New
#1
Laptop can no longer access shared printer/files on home network
Printer plugged into Win7 box - how to print from remote XP machine? describes an original difficulty I had getting remote computers (laptops and desktops) to print to a USB printer connected to my Windows 7 box. Read far enough and you'll see that I solved that problem using Networking issue - Win7 printer, XP remote machines
Fast forward 13 or so months. Since that time I have replaced the printer, I've had a motherboard and processor issue with my box (since fixed), and no interruption of things working as they should. My printer - Canon ip4800 series - is USB hardwired to my Windows 7 computer, and the other home computers - two Windows 7 laptops, an XP box, and an XP netbook - can print to the printer, and view files on my Win7 machine, over our wireless home network. And that's been constant through the changes described.
Then yesterday, for no known reason, my daughter's Win7 laptop stopped being able to print. She'd send jobs to the correct printer, but they'd just queue up, with the queue visible from her machine, but not when I looked at the printer from my machine (that is looking at the print queue from her machine shows the jobs, but looking at it from mine shows no jobs).
Nothing I did would result in stuff from her machine, from any application, to go to the printer.
I finally deleted the printer from her machine, figuring I'd just add it back.
Nope.
When I try adding a printer to the laptop, it doesn't find the printer on the list of available printers. When I try adding it by typing the name - \\mywin7\canon ip4800 series - that fails.
When I look at "network" from her laptop, my computer shows up, but if I click on it, Windows says it can't connect.
When I type ping her_computer from a DOS box, it can't find it - but when I type ping any_other_computer it finds those.
Her laptop can get on the internet from our home wireless network. All the other computers in the house - Win7 and XP - can access shared files on my PC, and more importantly, print across the network to my USB printer.
NO IDEA what changed. The laptop in question had printed a few days ago.
Please, patiently and precisely, guide me through stuff to check on my PC and her laptop, to get this working again. I've been through the network and sharing center on my PC and the settings are correct.
Again, as it is right now, my printer is not defined on her laptop.
Final, cro-magnon-level question here: If I did a system restore on her laptop, back to a point when it had been able to print, might that fix things? Yes, I know, better means exist.