WPS-PBC (Wi-Fi | WPS Button)

Question

Level 1

11 points

WPS-PBC (Wi-Fi | WPS Button)

Trying to add a printer that requires pressing the WPS button on my router (Airport Extreme). I have tried multiple times to connect using the information I have found here, but nothing works. After setting up the printer (Dell C1760 nw) to the point where I am supposed to push the WPS Button on the router, I have gone into Airport Utility, selected the base station and in the AirPort Utility menu under Base Station, selected the "Add WPS Printer..." The Add WPS Printer window then opens and from there I selected "Allow WPS printer by: First attempt". (I could not use the "PIN" selection because I don't find a PIN number anywhere on the printer.) After all of this I get the following message:

"An error occurred while a WPS Printer was trying to join your network. Please try again."

DELL296143

E8:D1:1B:29:61:43

Please help!

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Aug 6, 2017 3:58 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 7, 2017 9:35 AM in response to seadub64

Before we advise on how to make any change the name of your wireless network name and password, you should understand that this will affect every one of the devices that now connect to the network. Each one of them will need to choose the "new" network and enter the "new" password in order to connect to your "new" network.

There is also no assurance that doing this will allow the printer to connect.

If you do have an option to connect the new printer to your AirPort Extreme using a wired Ethernet cable connection, I would try that first, since this would not require that you make any changes to your wireless network name or password.

If you do want to connect the printer using wireless, I would contact Dell Support first....to ask them about the requirements for their printer to connect using wireless.

Post back if you have decided that you want to try making changes to the AirPort Extreme wireless network and password.

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Answer 2

Aug 6, 2017 5:29 PM in response to seadub64

Make sure that the name of the wireless network that the AirPort Extreme provides meets all of the following qualifications:

The name must be short and simple....ideally 10-12 characters, but no more than 20
No blank spaces in the name of the wireless network
No special characters....like an apostrophe, asterisk, dollar sign, etc in the name of the wireless network

So, for example a wireless network name like.......seadub64's red apple wireless network......will be a major challenge for the Dell to be able to connect....although another Apple device would probably connect.

Then, use the same guidelines for the wireless network password

If still no luck, then make sure that you have separate names for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz networks on the AirPort Extreme set up, since the Dell is likely looking for a 2.4 GHz signal......and Apple by default uses the same name for both networks, which will confuse some wireless devices.

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Answer 3

seadub64 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 7, 2017 6:53 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Hi Bob, Thanks for your reply.

There are 12 characters, including a space, in the name of my network. How do I go in and rename it?

Also, there are 20 characters in the name of the password with a special character in it, too. How do I change it and will changing it affect the other printers and users that are on that network?

In addition, how do I go about naming the 5Ghz and 2.4 Ghz networks separately?

I appreciate your assistance.

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Answer 4

seadub64 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 7, 2017 9:35 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Okay, I was able to use the network finder on the printer to access my network. Everything's good to go.

Thanks

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Answer 5

Aug 7, 2017 10:11 AM in response to seadub64

Nice work. If this means that you were able to connect your new printer using a wired Ethernet cable connection, that is by far the best way to connect compared to wireless.

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Answer 6

seadub64 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 8, 2017 5:41 AM in response to Bob Timmons

No, I didn't have to use a wired Ethernet cable. I was able to locate my wireless network using the search feature on the printer without having to deal with the WPS issue.

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