Tag Archives: printer

fixed : printer auto-install in Windows Vista won’t work

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Question :

My HP DeskJet 930c prints colors if I print out the test page from the printer, but if I print from my Windows Vista PC, it only prints in grey-tones…

From the info on the HP website it has become clear to me that I have to reinstall the printer (and specifically the printer drivers) on Windows Vista.

But… according to HP the only way to reinstall the printer in Windows Vista using USB is to delete it from the Configuration Panel and then restart the PC and just plug in the printer and wait for Windows Vista to do the ‘magical’ auto-install…

The official HP instruction video can be found here :

http://bcove.me/4xavsoow

…and nothing happens when I do that.

And HP does not offer any other option… what can I do ?

 

Answer :

— DISCLAIMER —

This is purely a Windows problem, and this weblog is for Apple solutions only. I do have a solution that will probably work for you, and I’ve not found that solution posted online anywhere, so I will provide it to you here ‘as is’ (meaning NO guarantee, NO additional help and NO service) ! Try at your own risk ! If it doesn’t work for you : I’m sorry… please ask a Windows-specialist.

————————-

The solution is simple (and it’s unexplainable why HP doesn’t mention this anywhere) :

Just reinstall the printer the way you would have done it in Windows XP :

– delete any previous installs of the printer from the Configuration Panel

– install all (essential) available Windows Vista updates using Vista’s built-in Security Panel

– restart your PC

– connect the printer to your PC using a USB printer cable

– go to START-menu

– then to Configuration Panel

– then to Printers

– then choose Add Printer

– choose Virtual USB Port 1 (or 2) as the connection to be used

– choose your Printer

– choose the dedicated driver [*]

– and wait for the installing to finish

– test your printer using any (color) document you have available, if you don’t have any useable color document available, use this printer test-page :

https://macmanus.nl/2010/07/28/looking-for-a-good-test-page-to-test-your-pinter

– that should be it : enjoy !

[*] if no driver is available, download it from the following website, then install and start over with this procedure from the beginning :

http://www.driverguide.com

— DISCLAIMER —

This is purely a Windows problem, and this weblog is for Apple solutions only. I do have a solution that will probably work for you, and I’ve not found that solution posted online anywhere, so I will provide it to you here ‘as is’ (meaning NO guarantee, NO additional help and NO service) ! Try at your own risk ! If it doesn’t work for you : I’m sorry… please ask a Windows-specialist.

————————-

fixed : delete SPanel from Mountain Lion

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Question :

When I installed OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, the SPanel application for my Samsung printer was disabled. But it wasn’t deleted…

Now the SPanel application turns out to be incompatible with OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, because nothing happens when trying to run it, but the SPanel icon now sits pointlessly in the upper menu bar of my Mac…

…is there any way of deleting it ?

Answer :

Yes – there is.

To delete the SPanel app (a.k.a. “Smart Panel”) and the menu bar item :

– open the Samsung folder inside your Applications folder

– drag the SPanel app to the Desktop

– open the Printers folder that’s in your main Library folder, so :

~/[your hard disk]/Library/Printers

Note : the SPanel folder may be inside the Samsung folder you’ll find there , but usually isn’t

– drag the SPanel folder to your Desktop

– restart your Mac

– then drag both the SPanel app and the SPanel folder from the Desktop to the Trash

– then empty your Trash

…done !

fixed : AirPort Utility 6 lost the option to configure connected printers

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Apple has updated the firmware for the TimeCapsule a few days ago, and updated the AirPort Utility software to version 6. Which might not be exactly what you were waiting for…

The user-interface of AirPort Utility 6 is completely new, it looks exactly like the iOS AirPort Utility interface now…

the good :

  • direct visual insight in how your local WiFi-network is set up (in a nice tree-branche structure)
  • by clicking on the hardware icons, you will see info like Network name, IP address, Serial no., Firmware version and… a list of all currently connected wireless clients
  • if your Firmware is out of date, you will see that instantly because of the little red circle with the white 1 in it next to the hardware icon
  • full iCloud support

the bad :

