Shared USB printer not connecting to MBP

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Level 1

8 points

Shared USB printer not connecting to MBP

I have a Canon MX922 Pixma printer, set up in USB wired mode off of my iMac, which is running Yosemite 10.10.3 (newly upgraded, but the problem below also occurred when it was running Mavericks 10.9.5). My wife's MacBook Pro, running Mavericks 10.9.5, allows me to add the printer, and recognizes that it is running shared off of my iMac (Bonjour connection). Yet, not matter what I try, whenever I print a document from her MBP, the print monitor sees the printer and tries to connect, ...and tries, ...and tries, and finally fails to connect.

I have updated the Canon printer software through the App Store.

In adding the printer on the MBP, I have to manually tell it to use the Canon MX920 Series driver. If I don't do this, it simply tries to use the "Generic Postscript Printer" driver, which does nothing either as far as actually printing anything.

I tried to run this printer wirelessly off of my AirPort Extreme, but when I did I could not find its IP address to tell the MBP where to look. (Where does one find this anyway?) So I changed it back to wired mode to my iMac, and shared it.

I have seen many other postings with similar problems, but none in which the print server is on a Mac, only Windows. So while I have tried resetting the printer service, and other suggestions, I am still stuck.

I've been a Mac user since 1984, and had a lot of different machines in that time. But I have never had as annoying a problem as this one, and for what should be a simple process.

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED, since when my wife can't print a doc herself, she has to send it to me to print, and that gets old really fast.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)

Posted on May 1, 2015 6:13 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

May 2, 2015 9:38 AM in response to mwphelps

If you haven't done so already, try resetting the printing system.

OS X Mavericks: Reset the printing system also Yosemite

Network Printer Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot Printing Issues

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Answer 2

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 2, 2015 11:12 AM in response to Eric Root

Already did that. No luck!

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Answer 3

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

May 3, 2015 8:22 AM in response to mwphelps

mwphelps wrote:

I tried to run this printer wirelessly off of my AirPort Extreme, but when I did I could not find its IP address to tell the MBP where to look. (Where does one find this anyway?)

When you had the printer connected via wireless it should appear in the Default view of the Add printer window. The visibility of the printer relies on the Bonjour protocol and there have been many users with Yosemite having issues locating a printer via Bonjour - hence the workaround of adding the printer via direct IP. But I wasn't aware of the same Bonjour issue occurring with Mavericks.

Any, when you have the MX922 connected via wifi you can determine its IP address via the control panel - Device Settings > Network > LAN Settings > WLAN Settings List. Or you could open Airport Utility to connect to the Extreme and view what IP address has been allocated to the MX.

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Answer 4

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2015 8:23 AM in response to PAHU

Thanks. I'll give the wifi connection another try.

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Answer 5

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2015 9:59 AM in response to PAHU

Got the IP address. Went through the IP option to add a printer. Tried every protocol option to include IPP, Line Printer, even HP JetDirect. Always selected the Canon MX920 series driver.

During set up, kept getting a warning that it was "Unable to verify the printer on your network." Allowed me to continue anyway, but in trying to print it always died after a long "Connecting to printer."

Then I tried adding this printer as a network printer from my iMac. This printer also has a USB connection to the iMac, but tried setting it up as IP printer. Same results.

Frustration level is rising.... 😕

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Answer 6

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2015 10:05 AM in response to PAHU

Tried using the default option on add printer. This time it showed up as Bonjour Multifunction. Selected the proper driver, and got a alert: "An error occurred while trying to add the selected device. Unable to communicate with the printer at this time." This happened on both the MBP and the iMac.

The printer is not in use. Airport Utility confirms the IP address 10.0.1.8 is still active (although the Default" procedure did not require it).

Clearly something is not working here...

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Answer 7

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

May 3, 2015 2:55 PM in response to mwphelps

mwphelps wrote:

During set up, kept getting a warning that it was "Unable to verify the printer on your network." Allowed me to continue anyway, but in trying to print it always died after a long "Connecting to printer."

If you enter the IP address of the Canon into a web browser (i.e. http://10.0.1.8) from either Mac this should result in you connecting to the internal web page of the printer. Does this happen?

If it does connect, then from the MX922 home page you will see an Advanced button. Select this to see additional menus, you want to select the Other Settings menu. Here you can confirm if the LPR setting is enabled and enable it if not. Then you will need to power off the MX922 for several seconds for the change to activate then power back on. Now try connecting to the MX922 web page again to confirm it has the same IP address after the restart. If yes then try adding using the LPR protocol only - IPP and HP Jetdirect won't work. You should get no warning this time about being unable to verify the printer. If not, then the printing should work. If you do get an error when adding the printer then something is still not right.

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Answer 8

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2015 3:07 PM in response to PAHU

I tried the IP address in Safari, and nothing happens. Safari shows a progress bar that only covers about 10% of the width of the address field, and then it just sits there. After a couple of minutes, I get an alert that Safari can't open the page because "the server where the page is located isn't responding." Even though the AirPort Utility lists this address as one of the wireless clients. That would explain a lot about why the MBP is not connecting.

I wonder if this issue is not so much the printer, as it is the APX? I can print from my iMac to the printer through the USB connection, but not when I try a wireless connection. But then you would think that sharing this printer from my iMac would have worked fine, which it did not.

Thanks for the suggestions! Maybe at some point we'll hit on the solution.

Mike

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Answer 9

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

May 3, 2015 3:16 PM in response to mwphelps

So it would appear that the IP address shown in Airport Utility is not currently what the MX is using. Since you managed to see the printer in the Default Add printer view, this would suggest that Bonjour is working (sort of) so we can use this to connect to the printer. First you will need to enabled Bonjour in Safari. This can be done via the Advanced tab in Safari > Preferences. Enable it for the Bookmarks menu. Now click the Bookmarks menu and you should see a Bonjour entry. Selecting this should list the MX922 which you can select to connect. Does this work?

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Answer 10

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2015 3:22 PM in response to PAHU

I already had Bonjour enabled for the bookmarks menu. I checked the submenu from there and it did have the "MX920 Series" listed. However, selecting that gave me an error message: "Safari can't find the Bonjour server: The Bonjour server "Canon MX920 series" is not available."

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Answer 11

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

May 3, 2015 4:38 PM in response to mwphelps

Well, the next thing I would try is turning off the MX and unplugging the power cord. Leave it this way for 5 minutes and then reconnect the power cord and then turn it back on. Wait till the wifi light comes back on and then try connecting to its internal web page using the Bonjour bookmark. If that works then click the Advanced button to see what IP address it has obtained.

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Answer 12

mwphelps Author

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2015 4:38 PM in response to PAHU

Well, that did it! When I reset the printer, it came back up, reconnected to the wifi, and I was able to quickly go to the page for it through the Bonjour menu. I then reinstalled the printer on the MBP using the wifi IP connection and it breezed through the set up. Printed a test page, and it completed the print job in seconds!

Thanks so much, Pahu!!

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