Hi Seattlemike, I looked at the specs for your printer and it appears to connect via USB or parellel to your desktop as a standard setup. It does have an optional network adapter/print server. Does the printer have this optional feature (does it have a port for the ethernet cable?). Are you currently having issues with the desktop staying online? I'm trying to ascertain why the tech wants you to go wireless when you have the router a few inches from the desktop. Ideally, you would connect the modem to the router, then the desktop to the router via ethernet cable, the laptop connects to the router via wireless and then there's the printer. If it has only USB or parellel connection, you will have to connect it to the desktop, then share it on the network to enable printing from the laptop (the desktop must be online and active for this to work). If it has the optional ethernet port/print server then it also can be connected to the router and given a static (assigned) IP address. In every case, you will need to connect the printer directly to the laptop in order to install the driver, then disconnect from the laptop and place the printer in it's permanent position. After all of the physical connections are made, you'll need to syncronize the network. This entails powering off everything (usually requires electrical power to be disconnected, some items do have on/off switches) and bringing them online in a specific order. Starting with the modem, plug it into power and watch the lights until the 'online' light becomes stable. Next will be the router, plug it into electrical power and wait 2 minutes for the router to obtain it's IP address from the modem. Now turn on the printer and computers, order is not important here. Everything should be online at this point. Please make sure that you utilize wireless security on the router to protect your network especially since you will have to enable file and printer sharing on the desktop in order to allow printing from the laptop, leaving your desktop wide open to intrusion. The router has several options, WEP, WPA, WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK. You will need to see which of those options that your laptop's wireless adapter utilizes. I'm sure that I've missed something, please ask. Other helpers will also add pertinent details that I may have overlooked. Pam

zep516 - Now that you mention it I have at times (but not at the same time my laptop stopped working on the porch) had modem failures and comcast told me I probably needed to have it replaced. But it works fine for about three weeks and then goes down. So i've been lazy and haven't taken it in to swap it out. Comcast isn't my fav company to deal with. pkponder - I have wracked my brain and the only other thing that I know of that has changed is my ADT system got a trouble light a few weeks ago, maybe around the same time, but ADT told me that checking their records, they haven't had a signal from my home in a year... ADT is also not my favorite company since they continued to bill me. But the security system is wired not wireless, if that makes a difference. It is connected to my Comcast phone service though. mikie - Well, I do have an older, refurbished laptop so that could be possible. There is no way to check the internal reception, is there? And windows update has messed me up on other minor settings before. I will work on the things I have control over like the modem and the ethernet cable and see what happens. You guys (and gal) are awesome.

fwiw My experiences with the plug in usb WiFi adapters, they all seem to have much lower receive and send power than the internal types. They struggle with distance I think is their main problem for some uses. Here Im using a little tiny Trendnet/Realek usb mini adapter, sticks out maybe 1/2 inch. Has 100mw rx 200mw tx, with no antenna, and that's = very weak. It works flawlessly though in my use, even in full energy savings mode - I bought it to experiment with two channels and it matches my Trendnet wifi/dsl-modem/router, and only cost ten bucks delivered.. Actually it worked out so perfect for here that I use it full time as its weakness in send/receive signal is such that it doesn't see but just one neighbor, where as if I actuate my internal wifi it sees a dozen ssid's at any given moment . It is mostly line of sight here to the router here which I keep that router set at 12% transmit power to actually appreciate in my mind I have as fast as possible network speeds without bothering neighbors signals. My iverizon dsl 7.1mb is way under the 120 to 150mb windows says is available - so do I need it :) But if I were streaming to a tv or moving backup files around.. maybe 2 channels then would really be appreciated and actually useful. I don't think I've had a single dropout since I uninstalled the TrendNet install and let Microsoft automatically discover new hardware and install with their version of the realtek wifi driver. Windows has all the necessary built in programming for managing it.

If you need a wired ethernet port, I have used a Netgear device that provides ethernet over powerline reliably for several years with a Roku box for Netflix and Amazon Video. Once every blue moon I'll see a 'buffering' message. It literally took 5 minutes to get it working, and I haven't touched it since I installed it. The version I have is a back level of this one: http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Powerline-Wireless-N-Extender-XAVNB2001/dp/B0046SQ8VW/ref=sr_1_12?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1374461565&sr=1-12&keywords=powerline+ethernet Looks like there are a lot more choice now. I'd recommend this over pure wireless, especially right at this moment. (I'm not buying any more wireless stuff unless it is 802.11 ac compatible). Plus less risk of speed variances. http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/802-11ac-vs-802-11n-what-s-the-difference When I buy a new ac router, which I'll do when I upgrade my laptop to an AC-compatible one, I will read this site's reviews thoroughly: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews