printer "offline" , driver will not install

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76 points

printer "offline" , driver will not install

I have a printer installed directly by USB to my iMac (and turned on), nothing new there. Today though the Mac decided the printer is offline. I deleted the driver and tried adding it back. But it's no longer available on the Add Printer list. I downloaded the driver again from Brother, ran the installer. Still not available on the Add Printer list. This has happened before, long ago, and I recall only that there is a way to fix this in software, but I've forgotten how. Any ideas?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), 2.8 GHz, 4GB ram

Posted on Jul 7, 2016 4:51 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 7, 2016 4:56 PM in response to duncantho

Try this ..

Open System Preferences > Printers & Scanners then select the Print tab.

Then right or Control click the printer on the left then click: Reset printing system

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Answer 2

duncantho Author

Level 1

76 points

Jul 7, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks for your speedy reply Carolyn. My version of Print & Scan (Mountain Lion) doesn't have a Print tab, as far as I can see. It does have a Printers list, but no tab.

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Answer 3

duncantho Author

Level 1

76 points

Jul 7, 2016 7:52 PM in response to duncantho

This is embarrassing: As part of a different printing problem I had unplugged and then re-plugged my USB cable into the printer's similar (and proprietary?) ethernet socket. The USB socket, possibly also proprietary, is behind a flexible tab. Anyway, the cable is back where it should be and the printer works again.

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