Why does my printer and pc have to be connected to the same router to print?

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shadybk

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I have a verizon modem/router (gateway) and an asus router. The asus router is connected to the gateway as a switch, so both the gateway and asus routers are on the same network.

My desktop is connected to the asus router via ethernet and the asus router connected to the gateway via ethernet. When I connect my printer to the gateway router via wifi, I can't print from my desktop, the computer says it is not connected to the printer. If I connect my printer to the asus router via wifi, then I can print.

Same situation with my laptop, the only way to print from my laptop is if both the laptop and printer are connected to the same router.

Why does a pc and printer have to be connected to the same router when the asus is acting like a switch and the asus and gateway routers are talking to each other, they are on the same network and connected with each other?
 
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First thing you need to ask is. Does the gateway assign the ip addresses or does the Asus router assign the ip addresses? Log into the Asus router and make sure it is set on access point if it isn't it is working as a router. Here's one quick way to see if they are on different network segments or not. check what the ip address is from the asus and what the ip address is coming from the verizon gateway. if one is 192.168.0.1 and the other is 192.168.1.1 then they are different segments and will not pass the other addresses through the to the gateway. That's your disconnect. Make sure the Asus is set to access point allowing it to pass the address assignments to the verizon gateway. If the ip addresses are in series like 192.168.1.1...
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indsup

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The gateway has no routing functions at all. Just a gateway to the internet. You have to have a router to send and receive inside the network. Your router is actually what sends everything to the respective computer/device. It does the routing of all the communication between devices. If you connect it to the gateway, the only thing that you are doing at that point is making it accessible to the internet not your internal network. Switches do not have routing abilities
 
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shadybk

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the gateway from verizon is a full functioning router, when I connect my laptop and printer to the gateway via wifi I am able to print.

and I am using a full functioning asus router as a switch, shouldn't that have routing capabilities?
 
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shadybk

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I want to learn and understand how everything works.
 
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indsup

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The biggest problem it seems that you have two routers in series. They usually have issues resolving ip addresses that way. The reason you are having the issues. Surprised that you get internet trying to go through two routers in series. What you want to do is use the router/gateway then a switch not another router after the initial router. what you can do is turn the routing function off on the Verizon gateway and use your router to complete that function. If you don't your will always have some sort of issue that will pop up.
 
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shadybk

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I don't have two routers in series, I am using the asus as a switch.
 
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indsup

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Apr 26, 2015
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First thing you need to ask is. Does the gateway assign the ip addresses or does the Asus router assign the ip addresses? Log into the Asus router and make sure it is set on access point if it isn't it is working as a router. Here's one quick way to see if they are on different network segments or not. check what the ip address is from the asus and what the ip address is coming from the verizon gateway. if one is 192.168.0.1 and the other is 192.168.1.1 then they are different segments and will not pass the other addresses through the to the gateway. That's your disconnect. Make sure the Asus is set to access point allowing it to pass the address assignments to the verizon gateway. If the ip addresses are in series like 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.2, etc then you should be fine and work just like you want. You can of course set up a static route in the routing table but you better know how to do that before you try. If you don't it is easily to break your whole network. By the way some routers only partially turn off their routing functions and will cause issues like this.
 
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