Safari prints blank pages

Question

Level 1

5 points

Safari prints blank pages

When I try to print in Safari, the preview in the print dialog box is blank and I am unable to print. When I select "Open PDF in Preview" in the dialog box, it opens a blank PDF.

I am also noticing similar printing problems in other native programs like Preview and TextEdit. Although Chrome seems to be affected too.

Firefox, and Microsoft Office programs are printing correctly.

So far I have tried the following:

Restarting the computer
deleting Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewr.plugin
Logging in as a "guest" in which I was able to print and everything worked correctly
Logging in Safe Mode, which I was not able to print when logged in as myself (not guest).

Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Sep 11, 2012 8:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 11, 2012 9:02 PM in response to JasonatHope

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.

Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Try the action that you're having trouble with again. Post any messages that appear in the Console window – the text, please, not a screenshot.

When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.

PLEASE DO NOT INDISCRIMINATELY DUMP THOUSANDS OF LINES FROM THE LOG INTO A MESSAGE. If you do that, I will not respond.

Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Edit it out by search-and-replace in a text editor before posting.

Reply

Answer 2

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 12, 2012 5:14 AM in response to Linc Davis

Here is what Console displays when I try to print from Safari:

9/12/12 8:08:28.493 AM Safari[475]: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0

9/12/12 8:08:28.588 AM Dock[246]: no information back from LS about running process

9/12/12 8:08:30.333 AM PrinterProxy[733]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.

9/12/12 8:08:30.334 AM PrinterProxy[733]: *** WARNING: -[NSImage compositeToPoint:fromRect:operation:] is deprecated in MacOSX 10.8 and later. Please use -[NSImage drawAtPoint:fromRect:operation:fraction:] instead.

When I try to print from Chrome it says:

9/12/12 8:10:26.690 AM Google Chrome Helper[747]: Unsure about the internals of CFAllocator but going to patch them anyway. If there is a crash inside of CFAllocatorAllocate, please report it at http://crbug.com/117476 . If there is a crash and it is NOT inside of CFAllocatorAllocate, it is NOT RELATED. DO NOT REPORT IT THERE but rather FILE A NEW BUG.

9/12/12 8:10:27.194 AM Google Chrome Helper[747]: CGSLookupServerRootPort: Failed to look up the port for "com.apple.windowserver.active" (1100)

9/12/12 8:10:36.996 AM netbiosd[227]: name servers down?

9/12/12 8:10:46.366 AM com.apple.backupd[628]: Found 336261 files (18.47 GB) needing backup

9/12/12 8:10:47.378 AM com.apple.backupd[628]: 23.76 GB required (including padding), 534.38 GB available

9/12/12 8:10:50.094 AM assistantd[666]: <Error>: AceConnection - NSStreamEventErrorOccurred <__NSCFInputStream: 0x7fa3f943deb0>, error = Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=54 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Connection reset by peer", domain = NSPOSIXErrorDomain, code = 54

9/12/12 8:10:50.106 AM assistantd[666]: <Error>: Session - Connection error: <ADAceConnection: 0x7fa3fa40df10> Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=54 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Connection reset by peer"

9/12/12 8:10:50.115 AM assistantd[666]: <Error>: Daemon - Session Error Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=54 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Connection reset by peer"

When I try to print from the program Preview it says:

9/12/12 8:12:16.171 AM com.apple.Preview.TrustedBookmarksService[766]: Failure to de-serialize bookmark data file.

9/12/12 8:12:18.530 AM com.apple.security.pboxd[769]: Bug: 12B19: liblaunch.dylib + 23849 [224CB010-6CF8-3FC2-885C-6F80330321EB]: 0x25

Hope this provides enough information.

Thank you very much!

Reply

Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 12, 2012 7:49 AM in response to JasonatHope

Back up all data. Quit Preview if it's running.

Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. From the Library folder, delete the following items, if they exist:

Caches/com.apple.Preview

Containers/com.apple.Preview

Preferences/com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList.plist

Preferences/com.apple.Preview.SandboxedPersistentURLs.LSSharedFileList.plist

Saved Application State/com.apple.Preview.savedState

Launch the application and try to print from it.

Reply

Answer 4

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 12, 2012 12:10 PM in response to Linc Davis

Some of those items existed and some did not. I deleted all that did and the problem is still there.

Reply

Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 12, 2012 3:01 PM in response to JasonatHope

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.

Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combinationshift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Copy or drag — do not type — the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:

kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'

Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.) You can omit the final line ending in “$”.

