Odd problem with a printer

My wife and I both have MBPs running Snow Leopard. We have a USB connected HP all-in-one printer ( model f4480). It has not given us problems in the year we have had it.

A few days ago, out of the blue, it started showing "error" in the print que whenever I tried to print anything. Thinking it must be a printer problem, I reset the printer and changed the ink cartridges.

That did not resolve the issue so I connected my wife's machine and it printed fine. This lead me to believe it must be a driver/software issue on my machine. First I updated the driver and that didn't work. Then I deleted the driver and re-installed and that didn't work. Finally, I reset all my printers in my preferences (deleted all printers) and that also did not work. Both of my USB ports seem to work fine for all other peripheral devices (hard drives, jump drives, optical drives, etc..).

At this point I am completely puzzled. I am a HS teacher so having my home printer working is important while planning at home. I do not want to replace the printer because it works fine on my wife's machine. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

NOTE: Edited your title so that those familiar with "printer" issues might take a look at your thread. Also, moved to appropriate forum.

Hi and welcome to the forums toshi.

You seemed to have done a good job at trouble shooting yourself. BC of this, all i can come up with it to Repair Permissions.
Empty Trash
Open Disk Utility via Applications>Utilities.
Once open choose youHD in the left column. Make sure the First Aid tab is clicked then hit the Repair Permissions button. Sit back have a coffee. You will get a log window with a lot of Repairs and things that couldn't be repaired. Disregard this window once the process is completed.
Now log out then back in and hopefully that has fixed something that was corrupt somewhere.
HTH
If not post back and we will try weed out the next thing to try.

Cheers

How are you sharing is it plugged into one computer and you both use it or do you disconnect it from one to use on another or is it connected via Express or Extreme ?

osxx said:

How are you sharing is it plugged into one computer and you both use it or do you disconnect it from one to use on another or is it connected via Express or Extreme ?

Click to expand...

We generally just physically plug into the printer, one laptop at a time, using usb.

TattooedMac said:

Hi and welcome to the forums toshi.

You seemed to have done a good job at trouble shooting yourself. BC of this, all i can come up with it to Repair Permissions.
Empty Trash
Open Disk Utility via Applications>Utilities.
Once open choose youHD in the left column. Make sure the First Aid tab is clicked then hit the Repair Permissions button. Sit back have a coffee. You will get a log window with a lot of Repairs and things that couldn't be repaired. Disregard this window once the process is completed.
Now log out then back in and hopefully that has fixed something that was corrupt somewhere.
HTH
If not post back and we will try weed out the next thing to try.

Cheers

Click to expand...

This suggestion was also ineffective. I appreciate the response and attempt to help.

Just a thought since printer drivers seem to get updated frequently try plugging in the printer make sure your Mac can see it then do a software update it will only update the drivers for only the printer it can see.

osxx said:

Just a thought since printer drivers seem to get updated frequently try plugging in the printer make sure your Mac can see it then do a software update it will only update the drivers for only the printer it can see.

Click to expand...

That didn't work either. I am totally at a loss.

Did you install some third party app or AV program around the same time this happened.

osxx said:

Did you install some third party app or AV program around the same time this happened.

Click to expand...

Hmm... the only two things that I have installed recently are:

1. driver for HP 750 printer I use at work (same brand of printer but different model and driver saved to different location). I am pretty sure this is not the issue because I uninstalled it and reinstalled it twice in my troubleshooting the home printer.

2. Avervision software bundle to drive and control my USb connected document camera. I don't think this would affect the hp f4480 printer but I suppose it is possible.

Even after all these attempts at fixing, the printer continues to work fine when connected to my wife's MBP. It has gotten to the point where I now have to get up early to get to school for basic print jobs. I am nearly at the point where I office space curb stomp this **** printer and get a new one

Another workaround would be if your router supports wireless printing with a USB
connection just like the Airport Extreme/Express.