Printer setup help needed!

[AaronL]

I have a Beige G3 Mac with an HP LaserJet 5100 printer.  I use the HP JetDirect 300X and a router (Netgear N600) to connect them.  Everything has worked fine in the past, until I moved my Mac into a different room (separating the router from my house's modem).  We tried using a wifi extender in that room to make it work, but the computer can't seem to connect to the internet now.  I don't really care about the internet, but I need to make it print!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alex]

Your Mac is too far from the router which I strongly believe is connected via WiFi.

It is also possible that the extender is too far from the router or your Mac is too far from the extender or both.

Bring the extender closer to the router as a first step.

It could also be that there are other WiFi devices that are causing wireless interference. If you can probe for that, consider changing the channel your network is using to a channel other networks don't use.

Wireless networks have a wide variety of variables that can cause connectivity issues otherwise they are convenient. The safest thing to do is to bring the router and extender closer together to ensure they are in range of each other and then try your Mac, if still nothing your Mac maybe to far away.

Although not directly related, this apple article has some general advice that is platform and vendor agnostic, https://support.apple.com/sl-si/HT201542

 

[AaronL]

Thanks Alex.  There is a bit of distance between the extender and the modem, but the extender is plugged in directly to the router and the Mac.

Do you think if we bought an Ethernet Extender to replace the wifi extender, it would solve the problem?  This should eliminate any potential interference.

 

[IlikeTech]

If the printer is AppleTalk, the WiFi extender may not be passing those packets.

Edit: Oooh sweet 1k posts