Dell 1815dn and Mac OS 10.8.4

Hello European11,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!

I was looking through our resources and found this article about troubleshooting printer connections.

Troubleshooting printer issues in OS X

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3147

USB printers and Bonjour-enabled network printers

Follow these steps until the issue is addressed:

1. Make sure that the printer is powered on, has ink / toner, and that there are no alerts on the printer’s control panel. Note: If you cannot clear an alert on the printer's control panel, stop here and check the printer's documentation or contact the manufacturer for support.
2. Ensure the printer is properly connected to a USB port on the Mac or AirPort base station / Time Capsule. If the printer is a network-capable printer, make sure that it is properly connected to your home network.
3. Use Software Update to find and install the latest available updates. If an update is installed, see if the issue persists.
4. Open the Print & Scan pane or Print & Fax (Snow Leopard) pane in System Preferences.
5. Delete the affected printer, then add the printer again.

If the issue persists, try these additional steps:

1. Reset the printing system, then add the printer again.
2. If the issue still persists, reset the printing system again. Download and install your printer's drivers. Then, add the printer again.
3. Contact the printer vendor or visit their website for further assistance.

Cheers,

Sterling

In your opening post you state that you can use the printer when it is connected to the MBP via Ethernet. You also state that Dell has no supporting driver for 10.8. Assuming that the MBP you mention is running 10.8, then what printer driver is being used by the MBP when it is connected to the MBP? You can confirm this by opening System Information (Applications > Utilities) and selecting Printers in the left column. The right pane will show the Dell and information about its print queue for the Ethernet and WiFi connection.

Thanks for providing that information. It shows that you are using the PXLMONO driver package and that you are using Bonjour to locate the printer on the network.

So can you confirm. At all times the Dell is connected to the wireless router via Ethernet. And when the MBP is also connected to the same router via Ethernet, you can print fine. But if the MBP is connected to the same wireless router via WiFi, then you cannot print.

There is a Generic PCL driver included with OS X. This driver only prints in B&W and by default is set to 300dpi resolution.

But to determine if your issue is being caused by the pxlmono driver package, I would suggest using the Generic PCL Laser driver for the WiFi test. In other words, create a new printer when the Mac is connected via WiFi but instead of selecting the pxlmono driver in the Use menu, select the Generic PCL Laser. If it suffers from the same symptom, then at least you know the pxlmono driver is not the cause of this symptom.