Mac sees wireless printer but doesn't print

Hi,

I have a PC connected to an Epson SX415 printer.

I just bought MacBook Pro 15". It had no trouble finding my wireless network, the printer and installing the Epson SX400 series software.

If I try and print something from the Mac, it appears to send the instruction to do so (no error messages). But nothing gets printed.

I checked the print queue on the PC but there is nothing there.

How can the Mac find the printer so easily but not use it?

I have used Macs in the past, but am a borderline novice. And have no idea what is wrong or what I should be looking for.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

Welcome to Mac-Forums
Go to your printer preferences in system preferences, find the printer you installed and try printing a test page, this will print a test page to the default configuration for paper size etc.
If this works then it could be however the software you are trying to print from is setup to send files to the printer which could be conflicting.

- Simon

I tried printing a test page and nothing happened?

What should I do next?

Thanks.

Dom

There could have been a problem when installing the printer. I suggest uninstalling it and re adding it again

- Simon

I have tried that as well.

I also tried installing the printer software from the printer's CD (rather than relying on the pre-installed solution available on the Mac), then connected the mac directly to the printer. I printed off a test page and it worked fine. I then reconnected the printer to the PC, did another wireless search with the Mac, set it up again, but it did not work.

One thing I could not do was choose the newly CD-installed software on the mac to drive the wireless printer because I did not know where on the mac to look for the software.

On PCs, I know to look in Program Files > Epson > [then look for the .exe file). I found Epson software on the mac, but nothing looked right. For one thing, it was Epson scanner software and Easy Photo Print software. I never actually found the bog-standard print software.

Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Dom

Have you looked on the epson webpage for mac oriented drivers?

- Simon

The download files on Epson appear to include drivers for PC, (Linux?) and Mac.

It's the same driver that comes on the CD with the printer.

Even so, I tried to install it just in case. It made no difference.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

Dom

I'm trying to understand how you have this printer connected? It appears from your previous posts that the printer is connected to your PC via USB? And you want your new MBP to print from the Epson wireless?

It's not going to work if that's how it's connected.

You will be better off letting the MacBook Pro control the printer and install Bonjour Services for Windows on the PC and go from there. That should allow you to print wireless from the MBP and USB or wireless from the PC.

See this link on how to install Bonjour.

Hey there. I've just registered as I found an issue stated in this post almost exactly the same I have. I decided to update this thread, not create another one. I own a 13" MacBook Pro (mid 2014) and I have printing problems.

The network is configured like this:

Wi-Fi router (connected to the Internet by Ethernet cable)
-PC 1 (with wi-fi dongle)
-PC 2 (with wi-fi dongle)
-PC 3 (laptop)
-MacBook Pro
-Wireless Printer HP DeskJet F4580

The printer was configured on a PC 1 to be shared across the network. All the other PCs use it just fine after having installed the wireless HP drivers and going through regular Windows wireless printer setup.

However, I can't print anything on my MacBook. I'm connected to the wi-fi network (it works) and I can see the printer. I add it (Mac suggests Generic Printer drivers and I went with them, but I've also tried HP DeskJet drivers), status is green and ready, but when I send a doc to print nothing happens. The print queue shows a doc in process, shows it's BEING PRINTED, but nothing is printed. Tried printing both pics and docs.

Where should I dig? I'm a new Mac user but a very fast-learning one. Just give me a research direction please. I've read through HP site a dozen times, it claims Mac OS X 10.9 has the latest drivers itself.

Mas OS X 10.9.4

Setting up HP wireless printers for Mac use can be a real pain. I had a lot of difficulty setting up a wireless HP LaserJet. HP wireless for the Mac generally relies on Bonjour services. What I suggest is to first completely remove the printer and any previously installed drivers. Then attach the printer to your Mac via USB, turn it on and allow the printer to be recognized. The OS X 10.9 drivers will be downloaded and installed automatically. Keep the printer attached via USB and turn it on and print a test page. If that goes OK...

Remove the USB cable, leave the HP turned on. Next, open the print dialog from System Preferences, Printers & Scanners. Press the + button to add a new printer. Your HP should then appear with an IP address. Select it and make it the default. Print a test page to make sure it's working. (This assumes you selected the correct password for your wireless network. The HP instructions lay out the steps for that, so follow them.)

