Access Point USB printing N66U AP

[wdavies]

Hi,

I'm so confused now. I think I know whats wrong, but not how to fix it. I had an older N66U and bought a AC66U as the main one. I set it (and I don't remember how), so that the N66U is an Access Point (it just has a wireless Id (myhouse-back-2g), but I can't "connect" to it anymore -- router.asus.com just takes me to my AC66U. It works fine. BUT... I have an older printer I wanted to connect to the N66U in the back of the house (said HP 3300 laser printer only has a USB connection, but prints fine when hooked to a laptop). But it never shows up on the network when I plug the USB into the N66U.

My guess is that *maybe* i need to install a LPR software on to the stock N66U, but I have no idea how to even "connect" to the AP now -- no address seem to get the Management UI. I don't want to reset the thing and break my existing network -- is there a way in?

Cheers,
WD

 

[wdavies]

ok, so I found the ASUS discovery tool. It sees my 2nd router, but then when I click on it, I get a weird message saying its on a different subnet.
I've never really understood the subnet thing, but whatever -- the main router says 255.255.255.0, the AP discovery tools says the N66U is the same, and when I connect to either wireless network, my laptops subnet is 255.255.255.0 as well, so I'm really confused.


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[wdavies]

Also, I should say that the AP doesn't show up on the list of devices on the AC66U.

 

[wdavies]

oh and the IP addresses (hidden under the popup there are)
N66U == 198.168.42.2
AC66U = 198.168.1.1
Laptop = 192.168.1.189

 

[ColinTaylor]

The N66U is indeed on a different subnet, 192.168.42.x vs. 192.168.1.x. So I'm surprised it works at all!

I suggest that you plug a computer into the N66U via a LAN cable (not wireless) and then factory reset it using the button at the back. The first-time setup procedure should guide you through setting it properly as an access point.

NB Are you sure you really have the N66U wired as an access point, i.e. the N66U's WAN port is connected to a LAN port on the AC66U's via an Ethernet cable?

 

[wdavies]

Ok! Thanks so much!

W

 

[wdavies]

NB Are you sure you really have the N66U wired as an access point, i.e. the N66U's WAN port is connected to a LAN port on the AC66U's via an Ethernet cable?

Yes -- I have ethernet to the back of the house, and I plugged it into one of the 4 LAN. It definitely works as an AP, but I'm not able to connect to the device itself (and I guess this explains why - its not masked properly?).

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes -- I have ethernet to the back of the house, and I plugged it into one of the 4 LAN. It definitely works as an AP, but I'm not able to connect to the device itself (and I guess this explains why - its not masked properly?).

Correct. You'd need to manually configure your computer's network interface with an IP address between 198.168.42.3 and 198.168.42.254. But it's much easier to just reset the N66U and set it up again.

 

[wdavies]

Thanks Colin,

Do I need to do anything for the main router? Like assign the N66U a static address? If not, should the N66U just get assigned its own DHCP when I turn it onto AP mode?

Winton

 

[ColinTaylor]

Do I need to do anything for the main router? Like assign the N66U a static address? If not, should the N66U just get assigned its own DHCP when I turn it onto AP mode?

You can reserve an IP address for the N66U on the main router if you want to (LAN > DHCP Server > Manually Assigned...). But you don't have to in which case it will just get a random IP address. Personally, I would reserve an address of 192.168.1.2 .

 

[yk101]

If your N66 is setup as an AP properly, you wouldn’t see two different IP ranges. AP mode disables the built in DHCP server and simply passes your IP lease request to the main router. Do a complete reset of N66 then configure it as an AP!

 

[wdavies]

Thanks!

 

[wdavies]

5 month later - I finally got around to doing this - Was pretty simple - hard reset of the router, disconnected from everything. Connected the ethernet cable to Macbook, 192.168.1.1 --> wizard offered AP mode. Set the wifi names to the same as the main one. Connected by rhe WAN to the main router, and it just worked.

What didn't work:
I have two printers in the back office with the AP. The HPLJ 3300 only has USB. the LJ100 has Wifi, Ethernet and USB. I thought I'd try both printers as print serving through the USB sockets, but I could never get the LJ100 to show up as "Enabled". When I removed the USB connection and connected the LJ100 by ethernet to the AP, it works perfectly

As the 3300 doesn't have ethernet I had to leave it plugged into the USB slot on the AP. However it still didn't work, despite showing up when I set it up on my Macbook as a LPR. It kept "Pausing" when I tried to print. I tried the HP JetDirect Socket option, and that works.

I guess the take away from this is that only ONE printer can be hooked up to the USB ports? Or did I mess up?