Problems printing via another Mac

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Level 1

12 points

Problems printing via another Mac

Hope someone can help me - this is driving me mad!

My wife and I have two desktop iMacs and two printers. My iMac is an older white one running Lion and I print wirelessly to an Epson inkjet printer. My wife has a newer machine running Mavericks and prints to a cabled Brother laser printer.

Until very recently, I was also able to print to the Brother printer through my wife's Mac. When I needed to use it, I'd hit Apple+P in the same way and choose 'Brother HL-2130@wifes iMac' from the menu and it would work just fine. Then all of a sudden it stopped working.

We're on the same network, the printer is shared on the network, I have the Brother driver installed on my machine, but when I go to add the printer it doesn't find it.

I don't know how it can just drop the connection seemingly at random. Any thoughts?

iMac (20-inch Late 2006), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 23, 2014 3:16 PM

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Answer 1

sterling r

Community Specialist

May 25, 2014 6:35 AM in response to Seabass39

Hello Seabass39,

It sounds like you are unable to add the printer to your wifes iMac. I would use the troubleshooting from the following article to help resolve the issue named:

Troubleshooting printer issues in OS X

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3147

These in particular:

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.

If the printer is a network-capable printer, make sure that it is properly connected to your home network.

Use Software Update to find and install the latest available updates. If an update is installed, see if the issue persists.

Open the Print & Scan pane or Print & Fax (Snow Leopard) pane in System Preferences.

Delete the affected printer, then add the printer again.

If the issue persists, try these additional steps:

Reset the printing system, then add the printer again.

If the issue still persists, reset the printing system again. Download and install your printer's drivers. Then, add the printer again.

Contact the printer vendor or visit their website for further assistance.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

All the best,

Sterling

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