  • this is not an Administator interface, it’s nothing more than a nice looking info&update-utility, but as all options for managing your WiFi-network and your AirPort-hardware have vanished…
  • this app is MasOSX 10.7 “Lion” only…
  • from now on, it’s iCloud-only – no support for MobileMe any longer… (so no iDisk any longer…)
  • you can not manage AirPort-networked printers (like the USB-printer connected to your TimeCapsule) any longer
  • some client devices may not be able to find the updated AirPort Basestation / TimeCapsule (my iPhone 4 needed a reboot to become able to connect…)
  • …the printer-timeout-problem still exists, this update doesn’t resolve issues with the TimeCapule not being able to temporarily save big files that the connected USB-printer can not process quickly enough…

the ugly (the dirty way to get everything) :

…luckily, it is possible to re-install and use the previous version of AirPort Utility alongside of this one (eventhough the version 6 installer deletes the previous version) :

  • either place the previous version back into your “Utilities” folder (inside your “Applications” folder) from your TimeMachine-backup ; be sure to change the name of the old version to something like “AirPort Admin Utility” since it won’t be possible for both of them to use the “AirPort Utility” name…
  • or… download the installer of the 5.6 version from Apple :

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

fixed : premature timeout of TimeCapsule-connected USB-printers

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Solving the premature timeout-problem of TimeCapsule-connected printers

Some printers work fine when connected directly on the USB-port of your Mac, but when you connect them to a Time Capsule they choke on large files. They will print part of your document, and then suddenly end by printing a nearly blank page with an error message “SPL-C ERROR – Including Corrupted Data”. This is caused by a pre-mature timeout of connection between the printer and the Time Capsule.

Two simple solutions, and a 3rd ‘DareDevil-solution’ that’s more complex :

  1. your USB-cable is too long ; replace the USB-cable with a shorter one (standard length is 1.8 meters, shorter ones are hard to find)
  2. your USB-cable is too thin ; replace the USB-cable with a thicker, more rigid one
  3. If the above options are not possible to implement in your case, try this (if you dare) :

Edit the .gz-file

  • find the .gz-file for your printer in Library / Printers / PPDs / Contents / Resources / [printer diver name].gz
  • for failure-protection, duplicate it and rename it from [printer driver name].gz to [printer driver name](orig).gz
  • double click the initial .gz-file to unpack it
  • then, in the same folder, find the file with the same name, without the .gz-extention
  • open this file in the application TextEdit
  • find this line :

*Throughput: “[number]”

  • change the “[number]” to “60” (or something at least twice as big as the initial number)
  • save the file ; make sure the name is the same as when you opened it (omit the .txt-extention ; if you fail to do that while saving, rename the file in the Finder, but omit the .txt-extention)
  • download a GZIP-encoder ; for instance The Zipper :

http://lipidity.com/software/zippit/

  • use the GZIP-encoder to turn the [printer driver name] file into a [printer driver name].gz file
  • make sure this new [printer driver name].gz file is located in Library / Printers / PPDs / Contents / Resources /
  • you’re done… …on this computer at least…
  • now you have to got to each of the other Mac’s on your network and replace the old Library / Printers / PPDs / Contents / Resources / [printer diver name].gz by the new one…

…time-consuming isn’t it ?

…and your out of luck : you have to go though this each and every time the printer drivers for your printer are being updated… (until the official Printer-driver will include a longer timeout-delay…)

so… isn’t replacing the USB-cable an easier option ?

tip : looking for a good test page to test your pinter ?

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Here’s a good test page that I’ve found somewhere on the internet. You can use it to test the print quality of your pinter if  you think you have a problem.

CAUTION ! this test page will use quite a lot of ink, so using it often will drain your printer (if you have an inkjet-printer that is… for laser-printers this is less of a problem)

color printer test page

tip : changing the icon that is displayed for your printer

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If you do not like the way the printer icon for your printer looks in the “Print & Fax” System Preference or in the Dock on your Desktop, you can edit it yourself.

