HT203343: Resolve printer issues on your Mac

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MSG2014

Q: My printer was no longer being detected, so I uninstalled it and when I went to reinstall it I discovered that I no longer have a printer pop up menu to select my printer.

I had a power failure and then began getting a message that the printer (Canon Pixma 610) was not detected. So, I unplugged it from the computer, restarted the computer and no change. The printer was still showing as the default printer, but not being detected. So I deleted the printer and then tried to reinstall it. However, when I clicked on the + sign to reinstall nothing came up. The screen was blank with no printer choices. I went to the Canon website to try and download the driver and received this message: There is no driver for the OS Version you selected. The driver may be included in your OS or you may not need a driver. I would appreciate any help...

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on May 9, 2014 11:11 AM

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Q: My printer was no longer being detected, so I uninstalled it and when I went to reinstall it I discovered that I no longer have a ... more

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  • by Prusten,

    Prusten Prusten May 9, 2014 3:15 PM in response to MSG2014
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 9, 2014 3:15 PM in response to MSG2014

    Maybe it's just a cable problem? Did you try another one ou try to connect it with another Mac/Pc?

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad May 9, 2014 3:43 PM in response to MSG2014
    Level 10 (140,898 points)
    Photos for Mac
    May 9, 2014 3:43 PM in response to MSG2014

    Are you running Time Machine?  If so enter TM, go to the HD/Library/Printers/ folder,

     

    Screen Shot 2014-05-09 at 3.42.20 PM.jpg

     

    go back in time to when the printer was working, select the Canon folder and restore.  Then launch Disk Utility, repair disk permissions and reboot.

     

    OT

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon May 9, 2014 5:03 PM in response to MSG2014
    Level 5 (5,298 points)
    May 9, 2014 5:03 PM in response to MSG2014

    In additon to Old Toad's suggestion you might also need to do the following.

     

    Go to System Preferences > Print & Fax and delete printer

    Turn off printer.

    Physically unplug the power. Wait 30 seconds. Plug it back in, turn it back on.

    Go back to the Mac and add the printer back.

     

    If the driver says "Generic PostScript Driver", click the menu and choose "Select Printer Software" and locate your printer on the list.

     

     

    If your printer is not on this list, then you can try using the Generic PostScript Driver.

  • by MSG2014,

    MSG2014 MSG2014 May 9, 2014 5:11 PM in response to MSG2014
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2014 5:11 PM in response to MSG2014

    I thank everyone for their great suggestions, but I finally contacted Canon and they informed me that my printer is not compatible with Maverick, which I recently downloaded. If I had known that I probably wouldn't have downloaded Maverick...

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli May 10, 2014 6:03 AM in response to MSG2014
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    May 10, 2014 6:03 AM in response to MSG2014

    Don't assume the person on the phone knows anything about Macs!

    Is your printer the MP610 model?

    or the E610 model?

    Both of those models are supported by drivers Apple has available for auto-download. See:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669#canon-inkjet

     

    If yours isn't one of those two, then it is likely to be supported by the Gutenprint drivers from here:

    http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php

     

    Does this knowledge help?

    Have you tried resetting the printing system?

    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14141

    It fixes lots of print issues.

  • by MSG2014,

    MSG2014 MSG2014 May 10, 2014 2:01 PM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 10, 2014 2:01 PM in response to greg sahli

    Great suggestions, so I went to the website you posted, but Mavericks is 10.9 and Canon supports 10.8 shown in the list. And yes, I did try resetting the printing system to no avail. My printer is the MP610 model.

  • by greg sahli,Helpful

    greg sahli greg sahli May 10, 2014 4:47 PM in response to MSG2014
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    May 10, 2014 4:47 PM in response to MSG2014

    Sorry, you've misread that. That is the Canon driver version number, nothing to do with OS X 10.8.

  • by PAHU,Solvedanswer

    PAHU PAHU May 11, 2014 3:36 AM in response to MSG2014
    Level 6 (16,610 points)
    May 11, 2014 3:36 AM in response to MSG2014

    MSG2014 wrote:

     

    I finally contacted Canon and they informed me that my printer is not compatible with Maverick

    As Greg stated, the Canon support person is simply referring to what they see on the web and knosw nothing about Mac's. The reality is that the v10.8 driver will work on 10.9. You just may need to get past Gatekeeper to install it. So here is a link to the v10.8 driver. If you get a message stating that the driver is not signed and cannot be installed, then this is Gatekeeper blocking it. So to install it, right click (or Control-click) on the installer and select Open from the pop-up menu. Now you will have the option to install.

     

    The second issue is the printer not appearing in the Add printer window. The USB cable is often the cause as suggested already. Also USB hubs can be a cause. To check if the Mac can see the printer, open System Information and select USB in the left column. The top right pane will show all the USB busses in your Mac. The MP610 should be listed under one of these busses. If it is not present, then try another USB cable and/or another USB port on the Mac. Until you see the MP610 in this view, you will not be able to add the printer.

  • by MSG2014,

    MSG2014 MSG2014 May 11, 2014 11:47 AM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 11, 2014 11:47 AM in response to greg sahli

    Thanks....I can now print from my Canon MP610.