Canon IR C3480i vs 10.6.7 update

Hi Michael.

I can see why you made your previous comment. In reply;

PoulosEsq wrote:

I can only install drivers by resetting the printer system. They have me using irC348--3380-J1PS Ver 1.1 and iR C3480/C338--J1 Fax (US). In the past they had me install these by navigating to a subfolder in the printer-ppd folder in the Library.

There should be no need to reset the printing system to install the EFI "Fiery" driver on any Mac. So the fact that you do does not bode well for the driver being used and the Mac's you are installing them on. I've never had to do this on a Mac to get the Fiery driver installed. And there should also be no need to browse through the PPDs folder - the J1 driver should appear in the "Select printer software" window.

The biggest issue with the Fiery drivers is that they use the outdated ViSE iinstaller, which is PPC based. Only very recently has EFI produced drivers with package installers instead of the ViSE installer so that they can be used on Lion. I will have to check with EFI is they have produced a new driver to support the J1. At the moment, the current process is to install the driver for 10.5 by downloading it from the J1 and then run an OS X updater utility, which changes some plugins for the Fiery driver.

I cannot get the printer to collate. If I print multiple copies it puts all the pages together, When I try to create and use a preset the computer freezes. If I want to print multple copies I have to do them one at a time and set up all the settings for each individual copy.

The readme for the Fiery drivers do state this issue, in that all pages are staple together. The Canon PS and UFR2 drivers have the same issue with Acrobat. The solution is to disable the Collate radio button in the print dialog. I would assume that you try this and also to make a preset for this setting, only to get a hang. Again, this is not normal. Does creating a preset for any other printer cause the Mac to freeze? Have you repaired disk permissions on this Mac?

Numerous techs have been unable to fix this. I have escalated this to the highest reaches of Canon USA, and they indeed told me they have no obligation to support subsequent operating systems and that Apple has not released the information they need to update the drivers - for four years!. They offerred to lease me a new copier at a signfgantly higher cost.

Well you have certainly been given the run around and lied to. Apple has not refused to release any information to EFI. It is EFI and Canon who decide which models of RIP they will update using the latest information provided by Apple. A couple of years ago EFI released official 10.6 drivers for their latest RIPs but not older models such as the J1. How would they have done this if Apple had withheld information? The answer is that Apple didn't withhold any information and that EFI simply chose not to put resources into updating older product.

Now my office manager/secretary's computer has been reformatted and will not print at all!

Any advice you can give me would be very much appreciated.

Okay. Not being able to print at all would suggest a configuration issue rather than the driver. But to be sure, I suggest you create another print queue on the Mac, this time using the Generic Postscript driver. If this doesn't print also then it clears the J1 driver of any wrong doing.

Now for the print queue you should use HP Jetdirect for the IP protocol. Don't use IPP and if you use LPD, you have to enter a queue name of print and it must be all lower-case. The Print Using menu should automatically select the Generic Postscript. If not, change it. Now you can try a test print. If this works, then you know the Mac printing system is okay and you can concentrate on getting the J1 driver to work.

I'll leave it at that for now. See how you go with the Generic PS test.

I cannot begin to express my appreciation for your helpful advice.

The printer passed the Generic PS test. At least Suzanne now has limited printing available!

What I have described is a problem on all my Macs. The hanging with the presets is specific to the Canon irC3480. Presents for a Brother printer work just fine. With my prior Canon I had all manner of great presets to do things like print double sided color concert programs on heavy 11 x 17 paper, fold, and saddle stitch, all with one setting.

I'll do some more tests, but so far this seems to confirm Canon is not providing me a usable driver but still expecting me to pay $340 a month to lease the machine!

Have a nice weekend. (Or maybe it is already over where you are!)

Michael