Where has my Canon MP-510 printer driver gone?

What you are looking at when you click on the pop-up list of drivers are the ones that are built into Leopard. However, if you used the install disk that came with your printer, you will see that the "Canon MP510 series" printer driver that the Canon installer gave you has been selected automatically. Don't mess with the other drivers unless you need some of the specialized functions of the CUPS system. When you launch the System Preferences application (in the applications folder) and select "Print & Fax" you should see your printer listed in the list of printers and fax modems. If you wish, double click on the Canon MP510 icon in the list and a new application with the title "Canon MP510 series" should launch. It will have all the functions you need to control your printer. You can also designate it as your default printer. For more help you can go to the "Help" menu when this application is at the front and a help file should come up that will guide you further.

I would also suggest that you go to the Canon web site and check to see that you have the latest driver for the printer, fax, scanner and cups print driver installed on your computer and download them if yours are not up to date. I just bought the MP980 which is pretty new from Canon and found that the drivers that came with this newly released machine aren't even up to date! I believe the latest drivers for the MP510 are 12.13.0

Hope this helps.

Griff

Hi Phil UK,

First of all, you cannot manually browse to the Canon driver via the Print Using menu. The software has to find the printer on the other end of the cable. When this doesn't work there is often a conflict or a problem with the software installation that stops this from working.

If you have installed the downloaded driver 5 times, then you could have too many conflicting files on your Mac. At this stage it would be best to remove all these additional files and start again.

Use the following steps to clean up your Mac.

1. Navigate to Library > Printers > Canon and delete the contents of the BJPrinter folder.
2. Go to Library > Receipts and delete the Canon driver package file. The file name will show Canon MP510 xxx.pkg. Note that there could be more than one of these MP510 package files. If so, delete all of them.
3. Go to Library > Preferences and delete the Canon folder.
4. Go to HD > Users > Shared > Canon and delete the BJPrinter folder, if it exists.
5. Empty the Trash
6. Unplug the Canon USB cable and restart the Mac
7. Install the latest version of the Canon driver. The Canon web site shows v5.8.3. Do not use the v12.13.0 CUPS driver. It causes more problems than it resolves.
8. Once the driver installation is complete, go to Applications > Utilities and open Disk Utility. Run the Repair Disk Permissions option.
9. Reconnect the Canon USB cable. Then open Print & Fax and see if the Canon printer is listed. It may take a minute to appear but often it will add by itself.
10. If the printer is not listed, click the plus ( + ) button. Select the Default view and select the Canon printer connected via the USB port. The Print Using menu should automatically change to Canon IJ Printer. Click Add to add the printer.

HTH

PaHu

Hi Phil,

Yeh, you should have mentioned the network setup previously, as this does change a number of actions.

If you have the MP510 connected via USB to a Windows computer or a 3rd party print server, then you will not be able to use the Canon provided driver. These types of connections require a CUPS-based driver, such as those offered by Gutenprint and PrintFab.

Gutenprint is included with OS X 10.5 and free updates are available from Sourceforge that include support for newer models of printers. However, looking through the list of supported printers for the latest v5.23, your MP510 is not listed. So if your were to try the Gutenprint offering, then you could connect to the MP510 and via the Print Using menu, select either the Gutenprint MP500 or MP520 and see if either of these work correctly.

If neither of these selections work correctly, then you could look at purchasing the PrintFab driver suite (www.printfab.net), which does list the MP510 as a supported printer. There is a free trial avialable so you could test that this works correctly before you commit to purchase.

If the above doesn't help, could you explain the home network setup, as this can be any number of physical connections and all have their own little quirks for configuring your printer queue on the Mac.

PaHu

Your asked "Where has my Canon MP-510 printer driver gone?"

Probably to the same place as mine because my Canon MP-510 printer driver is nowhere to be found either! I have just acquired a new iMac and cannot use my Canon MP-510.

What should I do?

The Canon MP-510 printer also seems to have disappeared off the Canon support site.

Am I just being neurotic or is there something we're not being told?

What on earth should us Canon MP-510 printer owners do?

Come on Apple!

I have found mine! Or at least a successful workaround.

It's in the following path:

Macintosh HD/Library/Printers/Canon/BJPrinter/Utilities/Canon IJ Printer Utility

(1) Click on Canon IJ Printer Utility (it's an Application)
(2) Connect your printer by USB
(3) Canon IJ Printer Utility will recognize your printer
(4) Go to your document or whatever and click Print (or use your shortcut)
(5) Voila - it prints!

I have made an alias of Canon IJ Printer Utility and put it in a folder I have created and called Canon Utilities which I am keeping in my Applications folder for easy access.

It works for me - I hope it works for you too.

PS I haven't got it to work wirelessly (yet).

With the printer connected to the Mac's USB, you add the printer via the Default browser view - not via the Canon utility. After adding the printer queue, when you then open the queue, the Utility icon then opens the Canon utility for doing maintenance tasks.

For USB-only Canon printers, if they are shared by a Windows PC or a print server/router, then you cannot use the Canon driver. These types of connections require a CUPS driver like Gutenprint or Printfab, as mentioned above. Since the MP510 is not listed as a supported printer by Gutenprint, then you need to find a model that will work. As mentioned above, the MP710 will work with your MP510.

PaHu

It's outrageous that this topic has not been successfully resolved!

Come on Apple!

Where did you get this, please? I've looked. I can't find it!