Jobs disappears without printing from the spool of an LPR printer

Question

Level 1

10 points

Jobs disappears without printing from the spool of an LPR printer

Hello,

I meet a very strange problem. My lab has bought a new network printer (Sharp MX-4101N). I have downloaded and installed the OSX driver from Sharp's support site. The installation has not posed any problem. When I add the printer as an LP Ethernet printer, the correct PPD is automatically chosen by the installer and the physical location of the printer is read correctly. I hence assume that my MacBook Pro communicates with this printer (I can also see the level of inks in the corresponding tab in the printer interface).

But, when I send a job to the printer, it just disappears from the queue, without any reaction from the printer. Its local queue does not show my document either and it is not configured for being "hold" in the printer (instead of immediate printing). Moreover, Cups log indicates that the document has been printed.

Windows users print without any problem on this printer using LPR and I can print without any problem on other LPR printers in the lab (so I do not have a firewall problem either).

I have searched the web and these forums. I have seen other people meeting this type pf problem with HP printers, but these older posts seems to indicate that this was a problem with HP's drivers. My driver is recent and is normally compatible with OSX 10.6.5.

I am totally lost and do not know what can be the cause of this strange problem.
I would be very grateful if you have any idea.

Very cordially,

Murat

MPPRo, Mac OS X (10.6.6), Printer: Sharp MX-4101N; LPR problem

Posted on Jan 7, 2011 1:37 AM

Reply

Answer 1

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Jan 7, 2011 2:07 PM in response to myildi

When I look at the specifications of that printer, I see that Postscript is an "option." Yet, the driver distributed by Sharp for it is a Postscript driver. You should try the generic PCL 5 or PCL 6 driver instead of the standard Sharp driver.

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Answer 2

PAHU

Level 6

16,717 points

Jan 7, 2011 2:08 PM in response to myildi

The Sharp may not have support for Postscript. This would stop the job from printing but still allow it to be sent from the Mac. Checking the Sharp Au web site this model has PCL5/6 as standard and the Postscript kit is optional. This may be the case for Europe also. So as a test you could delete the current queue and create a new LPD queue, this time selecting Generic PCL Laser Printer in the Print Using menu. One other thing to note is that LPD queues often require a certain queue name. You could check on the Windows PC what they are using - Properties > Ports > Configure Ports.

If you want to check if the copier has Postscript installed you should be able to open Safari and enter the IP address of the Sharp. This will open it's internal web page and somewhere here will be information about what printer languages (PDL) are installed.

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Answer 3

myildi Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 7, 2011 3:07 PM in response to myildi

Thank you very much for your suggestions! The IT person has told me that the printer was PS (but was not looking very sure about it, now that I think about it), so I have not even thought about checking it. This could indeed be the culprit. The PCs I have seen printing on it were all using PCL. Otherwise, I used the lp queue like them. Monday, I will use the web interface to check it (I cannot use it from outside the campus).
I have also repaired the permissions using the trial version Print Therapy.

I will make all these tests (including printing through the generic PCL driver) as soon as I go to the lab and come back here to inform you about the results.
Thank you very much again, at least I have something to explore now.

Very cordially,

Murat

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Answer 4

myildi Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 14, 2011 4:46 AM in response to myildi

Hello,

I have now been able to check this printer. Indeed, PostScript option has not been installed on it. If I use the Generic PCL driver, I can print in B&W on it, but I have not yet found a solution for printing in color. Any idea on the possibility of printing in color?

Sorry for having bothered you first with my question, but I have not at all thought that they would buy a printer without the PS option (all other printers in the lab are PS)...

Thank you again for your help.
Murat

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Answer 5

myildi Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 7, 2011 10:42 AM in response to myildi

Wow, 35 views and 0 reply. Is this question too trivial, or too difficult (I hope that it is the first case, and that someone will end up by telling me which stupid detail I am overlooking...)?

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