Printer is "off line" error

Question

Printer is "off line" error

I have read several forums and found no replies that solve my issue. My printer thinks it is off line. One solution had me remove the printer and add it again. However, now it will not add back. So I have no printer on my system and it fails to add the printer when I press the "add" button after selecting the three criteria in the add printer dialogue. (It does recognize that the printer is there.)

Equipment with this problem does no seem to matter. I have read it happens with HP, Canon, Epson and other printers, so it is not a printer specific situation. I also have read that it doesn't seem to be an OS specific issue. I'm sure that makes it more difficult to isolate, but I desparately need help. But they all seemed to have been triggered by trying to print from a wi-fi computer.

My equipment: PowerMac G5 running 10.5.8 to which everything is connected. Printer is an HP 8100DN Laserjet. I tried printing from my Macbook Pro 10.8.3 via wi-fi thru my AirPort Extreme. (It has worked in the past.)

If I use CUPS (http://localhost:631) I can see the list of jobs sent to the printer. But I can't seem to get the printer to think it is "on line". Deleting thru this doesn't seem to clear the job either.

HELP. I use my printer a lot. Any help is appreciated.

KaCe 😟

Power Mac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on May 10, 2013 10:38 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,219 points

May 10, 2013 12:28 PM in response to Kathryn Whitacre

Hello KaCe,

Mac OS X: About the Reset Printing System feature ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1341?viewlocale=en_US

10.5/10.6/10.7/10.8 instructions...

In System Preferences>Fax & Print, Right click or Control+click on the Printers list Sidebar, choose Reset Printing System.

if you hold option and click the "-" tab it resets the printing system.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031215144430486

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions.

Any devices that previously appeared in your Printer List and Fax List will need to be added again after resetting the printing system.

Resetting the printing system in Mac OS X 10.5.x+++

1. To use the Reset Printing System feature in Mac OS X 10.5.x, follow these steps:

2. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.

3. Choose Print & Fax from the View menu.

4. Control-click on list of printers on the left side of the window, then choose "Reset printing system" from the contextual menu. If you don't see a list of printers, Control-click on the text "Click + to add a printer or fax" and select "Reset printing system..."     As an alternative, if you currently have one or more printers listed, you can Option-click the "-" (Remove printer) button.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1341

Reboot.

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