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HP USB Printers unable to print documents due to a communication failure.

Hi,


There's a serious issue on macOS Catalina causing many HP USB printers to fail printing documents.


Everytime I tried printing a document I keep getting this error message:


Communication Failure: The computer is no longer able to communicate with your printer. Turn the printer off, check your printer connections and check for printer errors, and turn the printer back on.


It's normal? I never encountered such problem with previous macOSes.


Had just installed the latest official package from Apple (v5.1). Printer is an HP Deskjet 1050A 410g.

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 7, 2019 1:30 AM

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Posted on Nov 7, 2019 9:47 AM

Have you tried resetting the print system and re-adding the printer?


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203343


The software isn't really from Apple, Apple just makes it available through Software Update.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Deskjet-1050A-All-in-One-Printer-series---J4/5068679/model/5068680


Does this fail when printing simple jobs from TextEdit?


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7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 7, 2019 9:47 AM in response to dragontorc

Have you tried resetting the print system and re-adding the printer?


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203343


The software isn't really from Apple, Apple just makes it available through Software Update.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Deskjet-1050A-All-in-One-Printer-series---J4/5068679/model/5068680


Does this fail when printing simple jobs from TextEdit?


Nov 7, 2019 11:16 PM in response to jblanchard1

Hello,


I did a printing system reset and re-added the device. Nothing happened.


The communication failure error occurs if you cancel a printing job while the computer is waiting the printer to become available. Very frustrating.


Then I decided to do a CUPS cleanup and plug the printer into an USB hub to see if the device responds; none of these methods worked. The computer is still unable to connect with the printer. Only the scan function is working.


I suspect it's a driver issue as I've checked the cables before printing anything. I never encountered this error with older macOSes.

Nov 9, 2019 2:10 AM in response to dragontorc



Thanks to Apple's troubleshooting guide I've finally found one of the possible causes for which the computer fails to communicate with an USB printing device.


The issue doesn't occur if the printer is powered on for the first time. Only when the device is turned off the OS is unable to recognize it even if it's turned back on.


I suspect there's a bug on the printer spooler preventing the computer to communicate with the device during power up. This problem wasn't observed on previous macOSes.


Until the issue is fixed the printer must be online and turned on. Downgrading to an earlier version of the OS is also under consideration.



HP USB Printers unable to print documents due to a communication failure.

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