HP printer

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Level 2

178 points

HP printer

I have had some issues with getting my HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw to work correctly with my M1 iMac. I recently deleted the printer from the Preferences panel because it wasn't even showing the manual feed option, since I had set it up as "AirPrint". I replaced it with a Bonjour printer of type "Color LaserJet Pro M454dw", again via the Preferences panel.

There are now a couple of oddities associated with Manual Feed printing.

I get the usual message to load the required paper, but then have to press the "OK" button on the printer's touchscreen display to start the print. In the past, with my previous computer and OS (but this same printer) all that I had to do was to load the paper.
When printing from Mail (only Mail seen so far) I get a message "Preparing ...", and the only way to get rid of it is to force quit Mail. Mail prints Ok to regular paper trays.

As far as I can tell, everything else woks OK, but there seems to be a slight disconnect between my printer and whatever on macOS is driving it. I wondered whether anyone has any ideas about what I can do.

Thanks, Paul.

iMac 24″, 11.6

Posted on Nov 5, 2021 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,688 points

Nov 5, 2021 3:07 PM in response to Paul Fryer

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

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Answer 2

Paul Fryer Author

Level 2

178 points

Nov 9, 2021 4:32 PM in response to Old Toad

I finally had a chat session with an HP support agent. We reset the printer bak to factory settings, and resolved the need to press the OK button to get manual feed printing to go. But in order to resolve the "Preparing . . ." message and lockup, we had to set the printer up as a generic postscript printer. I think I can do most of what I want like this, but it isn't really the way we should be working.

But it suggests that there is a bug in the specific printer driver for this printer, that somehow interacts with Mail and Safari to give this lockup.

Paul.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,688 points

Nov 7, 2021 9:39 AM in response to Paul Fryer

Have you tried connecting the printer directly to your iMac to see if it will work that way?

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Answer 4

Paul Fryer Author

Level 2

178 points

Nov 5, 2021 6:08 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks, OT.

Safe mode made no difference. Should I follow Apple's advice and re-install the OS? And should I move to Monterey, or stick with Big Sur for now?

Or is there something else I can try first?

Paul.

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Answer 5

Paul Fryer Author

Level 2

178 points

Nov 6, 2021 6:12 PM in response to Paul Fryer

OK, I've updated to Monterey, I've removed my login items (there was only one), I've tried disconnecting all my peripherals (except the printer, which is ethernet connected via my router anyway), none of which has got rid of the "Preparing..." issue. I have even tried making another user as suggested by Apple, and the issue is there with Mail as well.

I have occasionally seen the "Preparing..." message in other places too, e.g. in some Safari windows. It always happens with Mail, occasionally with Safari, and not yet seen with other applications.

I also have seen this message in some successful prints to the manual feed , where it flashes for a second then gets on with the printing. So it looks like it's part of the print process, but for some reason occasionally gets hung up with the manual feed option.

In every case I have tried, I still have to press the "OK" button on the printer's touchscreen before it will print, which wasn't the case on my earlier computer with this printer. So that's still a different (but possibly related) outstanding issue.

This seems to be some glitch in the printer driver. Am I doing the right thing in letting Bonjour find my printer via the preference panel, or is there some other way? But I've even reloaded the recommended driver from HP's website - the dialog box looks the same and I get the same result.

I've had a session with Apple support, but no luck so far.

Has anyone else seen this happening, and if so how was it resolved?

Paul.

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HP printer

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