Printer prints PS header when starting after upgrade to 10.8

Thank you very much. I'll try to do as it says.

Best Rgds.

Hi,

I installed the pxlmono and still I get the PS page printed. I'm not sure which to select in the Use menu. But I have already slected the Generic PCL Printer option in the Use menu. Is there is the problem in my OS version? (Mac OS 10.8.2)

Can you open System Information, which is located in Applications > Utilities, and in the left column select Printers. The top right pane will show the printers you have installed. If you have more than the iR1600, select it and the bottom right pane will show information about the printer. If this is the only printer you have installed then selecting Printers will show the information.

Can you select all the information shown for the iR1600, copy and paste back here please.

Can you select all the information shown for the iR1600, copy and paste back here please.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Canon iR1600:

Status: Offline

Print Server: Local

Driver Version: 1.5

Default: Yes

Shared: Yes

URI: usb://Canon/iR1600?serial=001160024715

PPD: Generic PCL Laser Printer

PPD File Version: 1.5

PostScript Version: (3010.000) 0

CUPS Version: 1.6svn (cups-327)

Scanning support: No

Printer Commands: none

CUPS filters:

rastertohp:

Path: rastertohp

Permissions: ---------

Fax support: No

PDEs:

Thanks for providing that. This appears to be correct. So I don't think the problem is with the Mac but with the printer. Have you been printing to the iR1600 from another Mac or Windows? If yes then it helps to rule out the printer as a cause.

I have printed with another windows computer, and then I dont get any PS page. I have a doubt, is there a problem with the print software? as soon as i connect the USB to the Mac, then I get the first page with the PS error. After that I can print documents as no errors..

Okay. This is different.

The PS page will be a status check. OS X often sends this data to a printer to check items like ink/toner levels and paper supply.

With the iR1600 only supporting PCL, it is printing this status page instead of responding to it (and not printing it which other printers do). I have a laser printer that is PCL only. I will connect this to my iMac and see if I get the same symptom. If I do then I will check if the PPD can be modified to stop this status check, and therefore the printed page.

thank you.. hope to hear from you soon.

Can I find a canon ir 1600 driver for Mac?

mrwaraka wrote:

Can I find a canon ir 1600 driver for Mac?

Canon only supported this model on OS X if the PS kit was installed and therefore they only made a Postscript driver for OS X. So with your iR1600 only having the PCL kit, you have to rely on using either the Generic PCL driver included with OS X or pxlmono.

My test with the Generic PCL driver did not produce the PS test page. Watching the print queue for this PCL printer no PS test page is sent to the printer. I also checked the PPD and CUPS and could find no reference to the PS query file.

Could you try this. Open Print & Scan, select the iR1600 printer and then click on Open Print Queue. With the queue displayed, click the green Pause icon in the toolbar. Then send a print job from TextEdit to the printer. You will get a message about the printer being paused. Select Add to Printer. Now do you see two print jobs in the queue or just one?

I just checked the Open Print Queue as you drescribed. But it shows as only 1 job is there and as soon as I connect the USB cable, the error page is printing.

Thanks for checking that. Based on my testing and what you have confirmed it would appear that this PS query is not submitted by the printing system. As to where it is coming from, well unless I can also recreate the symptom I won't be able to determine the cause and possible fix.

I will do some more testing tomorrow when I return to the office.

Thank you very much for your testings. I would realy lucky if I can solve this problem.

Best Rgds,

I did some reading today about Postscript Query conventions in the Adobe PS Reference Manual. The opening paragraph states;

"A query is any Postscript language program segment that generates and returns information back to the host computer before a document can be formatted for printing."

It goes on to mention that the function of the query is to check the availability of resources and printer features on Postscript printers. But it also says that there is provision for devices that cannot understand Postscript and that this determination is based on the PPD used and the printer itself.

So what you have is a combination of a new operating system and an old PCL only printer (the iR1600 was first sold in 2002). A modern PCL only printer, such as the LBP6750 that I've been using for testing, knows not to print the PS query. But I would say that the iR1600 does not have this programming and that is why it prints the PS query instead of ignoring it. If you had the Postscript module in the iR1600 then there would be no output of this query page. But your chances of obtaining one of those modules know would be slim.

In conclusion there is nothing you can do now that will stop this page. It is built into the operating system and the iR1600 does not know how to handle the query. Might be time to get a new copier/printer. Or check the web for someone selling an iR1600/1610/2000/2010. It may have the PS Module B1 which will solve the problem.

Good luck.