HP 5200tn installation error with Windows XP

Question

I have an HP LaserJet 5200tn printer. I successfully installed it using USB port and ran smoothly. I tried to use it as a network printer, plugged it to an Ethernet switch with one PC to examine the network installation. I manually adjusted the network settings for both the printer and the PC. For the printer:

IP Address  192.168.10.254
Subnet Mask  255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.10.254

And for the PC (Windows XP, Service Pack 3):

IP Address  192.168.10.116
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.10.254

Installing from the CD, I've chosen the basic installation as suggested. After a while I got an error:

Setup has encountered a severe error and will now exit. Restart your computer and run setup again.

And then rolls back and exit. So I did restrart and tried again several times, all with the same result. I tried the full installation and the custom installation, all resulted in the same error. Tried to google up the error but I couldn't find something useful. Is my configuration OK? Am I on the right path for setting a network printer (since I haven't done that before)? and what's going wrong? Thank you in advance...

Answer 1

I used the HP Install Network Printer Wizard.

It simplified the process and actually got it done. I still needed the driver from the CD.

Answer 2

You're on the right path, both your PC and printer have IP's on the same local subnet (192.168.10.*) and mask. But you should not use 192.168.10.254 for anything, change the printer to something else (like 192.168.10.150). The gateway setting you would normally have as the address of your router (if it's connected via ethernet and is on the same subnet).

As your software installation doesn't seem to have worked i would doublecheck the printer is configured by launching Command Prompt on your PC and 'pinging' the printer by typing ping 192.168.10.150.

You will hopefully find with changing the printer from 192.168.10.254 that the installation is then able to continue. I'll let someone else explain why 192.168.10.254 shouldn't be used (it's to do with network devices broadcasting).