The above is how you get an HP wireless printer recognized and to print via Bonjour services. Let us know if that works for you. Your setup is bit more complicated because of the network and PCs but it should work.

Same info, but from HP:
OS X v10.9 Mavericks: Installing and Using the Printer on a Mac HP Deskjet F4580 All-in-One Printer | HP® Support

The driver for that printer model is available for auto-download and install from Apple's server, when you add it in Print & Scan prefs:
OS X: Printer and scanner software available for download
(F4500 Series)

OS X has a new paradigm for getting print drivers.
Manufacturers give the current driver(s) to Apple to put on its servers.
OS X keeps an "index" of where to find drivers (whether on the server or already installed on your Mac), and when you Add the printer in Print & Scan prefs, or on demand in the print dialog, OS X finds and uses the driver.

No need to download and install anything yourself.
If your Mac says it can't find the driver, you can force CUPS (OS X's print system) to re-build the index of drivers (both online and already installed) by Resetting Printing System:
OS X Mavericks: Reset the printing system

(you will see this auto-download referred to in HP docs for Mavericks.)

Thanks for the input guys! I've actually managed to fix the problem by just adding the printer wirelessly via IP (without any USB manipulations), although at first that seemed ridiculous, I mean, the Macbook sees the printer and can connect to it but I REALLY have to type in the IP for it to work correctly? I wonder if this will ever receive a fix from Apple

If you had used the method I outlined above, you would have gotten your HP up and running all the same. It's not an Apple problem to fix, it's an HP problem. For some unknown reason HP has decided that their wireless printers should be detected via Bonjour discovery. I know you probably don't understand what the heck that means, but it all boils down to using an IP address instead. Sure makes it hard for a novice user to get wireless working. Anyway, glad you got it going.

chscag said:

If you had used the method I outlined above, you would have gotten your HP up and running all the same. It's not an Apple problem to fix, it's an HP problem. For some unknown reason HP has decided that their wireless printers should be detected via Bonjour discovery. I know you probably don't understand what the heck that means, but it all boils down to using an IP address instead. Sure makes it hard for a novice user to get wireless working. Anyway, glad you got it going.

Click to expand...

I know that Bonjour is some printer protocol introduced by Apple (?). I've also noticed while troubleshooting this issue that, when connecting through default interface wirelessly, the small tip at the bottom of the window said something like "These drivers aren't from the manufacturer, use at your own risk", while adding the printer via USB recognized the device and downloaded something for quite a while.

Anyway, I'm always on the lookout for proper tech and I start to hate HP bit by bit since a long time ago. I know it's kinda offtop but perhaps you could recommend any other brand for quality printers without pain in the *** setups on both Windows and Mac?

Anyway, I'm always on the lookout for proper tech and I start to hate HP bit by bit since a long time ago. I know it's kinda offtop but perhaps you could recommend any other brand for quality printers without pain in the *** setups on both Windows and Mac?

Click to expand...

I've had good luck with Epson printers which generally are easy to setup in Windows and Mac OS X. Their wireless setup is way easier than HP. Generally, Brother and Canon maintain good compatibility with OS X. Although Canon printers can also be a headache to setup wireless.

As a rule of thumb, Epson and Brother printers work just fine with Macs and driver software updated regularly by Apple Software Updates. HP and Lexmark ugh!!!

chscag said:

I've had good luck with Epson printers which generally are easy to setup in Windows and Mac OS X. Their wireless setup is way easier than HP. Generally, Brother and Canon maintain good compatibility with OS X. Although Canon printers can also be a headache to setup wireless.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the hint!

I'm experiencing some trouble with the printing today. Yesterday everything was fine (as I reported) but today I can't print anything. The queue gets stuck at 0 or 11 percent, if I reload it it says "the printer does not exist" or "not responding". At first I thought that this might be the issue of printer having some dynamic IP, not sure. But then I tried scanning and it worked. Where should I look for the root of this problem?

Still appear in System preferences > Printers & Scanners?

If not hit the little '+' sign with the printer switched on.

harryb2448 said:

Still appear in System preferences > Printers & Scanners?

If not hit the little '+' sign with the printer switched on.

Click to expand...

The prob was in the dynamic IP as I suspected. I've set an exception in DHCP so that my printer has a static one. No idea why scanner still worked though