What happened to my drivers???

I'm trying to setup up an HP Deskjet 9650 printer on Leopard. The drivers for that printer don't come with Leopard. I have installed drivers from the original printer cd. When I go to setup my printer in system preferences, there is no driver for my model printer. So, I installed the 9650 drivers from the apple website and again the same result. So I installed the drivers for the 9650 from the HP website, and again the same result. Gutenprint doesn't support my printer, so I'm out of luck there. What happened to the drivers I installed?

Robert

Silly question, but have you tried just plugging it in and seeing what happens? I ask because it sounds like you were trying to install the drivers before hooking up the printer.

I'm not sure how you're setting up your printer or going about selecting the driver. I'll list the steps needed to setup your printer with the correct driver and you can verify if you've done the same thing or not.

1. Plug the printer into the USB port on your Mac and turn it on.

2. Open System Preferences, select Print & Fax. Does your HP 9650 show up as an available printer? If it does, select the Options & Supplies button.

3. Select the Driver tab at the top.

4. Use the scroll up and down arrows on the selection dialog that states "Print Using" to find your driver that you installed. There may be a long list to choose from. If the driver installed correctly, it will be listed. Select the driver and press OK.

RE step 2: If your printer does not show up as available, you can not select a driver regardless if it's installed or not.

RE step 4: If the driver you installed does not show up in the list of drivers, then it either did not or will not install or is not compatible.

Regards.

USB, that would be nice. Unfortunately the 9650 is a parallel printer. I purchased a USB to parallel cable thinking that would easily solve the problem. The printer does show up when I use the new cable. But, there are issues with trying to convert from parallel to USB. When printing, half the sheets are cut off and after the first print job, the computer looses connection with the printer. The only way to re-establish connection is to reboot or unplug and re-plug in the USB plug. Gutenprint recognizes this USB conversion problem and has a special driver specifically for this, but unfortunately they do not support the 9650.

After many hours of searching the forums and internet, the only solution I could find is to purchase a parallel port print server. So that is my current setup - D-Link DP 300U print server. That was a pain in the butt to setup and required sitting on hold with their technical support department for a half hour and then bumbling around for another 40 minutes with the tech support "guru" before I could get the printer working in Bootcamp PC. I switched over to Mac and the problems are just beginning. I know I have the IP printer settings correct because I also have a Canon MP830 setup on the print server and printing properly. My only missing link is the proper driver for the 9650.

According to the Apple download website and the HP website, I have downloaded the proper drivers for my system and printer, yet low and behold, no 9650 drivers appear in the list.

I'm getting very frustrated. I don't like it when my computer/printer makes me look like an idiot.

Robert

Personally, I would sell the printer and buy a USB printer instead.