psheldrake

Q: Cannot printer share in Mavericks

Upgraded iMac and MacBook Air to Mavericks. Now both on 10.9.2.

 

The iMac can print to my HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 A809 as always. It still has "Share this printer on the network" ticked. But now I cannot print from the Air.

 

I removed the printer on the Air and added it back, but get "Unable to download the software from the server at this time."

 

I therefore downloaded all HP printer drivers and rather than selecting the printer from the "Nearby Printers" list, clicked "Add Printer or Scanner ...", selected the printer there, waited for "Gathering printer information", clicked Use _ Select Software, and picked the selected the printer in question. Clicked Add.

 

I go to print something, and I get "Printing - Printing page 1, 34% complete...". And that's where it sits.

 

Help. Any ideas most welcome. Thanks in advance.

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on May 8, 2014 11:14 AM

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Q: Cannot printer share in Mavericks

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  • by psheldrake,

    psheldrake psheldrake May 8, 2014 11:21 AM in response to psheldrake
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    Mac OS X
    May 8, 2014 11:21 AM in response to psheldrake

    Forgot to say that I reset the printing system both times, before trying to add the Printer listed as Nearby, and before "Add Printer or Scanner ...".

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli May 8, 2014 1:49 PM in response to psheldrake
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    May 8, 2014 1:49 PM in response to psheldrake

    I'm asking because you didn't specifically say:

    In the Sharing prefs pane, when you highlight "Printer Sharing," is there a check-mark by the printer you are trying to share?

  • by psheldrake,

    psheldrake psheldrake May 8, 2014 1:52 PM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 8, 2014 1:52 PM in response to greg sahli

    Hi Greg,

     

    Yes, there is a check-mark / tick for Printer Sharing and a check-mark next to the printer in question (which happens to be the only printer btw).

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli May 8, 2014 2:08 PM in response to psheldrake
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    May 8, 2014 2:08 PM in response to psheldrake

    OK, thanks.

    I think we need some basic troubleshooting and maintenance.

    After each step, try printing.

    I would start with repairing the hard drive and permissions. To do that, start from the recovery partition, and use Disk Utility.

    Read first paragraph:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

     

    Next, for troubleshooting, try a different protocol/setup for sharing:

    This setup is a little bit more complicated, but bypasses some software - Bonjour to be specific.

    First, on the "server," go to Print & Scan prefs and click on Options and Supplies, and write down the Device Name - this is the queue name on the server.

    Find the IP address of the server in Network prefs.

    On the client, Go to Print & Scan, click ( + ) to add, then click on IP printer > IPP. Enter the IP address and the queue name you wrote down. For driver, choose the Deskjet model first time around. If it doesn't work, but looks like it's trying, then try again and choose Generic postscript (which will send postscript from MacBook).

  • by psheldrake,

    psheldrake psheldrake May 9, 2014 1:55 AM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 9, 2014 1:55 AM in response to greg sahli

    Thanks again.

     

    Repaired the HDD and permissions, and the log showed some paths with /Printer/. Restarted but still couldn't print.

     

    So continued with your instructions. Added a printer IP > IPP, with the Name set to the IP address of the server, and the queue name accordingly, and the Officejet Pro 8000 A809 drivers. This led to:

    Unable to verify the printer on your network. Unable to connect to 192.x.y.z due to an error. Would you still like to create the printer?

    Clicking Continue added the printer, but it only shows in Printers & Scanners with an amber light next to it, and cannot print obviously.

     

    Removed the printer and tried again with Generic Postscript Printer as the driver. Got the same error.

     

    FYI, I can ping the server (the iMac) from the Air with response times varying from 6ms to 583ms and no packet loss.

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli May 9, 2014 4:24 AM in response to psheldrake
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    May 9, 2014 4:24 AM in response to psheldrake

    Thanks for that good troubleshooting.

     

    Well, it does sound like a network problem (583 ms is a very long response time).

    (but I can't rule out the need to reinstall Mavericks - yet)

     

    Tell me a little about your local network. Model router, location/distance between iMac & MacBook & router, are you in an apartment with many other routers around you, etc? Both computers using wifi?

     

    Things to try:

    I would scan for signal strength and to see other competing routers on same channel. Use the scan tool in Mavericks - read here:

    http://ambroselittle.wordpress.com/2013/11/09/mac-wi-fi-scanner-in-os-x-maverick s/

    (you can reduce interference by setting your router's channel to a different one than everybody else is using.)

     

    I would also set up the router to have "reserved IP addresses" for each computer in the router's online admin web page. This reduces the searching that gets done by computers and router. You can usually use the same IP address each computer currently has, just make it reserved. On my netgear router, setting up the reserved IPs is on a different menu/page than "connected devices."

     

    Please report back with your results.

  • by psheldrake,

    psheldrake psheldrake May 9, 2014 4:45 AM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 9, 2014 4:45 AM in response to greg sahli

    Thanks Greg.

     

    Here's the info you ask for, but it is important to note that the only thing that changed between printing working and then not working was the Mavericks upgrade, afaik.

     

    Router: BT Home Hub 4

    Distance: the iMac, Air and router are all within 3 metres of each other

    Wireless scan: no other device on my device's channel

    Performance: excellent SNR (always >18)

    Lanscan: no unexpected devices found on the network

    Currently using DHCP.

     

    I agree that anything over 100ms is unusual. So I pinged the server's IP address again and got the same variation in responses, with three out of ten exceeding 500ms. But when I ping the server's hostname, the lengthiest response is 23ms. No problems pinging the router's IP or hostname.

     

    I know enough to think this odd, but nowhere near enough to know if it really is odd, what to do about it, or if it has anything at all to do with not being able to print.

     

    Thank you.

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli May 9, 2014 5:07 AM in response to psheldrake
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    May 9, 2014 5:07 AM in response to psheldrake

    Just realized I hadn't pinged my Mac since using Mavericks. Got average response ~470 ms. So yours isn't "way off."

     

    I use DHCP on computers, but enter "reserved IP" in the router's setup pages. So, the router's DHCP server always knows what IP to issue each computer. ie, no pause for that in case computer momentarily loses connection.

     

    I think you could troubleshoot by connecting one (or both) of the computers by ethernet.

     

    Otherwise, getting close to recommending reinstall Mavericks - and don't know which computer to recommend!

  • by psheldrake,

    psheldrake psheldrake May 12, 2014 2:14 AM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2014 2:14 AM in response to greg sahli

    Thanks again.

     

    The Air doesn't have an ethernet port, but I think a friend has one of those USB to ethernet adaptors. I'll see if I can borrow it. If my Air can 'talk' to the iMac / printer server normally over wifi, I'm not sure why printing should be affected alone, and why ethernet rather than wifi might resolve the matter, but I can't think of anything else to try!

  • by I_thought_I_was_Smart,

    I_thought_I_was_Smart I_thought_I_was_Smart Sep 26, 2015 4:11 AM in response to psheldrake
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2015 4:11 AM in response to psheldrake

    Check the Firewall on the Mac that the printer is connected to. If CUPSD is not enabled for incoming connections, that is the problem. Set it to accept connections.