April 21, 2006 7:55 AM PDT

Mac OS X 10.4.6 Special Report: Printer issues

by CNET staff

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Some users are reporting problems with printers after the update -- particularly when using network devices.

MacFixIt reader Lance writes:

"I use a Konica-Minolta 2400W laser printer which is technically a Windows only printer, but was working perfectly with ESP Ghostscript, Foomatic-RIP and m2300w-0.51 which was obtained from linuxprinting.org and sourceforge.net

"Unfortunately the update to Mac OS X 10.4.6 has eliminated the ability to use my printer.

"When checking Printer Setup Utility, the printer is available in the list and the 'MINOLTA-QMS magicolor 2400W / Foomatic m2400w' driver is selected.

"When I send a Safari webpage to the printer, there is a slight delay and the print queue dialog appears and says 'Processing' with the horizontal barber pole progress bar. But an error dialog box also pops up that says: 'Print Error while printing.'

"I've attempted to reinstall the ESP Ghostscript, Foomatic-RIP and m2400w-0.51 driver, restarting after each item was installed with no change in the outcome."

Fixes
Gutenprint and usbtb Some users have been able to resolve printer communication issues by installing the excellent open-source Epson printer drivers available as part of the Gutenprint package (formerly known as Gimp-print) and usbtb, a CUPS back-end for USB printing.

Connect directly to Mac Some problems that may occur when a printer is connected through an AirPort Express or other AirPort base station are resolved by plugging the device directly into a Mac's USB port.
Remove non-required drivers Removing extraneous drivers from /Library/Printers(name of manufacturer) can sometimes resolve printer issues. Remove files that are for other models than your own.
Re-install drivers Re-installation of printer drivers from original media or from a Web download (either directly through the manufacturers site or via a search by model/manufacturer on VersionTracker) can resolve some printer issues.

Try disconnecting from network In some cases, LAN-connected printer, seemingly broken by the Mac OS X update can restored to normal operation by simply disconnecting the device from the network then re-connecting it.
"Communicator Error" -- try power cycling If you receive a "Communication Error" message when attempting to print after updating to Mac OS X 10.4.5, the first workaround you should try is power cycling the printer, as well as disconnecting then re-connecting it to the Mac.

Connecting directly to the Mac If you are having printer problems after updating to Mac OS X 10.4.6 and are using an external USB hub, try connecting the printer directly to your Mac.

One reader who had success with this method writes:

"Unfortunately the update to Mac OS X 10.4.6 has eliminated the ability to use my Lexmark Z600 series USB printer on my iMac G5 20" iSight (rev C).

"I resolved the problem via the following: I unplugged my external USB hub and plugged the printer directly to my computer."

Print one copy In some cases, using print one copy instead of the standard print command can result in elimination of crashes that occur during printing.

MacFixIt reader John Brockman writes:

"Three Macs running 10.4.6 all with connected to a new HP 2430N through an airport extreme which is turn is connected to printer with USB 2.0 cable.

"All the following problems occur whether or not the connection is through ethernet and an un-managed hub with Appletalk or Bonjour of IP printer as protocol.

"On the desktop computer (dial 1.42 powerPC G4 every works perfectly. All files print in all apps.

"On 2 powerbooks G4s: Eudora files print, but only if the menu choice in "file" is "Print one copy". If "Print" i selected (which leads to a dialog box, the word file in the menu is highlighted for a second and Eudora crashes.

"Adobe Photoshop CS2: same as Eudora. One 'print one copy' works, using 'print' crashes the program.

"I called the vendor and AppleCare, the latter had me stop using ethernet cable as the connection from Airport to Printer and change is to USB, but there's no change. They also had me create a new user. No Luck. Same for Disk utility and Tech tool pro. Their next set of advice was (a) they would report it to engineering, which could take about 5 days; (b) do a re-install/archive from my last OS X disk, get back to the previous version of the OS and see if it works."