multiple printing issues

We just purchased two new Vista machines (1 laptop, 1 desktop) for our church office, both running 32 bit Home Premium. I am running an account with (as far as I know) complete admin access. We have a network printer which has its own IP address assigned by the router. All three pieces of hardware run through our WRT54G router. I have tried to install the network printer on both machines. With the laptop, Vista's "Add Printer" wizard found the printer and installed it without a hitch. The laptop can print perfectly fine.

However, the desktop is having several printing issues. First I attached an HP USB printer to it. Vista seemed to install the drivers just fine, but I didn't do a test print to make sure that it worked. A few days later I tried to add the network printer as I did with the laptop, but things started going bad! If I select the option of installing a local USB printer the wizard hangs and tells me its "not responding". If I instead try the network printer option, the wizard detects the printer (exactly like the laptop was able to). However, when I stop the scanning for other printers and click "Next" to proceed with installation the wizard again freezes and tells me that it's "not responding". I've also tried the option of "the printer is not listed" in an attempt to manually enter the IP address of the printer. When I click the textfield to enter the IP address, I get a blinking cursor. However, I can not see any text that I type into that textfield and my mouse pointer is somehow "behind" the window, such that I can not click within the wizard window. So, I have no idea how to add this network printer. The wizard simply stops responding no matter what I do.

Thinking that I could still at least print with the USB printer, I tried test prints with it. The print jobs just sit in the queue and never print. I then tried to delete this printer, but nothing happened.

As I said previously, I believe that my user account has full admin privileges. I would be glad to check on that if someone could tell me how. I do not receive errors about permissions, but rather simply get repeated frozen wizards.

Could there be some Windows service that is disabled or missing that would cause this effect? Or is there some Windows Firewall setting? I'm running AVG for antivirus, but the same thing happens if I uninstall AVG. I'm actually pretty familiar with XP, but Vista is brand new to me. I'm also comfortable running in the command line if needed. We just need this printer to work asap, and I'm pulling my hair out.

Thanks!

elstonfamily:

Regarding the question of the administrator status of your User Account:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67567-administrator-account.html?filter[11]=User%20Accounts

Hope this helps.
Ardneh

SO does the printer run through a computer which connects to a router? You must enable printer sharing in the network and sharing center.

No... The network runs through a WRT54G router. One of the ethernet connections from the router runs into a switch. Both the desktop and printer are on this switch. The laptop connects wirelessly. Do you think that the switch may have something to do with it? We had the same configuration with an XP machine and it printed properly to the networked printer. The printer does not directly connect to any computer, but rather is connected to the switch, which is obviously connected to the router.

I have tried plugging the computer into the router rather than the switch, and it doesn't help. I also tried it with the true Admin account, and that didn't help. Does anyone have any more ideas why the "Add Printer" wizard might be hanging on me every time?

Perhaps it's a problem of permissions.
After doing malware scan from Safe Mode.

Maybe try it from Safe Mode, with UAC and DEP off (Temporarily)?
This would leave you without some of Vista's strongest security
protection temporarily.

Risky business.