help of an IT expert, he might be able to help.


Good luck with your problem solved

Member Avatar for larieu

1'st of all

most probably the second router (DGL-4500) works in NAT mode - that means from the WAN side you are not able to connect directly to your LAN side - that means putting the printer into WAN side can cause some trouble for clients

2'nd
your cable modem is very provider related - do you have access to config menu to make some modifications?

from that link it seems that the router is also N draft wifi

3. from your post I understand that you need to connect some "remote" devices" via WiFI to the internet

that means
3.1. put your cable modem router in "bridge mode"
(that will disable all function on it) - or at least the wifi on that device
3.2. configure your router DGL-4500 to accept "older b/g" (should be a check or some sort of menu into wireless
3.3. make all config to the wireless EXACT as on the first device (SMC one)
- this + 3.2 will trigger the WiFi printer to connect to the second router
3.4. make the appropriate setting to the WAN of DGL-4500 (if you put the first one in bridge mode you'll need to have Internet Ip to this one - not private network)

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