Xerox Phaser 6280 DN

Question

Level 1

8 points

Xerox Phaser 6280 DN

Unable to print; no problems during installation, the router sees the printer correctly, I can change the parameter using the front panel or the browser, I can install it with no problem using bonjour or IPP mode; the computer sees it, but... when I launch a print job, after a few seconds, the printer goes in pause mode (at least this is the message I got).
I tried to restart, everything seems ok, I restart the job... it goes on pause!
I can't understand the problem.
I tried to use a fixed IP, automatic IP (DHCP) etc.... nothing. Always the same result.
I deleted the printer and added it several times using diffent procedure; result: nothing.
I deleted and reinstalle the latest drivers; result: nothing.
I am getting crazy: I need to print and I don't know what to do.
Please help me.
Fabri

iMac Intel, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on May 10, 2010 2:38 PM

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Answer 1

Kurt Lang

Level 9

70,003 points

May 11, 2010 7:25 AM in response to pinkypinky

Hi pinkypinky,

A few things you can try. Listed from easiest to most time consuming.

1) Create a new user account. Login to that account and add the printer. Try printing something. If it works there, then the problem is in your main user account.

2) Download Print Therapy 6.0.7 from Fixamac. I believe you can run it a few times before it demands the shareware fee. Let it run everything and see if it can fix the print engine.

3) Open the System Preferences and click on the Print & Fax heading. In the left column where your installed printers are listed, right click in any blank area (not on a listed printer). You'll get the single contextual choice of "Reset printing system...". Choose that and the entire print system will be reset. Not fun if you have a lot of printers installed as you'll have to install them all over again.

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Answer 2

pinkypinky Author

Level 1

8 points

May 21, 2010 9:21 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Well, it has been a new but not very exciting experience. At least the printer works, but listen to me, and think about it.
Unless trying Print Therapy ( I didn't know this software) I had already tried to do quite everything possible; the solution? Came from a Xerox technician in Dublin.
1) he asked to me to start fixing the problem using a windows machine(!); well, I used the notebook of my wife; but what about having no windows pc at home??
Trying to print from DOS was successfull; therefore we tried to delete the printer installed using the Xerox's dvd.
2)Then we create a new printer installation, and a new communication port, and I followed his instructions because of the "fine tuning" I had never used before when installing a printer.
At the end the printer worked.
3) Under OSX the process was less time consuming: after deleting the printer from the list in the fax and printer panel, we started to add it the "normal" way, but when asking to choose the appropriate driver, we had to discard the driver OSX showed in the list; we had to choose "Other" and then, browsing to the appropriate folder (in Library folder) to select the Xerox file!
4) about usb setting: there was an option set in the wrong way (disabled) among the printer options.

Final remarks: this is the first printer so tricky to install I found in several years; absolutely the worst to install under OSX (since 10.3).
When I had to browse to the correct file in order to have OSX being able to see it, well, I remembered Windows98SE! It was quite normal (under windows) having such kind of troubles: the file was there but you need to manually make it visible to Win, sometimes you had to put manually in the appropriate System subfolder; but that was Win98!! Not OSX!!! Really a bad behaviour from 10.5!! And the technician said that is is not unusual when approaching to the newest releases! Apple like Microsoft?
Another bad news: the call center I had to contact was 100% unable to solve my problem; the operator who talked to me had to tell me to hold on every question I made, and then she provided me a reply; when I realized she was unable to understand my problems I really got angry towards Xerox; she told to me to give my phone number and my probvlem would have been solved by a technician in Dublin. Since I absolutely needed to print that day I made again some trials and then I called again reccomending to give the technician 2 phone numbers; the reply was polite and affirmative, but when the technician contacted me he told only 1 number was given to him, and he had been using several times!!! He was right: I found them in the cellular phone! And he has been trying since the morning to contact me (it was in the afternoon he found me on the second phone number)!
Well: the second level technician was really a very experienced guy: fast and qualified: he drove me along the "hidden" patterns of the Win and Mac software.
But the first level operator was simply unable! When asking for help I expect to find some experienced people, just at the first level! At least somebody that knows more that I know! I know, now, that Xerox has several first level call centers, in Europe, and maybe this was located in the eastern Europe (because of the accent of the operator: she wasn't italian). This is not the first time I have such experience: big companies using low cost call center operators!
This was my experience; I will remember it when buying a new printer.

However thanks to everybody (Kurt Lang expecially).
Fabri

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Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

70,003 points

May 22, 2010 8:07 AM in response to pinkypinky

Hi pinkypinky,

Thanks for posting your success (though it was a lot harder to get there than it should have been). The main issue seems to have been this:

we had to discard the driver OSX showed in the list

Which means if you had been using your Mac they way it comes from the factory, then every Apple supplied print driver under the sun is on your hard drive. That's gigabytes of data you're highly unlikely to ever use. I've always found this method to work without fail:

1a) Do an Erase and Install of the OS. Do a custom install and select just one set of print drivers from those available. Since one of the printers I have is an HP 5000N, I selected the HP drivers. All other unchecked.

1b) If you don't want to do an Erase and Install, you can also just go to the /Library/Printers/ folder. Put everything in the trash except for the folders "PPD Plugins" and "PPDs". Open the PPDs folder and trash everything in it.

One way or the other, OS X's basic print engine needs to be installed. If you were to do a custom install and not select any printers at all, then that part of the system is not installed. So you need to choose something.

Once I had finished a fresh install of OS X, I emptied all of the items in the /Library/Printers/hp/Icons/ folder except for those few belonging to the HP 5000N. Same with the /Library/Printers/PPDs/ folder. Tossed everything except the PPD for the 5000N.

2) Now that you have the basic print system installed with no extra data, install the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer. I was able to simply use the disk that came with the 6280 DN, and it worked with no hassle at all. All other printers I added also worked with no issue.

The drivers OS X installs are supplied by the companies who make the printers they're for, so it doesn't make sense when they don't work. My method may seem a bit extreme to some, so I don't recommend it for everyone unless you, a) Have a complete backup before you remove anything!, and b) don't mind doing it, and have a good idea of what you're manually removing from the hard drive.

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