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfix|x)/{print $3}'

This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.

Step 3

launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|edu\.mit|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'

Step 4

ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/**,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.

Step 5

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null

Remember, steps 1-5 are all drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste, whichever you prefer — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.

You can then quit Terminal.

Reply

Answer 6

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 12, 2012 6:48 PM in response to Linc Davis

Step one output:

com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt (0.0.68)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.1.8)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.1.8)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.1.8)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.1.8)

Step two output:

com.rim.BBDaemon

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.google.keystone.daemon

com.flipvideo.FlipShareServer.launchd

com.bombich.ccc

com.adobe.fpsaud

Step three output:

com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

com.rim.BBLaunchAgent

com.rim.RimAlbumArtDaemon

com.google.keystone.system.agent

com.flipvideo.FlipShareAutoRun

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager

ws.agile.1PasswordAgent

com.spotify.webhelper

com.google.Chrome.framework.service_process/Users/cash/Library/Application_Suppo rt/Google/Chrome

com.adobe.ARM.930da3ce175de4e82bd3cdf1dd8571f74bd3b6a7236bc94bfc00f6e9

com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0

Step four output:

/Library/Components:

/Library/Extensions:

VBoxDrv.kext

VBoxNetAdp.kext

VBoxNetFlt.kext

VBoxUSB.kext

/Library/Frameworks:

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

Adobe AIR.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

PluginManager.framework

RIM_VSP.framework

RimBlackBerryUSB.framework

TSLicense.framework

iTunesLibrary.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2.plugin

CouponPrinter-Safari.webplugin

Flash Player.plugin

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.webplugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

RealPlayer Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

Silverlight.plugin

flashplayer.xpt

googletalkbrowserplugin.plugin

iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

npgtpo3dautoplugin.plugin

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist

com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist

com.google.keystone.agent.plist

com.rim.BBAlbumArtCacher.plist

com.rim.BBLaunchAgent.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

com.bombich.ccc.plist

com.flipvideo.FlipShareServer.launchd.plist

com.google.keystone.daemon.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.rim.BBDaemon.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Flash Player.prefPane

Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane

Growl.prefPane

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.bombich.ccc

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

/Library/QuickLook:

GBQLGenerator.qlgenerator

iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component

Flip4Mac WMV Export.component

Flip4Mac WMV Import.component

QTMpeg4Codec.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Adobe Unit Types.osax

/Library/Spotlight:

GBSpotlightImporter.mdimporter

Microsoft Office.mdimporter

iBooksAuthor.mdimporter

iWork.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

VirtualBox

/etc/mach_init.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

Library/Fonts:

.DS_Store

AGaramondPro-Bold.otf

AGaramondPro-Italic.otf

AGaramondPro-Regular.otf

AGaramondPro-Semibold.otf

AveniLTHea

AveniLTHea.afm

AveniLTMed

AveniLTMed.afm

AveniLTObl

AveniLTRom

AveniLTRom.afm

Avenir LT 55 Roman

Avenir LT 65 Medium

Avenir LT 85 Heavy

AvenirLT-Heavy

AvenirLT-Medium

AvenirLT-Oblique

AvenirLT-Roman

B Helvetica Bold.t1

HFJ_Verlag_(Mac)

Helve

HelveBol

HelveNeuLTStdHv

Helvetica.t1

HelveticaNeueLT Std Med_bold.suit

HypatiaSansPro-Black.otf

HypatiaSansPro-Bold.otf

HypatiaSansPro-ExtraLight.otf

HypatiaSansPro-Light.otf

HypatiaSansPro-Regular.otf

HypatiaSansPro-Semibold.otf

LTe50336.pfb

LTe50338.pfb

LTe50340.pfb

LTe50344.pfb

LTe50346.pfb

MemphLig

MemphLigIta

MemphMed

Memphis Light

Memphis LightItalic

Memphis Medium

Oregon LDO Black Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Black Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO Black.ttf

Oregon LDO Bold Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Bold.ttf

Oregon LDO Book Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Book Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO Book.ttf

Oregon LDO Condensed Black Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Condensed Black.ttf

Oregon LDO Condensed Bold Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Condensed Bold.ttf

Oregon LDO Condensed Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Condensed.ttf

Oregon LDO DemiBold Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO DemiBold Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO DemiBold.ttf

Oregon LDO Extended Black Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Extended Black.ttf

Oregon LDO Extended Bold Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Extended Bold.ttf

Oregon LDO Extended Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Extended.ttf

