Upgraded from 10.5.3 to 10.6.8. Now printers HP5550 and HP940c will not print from this. Printer apps say print driver cannot be changed. Tried Gutenprint with GIMP and XQuark but did not work. Is there a workaround. Using MacBook 1.1 from 2006

pasternet wrote:

Upgraded from 10.5.3 to 10.6.8. Now printers HP5550 and HP940c won't print from my MacBook 1.1,

As a first step, I would recommend that you reset the printing system. See this Apple article.

Went to Gutenprint and downloaded the GIMP and XQuark apps. but they just messed up my system and I trashed them.

I am not quite sure what you mean here. The Gutenprint printer drivers are not the same thing as the GIMP or XQuark apps and the download page for the Gutenprint drivers do not contain any links to download these programs.

The Gutenprint drivers do support your printers.

The HP printers say the drivers cannot be changed. I read in Apple's small brochure that "Snow Leopard makes sure you have the most up-to-date printer driver. If not, it downloads the newest version." This did NOT happed.

I do not believe that HP supplies drivers that will work with your printers in OS X 10.6.8. As your printers are no longer supported, Apple cannot automatically supply you with the drivers.

I also have a MacBook Pro 7,1 and the printers work fine with that.

What version of OS X is your MacBook Pro running and what printer drivers are being used on that computer?

Message was edited by: Matt Broughton

A driver with the version 5.2.3 sounds like the Gutenprint driver. The most recent version of Gutenprint is now 5.2.8. By comparison, the current HP supplied drivers have version numbers beginning with 1.x, 2.x, or 3.x. See this listing for the version(s) of drivers that HP is currently supplying for use with OS X 10.6 and later.

My guess is that HP did support your printers in OS X 10.5. The drivers would have been installed as part of a default install of OS X 10.5. Since you updated to 10.6.8, those drivers are not working anymore.

Once you reset the printing system, you should be able to install the Gutenprint drivers and get them to work without any problems.

We have an HP5550 at work, and we're using Macs running 10.6 and 10.7. The 10.6 compatible drivers can be downloaded from HP's web site. (The 10.7 drivers are downloaded through Apple's Software Update.)

I don't think there are HP drivers for the 940C past Mac OS 10.5.

@steve626 -- at work you most likely have the HP Color LaserJet 5550. That printer is indeed supported by HP in OS X 10.6 and 10.7. I am almost positive that the original poster is talking about the HP DeskJet 5550 which is not supported by HP in OS X 10.6 or later. I can say this is the case due to the use of the Gutenprint drivers. The Gutenprint drivers do not support color printing for laser printers. The fact that the printers work without problem using the Gutenprint drivers on the MacBook Pro, indicated that it is indeed the DeskJet 5550 the original poster is using.

If it does turn out to be a HP LaserJet 5550, we can certainly get the proper HP drivers installed with minimal effort.