HP Photosmart 7960 Not Shown in Print Drivers

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Level 1

24 points

HP Photosmart 7960 Not Shown in Print Drivers

I finally pulled the trigger and bought a MacBook Pro last Monday. I have a lot to learn having come from a PC background. I have an HP Photosmart 7960 printer hard-wired to a desktop PC running Windows XP. I use a wireless network with a Linksys router for a laptop PC also running Windows XP that shares that printer. I am trying to get my new Mac to share that printer wirelessly as well. It can find the printer on my network and then asks me to choose a printer driver from the drop-down list. The HP Photosmart 7900 series is not in the drop-down list even thought that driver is supposed to be part of the Leopard 10.5.8 OS without downloading from HP. As a matter of fact HP doesn't even offer that driver up to download because it already comes on the operating system. I picked one at random (HP Photosmart 7550 Gutenprint 5.1.3) and it will print, but that can't be the right way to go in the long run. I've been back to the Apple Store where I bought the laptop and they don't know what to tell me to do. I'm hoping someone has solved this issue so I can enjoy my new Mac.

Posted on Sep 26, 2009 2:45 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 26, 2009 9:01 PM in response to expc75

Hi! There are 4 7900 series drivers included in Leopard however at installation not all of them may have been chosen. I think you will have to use the install disc to install the additional drivers if they weren't installed originally.
List of drivers HERE. Tom

From Apple:
Installing printer drivers

All included printer drivers are installed by default with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. If you custom install, you can select which printer driver packages you would like installed. The Apple LaserWriter PPDs and sample drivers included with CUPS are installed as part of the Essential System Software package and cannot be customized or installed separately from Mac OS X.

If you would like to install any of the optional printer drivers after installing Mac OS X, insert the Install disc into your computer and use Optional Installs.

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Answer 2

expc75 Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 27, 2009 8:23 AM in response to Thomas Bryant

Thanks for the response. Of course I didn't install the OS. It came pre-installed on the laptop, so I just assumed that all the drivers were available in the drop-down. If I'm reading your suggestion right, I should try inserting the install disc and search for those 4 drivers for the HP 7960 and add them. Although the "From Apple" portion of the response seems to indicate there're supposed to be there already by default. I'll slip the install disc in and see if the others show up. Thanks again.

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Answer 3

expc75 Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 28, 2009 2:17 PM in response to expc75

OK. So I called Apple and described this issue. The tech had me uninstall the printer and start fresh. He then had me direct wire the HP 7960 to my Mac and it picked up the correct driver immediately. Then we went back and tried to look for the HP 7960 driver when we added it as a network printer. Again, the driver did not show up. After he talked to a "printer specialist" they came to the conclusion that the driver for this printer is only for a direct USB connection and does not support a network that is based on Windows.

Anybody else have any suggestions other than continuing to use the driver for an HP Photosmart 7550 (Gutenprint 5.1.3)? I'd appreciate any suggestions.

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Answer 4

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Sep 29, 2009 5:51 AM in response to expc75

If you want to try a different driver, install the 3-part hpijs drivers from:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/macosx

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Answer 5

expc75 Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 29, 2009 4:28 PM in response to greg sahli

Thanks so much, Greg, for the suggestion. I'm waiting on my Office for Mac software to arrive. I'll see how the printer works with those files and go from there. I have some options now. Thank you again.

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