Oregon LDO ExtraBlack Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO ExtraBlack Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO ExtraBlack.ttf

Oregon LDO ExtraBold Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO ExtraBold Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO ExtraBold.ttf

Oregon LDO Light Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Light Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO Light.ttf

Oregon LDO Medium Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Medium Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO Medium.ttf

Oregon LDO Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Sinistral Bold.ttf

Oregon LDO Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO UltraBlack Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO UltraBlack Sinistral.ttf

Oregon LDO UltraBlack.ttf

Oregon LDO Vanishing Bold Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Vanishing Bold.ttf

Oregon LDO Vanishing Oblique.ttf

Oregon LDO Vanishing.ttf

Oregon LDO.ttf

PC PS Family

PC PS Single

ROMANAB.TTF

SC By The Sea.ttf

Wingdings 2

WoodtypeOrnamentsStd.otf

clarendon-font

lt_54223.pfb

lt_54223.pfm

lt_54224.afm

lt_54224.inf

lt_54224.pfb

lt_54224.pfm

lt_54225.afm

lt_54225.inf

lt_54225.pfb

lt_54225.pfm

lt_54226.afm

lt_54226.inf

lt_54226.pfb

lte50336.afm

lte50336.inf

lte50336.pfm

lte50338.pfm

lte50340.pfm

lte50344.afm

lte50344.inf

lte50344.pfm

lte50346.afm

lte50346.inf

lte50346.pfm

Library/Input Methods:

.localized

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

.DS_Store

WebEx.plugin

WebEx64.plugin

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.ARM.930da3ce175de4e82bd3cdf1dd8571f74bd3b6a7236bc94bfc00f6e9.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.0F354008-52DC-4108-9A9A-60A A79D49A41.plist

com.apple.SafariBookmarksSyncer.plist

com.google.Chrome.framework.plist

com.spotify.webhelper.plist

org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist

ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist

Library/PreferencePanes:

.DS_Store

MusicManager.prefPane

Library/ScriptingAdditions:

.DS_Store

1Password Addition.osax

Step five output:

GrowlHelperApp, user, iTunesHelper, Caffeine, NambuHelper, EvernoteHelper, RealPlayer Downloader Agent, Dropbox, BlackBerry Device Manager

Reply

Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 12, 2012 8:06 PM in response to JasonatHope

This is a very strange story. Are you having this problem with all PDF's, or only some? Try one of the documents on this page:

Apple - Support - Manuals

Reply

Answer 8

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 13, 2012 4:59 AM in response to Linc Davis

It depends and it is not just PDF's.

I can't print from Safari, Chrome, Preview, TextEdit, etc.

The only programs I have been able to print from are Microsoft Office, Firefox, and Acrobat.

Reply

Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 13, 2012 8:28 AM in response to JasonatHope

It depends

On what? Are there some files you can print and some you can't?

Reply

Answer 10

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 13, 2012 9:01 AM in response to Linc Davis

No, it depends on where I am printing them from.

For example, I can print a PDF from Acrobat but not from Preview.

I can print a webpage or email from Firefox but not from Chrome or Safari.

Reply

Answer 11

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 13, 2012 9:13 AM in response to JasonatHope

You wrote in your first message that you had the same problem in safe mode. Are you absolutely sure you were in safe mode? You should have seen the words "Safe Boot" in red letters on the login screen. If you're not sure, please try again.

Reply

Answer 12

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 13, 2012 6:40 PM in response to Linc Davis

I just reconfirmed booting in Safe Mode and the problem still exists.

Reply

Answer 13

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 13, 2012 9:29 PM in response to JasonatHope

When you first noticed this issue, had you recently made any changes to your system?

Reply

Answer 14

JasonatHope Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 14, 2012 9:01 AM in response to Linc Davis

Not that I can think of. I have been trying to think through any changes and honestly don't think I did.

Reply

Answer 15

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 14, 2012 9:28 AM in response to JasonatHope

Problems such as yours are sometimes caused by files that should belong to you but are locked or have wrong permissions. This procedure will check for such files. It makes no changes and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it, then drag or copy it — do not type — into the Terminal window:

find . $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 -o -acl $ -exec ls -Odel {} \;

Press return. The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.

The normal amount of output from this command, below what you entered, is about 80 lines, sometimes less. If you get much more than that, don't post it; just reply that it happened. If you get less than about 100 lines, post them — the text, please, not a screenshot.

If any personal information appears in the output, edit before posting, but don’t remove the context.

Reply