  1. First thing to do is upgrade the driver for your printer ; sometimes older drivers show a generic printer icon in OSX, and that might be updated in the new drivers also. Go to the support-part of your printer’s brand and download and install new printer drivers for your version of OSX
  2. If have an alias to your printer on your Desktop or in your Dock (a.k.a. a “Desktop Printer”), you can change the icon just like you can change any icon in OSX ; by selecting the icon in the Finder, right-clicking “Get Info”, selecting the icon in Get Info, and then pasting the desired picture onto it (you could use a proper icon, but any picture can be used)
  3. …or you can do the ‘DareDevil-method’ : [this example shows how to do it for the Samsung CLP-315 printer, but it is similar for any other printer]
  • start by delete the printer from the printer list in “Print & Fax” System Preference (a.k.a. “Print & Scan” – depending on which OSX-version you have)
  • then find this file :

/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/Samsung CLP-310 Series.gz

  • Note : this file is located in the “Library”-folder that is directly on your hard disk, it is NOT in the “Library”-folder that is in the “System”-folder within the “Users”-folder !
  • copy this file to the Desktop
  • and rename the original file to Samsung CLP-310 Series (orig).gz so you will have a backup just in case…
  • then go back to the Desktop and unzip the copied .gz-file by clicking on it
  • open the unzipped file in the TextEdit application
  • add this line into the code :

*APPrinterIconPath: “/Library/Printers/Samsung/Icons/CLP-310.icns”

  • this is at the beginning of the code, immediately after the block of code that starts with :

*APDialogExtension: “/Library/Printers/Samsung/CLP-310/PDEs/.…

  • and immediately preceding this line of code :

*Manufacturer: “Samsung”

  • double-check to make sure that the desired icon is located at “/Library/Printers/Samsung/Icons/CLP-310.icns” in the Finder
  • save the file (just use “Save” in TextEdit)
  • convert the file back into a .gz-file with this name : Samsung CLP-310 Series.gz
  • Note : you will need to use a dedicated application like the free “The Zipper” for this (you can download “The Zipper” from MacUpdate.com)
  • assign a color to the file using your right mouse-click (CMD-click)
  • drag the file back to the place where the original used to be
  • go back to the “Print & Fax” System Preference, and add your printer to the list again
  • do NOT use the pre-selected driver, but choose “Other” and select the .gz-file you’ve just made :/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/Samsung CLP-310 Series.gz

AirPort-connected USB-printer sometimes prints, sometimes not

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— THIS IS A REPOST ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE APPLE SUPPORT COMMUNITIES IN 2010 —

Question : I have a Samsung CLP-315 connected via USB to an Airport Express. The problem is that the printer works for a page or two and then it stops working, usually with a larger document being printed. (Firmware on Airport Express is 6.3 and I am using OS X 10.5.5)

Answer : I had the exact same problem with my Samsung CLP 315 and my Time Capsule.

I seem to have fixed it this way :

  1. download & install the latest driver for the CLP 315
  2. download & install the latest AirPort Utility (Apple-software)
  3. after configuring AirPort Utility, close it & re-open
  4. in AirPort Utility choose Manual Setup
  5. in Summary click on the small arrow that appears on mouse-over left from / next to “USB Printers”
  6. on the page that appears, change the name of the printer to the exact name you want to use for it on your Mac (and leave the “Share printers over the Internet using Bonjour blank) and click “Update”
  7. go to System Preferences on your Mac, go to “Print & Fax” and “Add Printer” (the “+”)
  8. under the Default tab, select your Samsung CLP 315 (it will be listed exactly the way you’ve named it in your AirPort Utility, followed by the “Kind = Bonjour” info)
  9. now your printer’s Name, Location and Driver (“Print Using”) will all be listed automatically
  10. click “Add” and you can start using your Samsung-printer wirelessly through your Time Capsule

That seems to be all there is to it…

the original post(s) can be found here :

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1839505?threadID=1839505&tstart=295