Cannot add printer Press "+" nothing

IN the Print & Fax utility I cannot add a printer. I click on the "+" to add a printer and nothing happens. I have reset the Printing system and no change...

Any suggestions?

THanks
Monty

Sorry for the dumb questions, but you'd be surprised the answers I get sometimes ...

1. Is the printer connected by USB? Even if it's wireless, for the initial setup it probably needs to be connected by USB.

2. Is it on?

The printer is a network printer. It has an IP address

Please see point 1 of my answer. Also, check your printer manual.

Shouldn't need to physically connect a network printer to a computer. I have never done so with my HP across 3 versions of OS X on two different Macs along with XP & Win7 on 3 other machines.

The plus button should be popping up another window regardless of whether there is a printer attached or not and I have no clue why it's not / what to do about that. Can only suggest re-booting the machine. Possibly pull the owner's manual or head to HP online for directions on installing your printer on a Mac. Am pretty sure with my HP, I had to install the drivers for it first, before I was able to add it.

THanks bobtomay,
A reboot did it!

Monty

MontyMo said:

THanks bobtomay,
A reboot did it!

Monty

Click to expand...

LOL - Sometimes it's just the easiest stuff. Who'd a thunk it?

bobtomay said:

LOL - Sometimes it's just the easiest stuff. Who'd a thunk it?

Click to expand...

Well, I really didn't want to reboot. I was looking forward to saying to all of the Windows FanBoys (that are giving me crap for buying a Mac) that I haven't had to reboot once

Even with OS X a re-boot on occasion can do wonders. At the same time, you'll likely find that you can often run weeks at a time or from one software update to the next without worrying about it. I keep my machines pretty much up to date, so don't think I've ever gone longer than maybe a couple of months without a reboot. And I am one of those that basically never shuts a computer down. Office machines get shut down on Friday and personal machines only when I'm going to be out of town longer than a few days at a time.

Dumb questions, no doubt, but what is a reboot? Is it simply switching the system back on again after a Shut Down, rather than leaving it in Sleep mode? And would a Restart have the same effect?
Or does a reboot involve reinstalling the OS again?

@Robin, when you click on the Apple logo in the upper left, Restart will reboot the machine. Shut Down will totally power it off and when you power it on again it will boot freshly. Both result in the same end--a rebooted machine.

bobtomay said:

Even with OS X a re-boot on occasion can do wonders. At the same time, you'll likely find that you can often run weeks at a time or from one software update to the next without worrying about it. I keep my machines pretty much up to date, so don't think I've ever gone longer than maybe a couple of months without a reboot. And I am one of those that basically never shuts a computer down. Office machines get shut down on Friday and personal machines only when I'm going to be out of town longer than a few days at a time.

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Ya know, if it was not for the username I would have swore that I wrote this

@jakerich, thanks for clearing that up for me.

In a domestic setup, is there any benefit in leaving the system switched on all the time? My G5 is generally shut down when not in use, and it always starts up quickly without any problems - such a pleasant change after all those Windows hassles.

Robin Emley said:

@jakerich, thanks for clearing that up for me.

In a domestic setup, is there any benefit in leaving the system switched on all the time? My G5 is generally shut down when not in use, and it always starts up quickly without any problems - such a pleasant change after all those Windows hassles.

Click to expand...

In today's systems the only real benefit is instant on from sleep mode vs waiting for it to boot up. Most of us 25-35 year computer users are from the school of never shutting one down because of the possible damage due to heating/cooling causing expansion/contraction of all the parts and the sudden surge of power.

Personally do not believe that today's components are any where near as being susceptible to these issues as they were back then - but most of us still leave our machines on all the time.

I still, however, do not recommend 'powering down' more than once or twice a day. Turning it off at night and back on in the morning should not be an issue with any modern computer and is probably still advantageous with Windows - although my Win7 HTPC is on 24/7 and never re-booted except as required by updates.