cannot contact HP printer (OS 10.5)

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I am running OS 10.5.8 on a 2.1 GHz MacBook and printing with a HP LaserJet 1200. A few hours ago when I tried to print something I got a “printer is offline” response. After checking the connections, I looked for a solution online and tried to modify the printer in accordance with instructions I found on an Apple site. After modifying the printer, I still could not print but, then, when I tried to print, I got a “printer cannot be located” response. Later, following another idea I found online, I tried removing the printer from the list in the “Print & Fax dialog” in System Preferences. The idea was, after removing it, to re-enter it but that turned out to be impossible because after I’d removed the printer, there was nothing in the “select” list in the box on the same page. After I took this last step, the printer icon disappeared from the dock, and also the “print” command in the print dialog box was greyed out. I replaced the USB cable with another one, but that did no good.

Any help will be much appreciated.

forrest
 
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Hi,

Can you print a test page without being connected to the Mac?
I'm wondering if your printer is faulty.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
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Thanks for your reply Hugh. To be honest, even though I've had this printer for ten years or so I didn't realize you could print a test page in that way. I just tried it and it works, so I guess the printer is OK.

best regards

Forrest
 
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Can you put up links to the places you went for the modification ideas; the first place you mentioned as an Apple site?

I'm sorry I'm not being much help here, but hopefully someone with more experience will come along soon.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
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for Hugh

Hello Hugh:

Thanks for your last message. Even if you’re not an expert, I really appreciate your interest in this apparently not very interesting problem.

The (archived) Apple page I went to (as a result of a Google search: “mac os x printer offline”) is “http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2330.”

I followed the instructions there as carefully as I could and although I did come across one glitch, (when I did not see the option “Unknown USB” in the “Device popup menu,”) as I said yesterday, I did “succeed“ in getting to a point where I was told that the printed had been “successfully modified.” I returned to the site, (http://localhost:631/printers/) just now in order to be able to tell you more specifically what I had done yesterday but discovered that it did not have the same appearance it had then and there was no “modify printer” button to click on. This change is presumably due to my having removed my printer from the list of printers in the “Print & Fax” dialog in “System Preferences.”

hope this helps you to help me!

Forrest
 
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Right, I think I know what's gone wrong, it's done a very windows-like thing and lost the drivers.
Go to HP LaserJet 1200 Printer series*-* HP LaserJet Mac OS X Installer Print Only Software Solution for v10.2, v10.3.x, v10.4.x, v10.5 - HP Business Support Center and download the Mac drivers for 10.5, then install them as per their instructions.
I remember now having nightmares with my HP Deskjet under Leopard, and after installing the drivers from HP the OS X Software Updater jumped in and put the Apple supplied driver on.
I still don't know which driver version my printer is using, but it works so I've left it alone.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
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Well, as I should have mentioned, I tried that yesterday and it didn't help. But perhaps I wasn't careful enough in following the instructions or didn't download the right version, so I'll try again.

cheers,

Forrest
 
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Well if that doesn't work I'll have to dig around in my Leopard system and see what I can come up with, but it may involve some mucking around with system files and without access to your machine it would be difficult to do remotely.
That's definitely the right download for your system, but please make sure your backups are up to date in case things go wrong.

I wish someone else would chip in as I don't like messing about with kext files on other people's Macs, but that's the way it's heading.

Still, the more we post about this problem the more it gets noticed.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
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Hugh:

Yes I certainly hope it doesn't come to the point of having to muck around with system files.

Anyway here's what I've done in the last few minutes:

Well here’s what I’ve just done: I went to the HP site and began the download you suggested, this time reading the installation instructions carefully instead of just clicking on the “Continue” buttons. I didn’t get very far though because the first instruction was “Open Print Center / Printer Setup Utility”. I couldn’t find this on my computer and when I did some googling I discovered that (much to the frustration of a lot of Mac users apparently) the Printer Set Up utility doesn’t exist on Leopard. (I believe 10.5.8 which I’m using is a version of Leopard.) Then after some more googling I found this page:

https://getsatisfaction.com/apple/topics/no_printer_setup_utility_in_leopard

There, "Alex" gives instructions as to how to get around this problem and I tried to follow them. But when I got to the point where I was asked to enter the IP address given to my printer I was stymied because I have no idea what it is.

I’m going to try to phone HP now to see if I can get any help from them. I’ll keep you informed.

Forrest
 
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Those instructions sound like they're for networking your printer, all you need to do is install the drivers.
Just open up the .dmg file you downloaded and double click on the installation file within.

Cheers :)

Hugh

Ps I've just read the instruction on the HP link I gave above, and yes, after no. 5 it goes into installing to a network. As I understand things this is just a standalone connected to one machine by USB, so no need to go further than just putting the drivers on.
 
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The problem's solved!!!

After sending my last message but before reading yours I tried to phone HP but only got as far as discovering on their website that my printer is no longer supported. Then I started making more efforts to find the IP address of the printer so I could install it and in some complicated instructions as to how to get the printer to print a configuration sheet that would include that problem, I noticed that in the course of this operation one was told to unplug the printer and then plug it back in so I tried it right away and to my great delight everything was suddenly ok again.
Well I really appreciate your help — and if you hadn't been so generous with your advice it would certainly have taken me much longer to find the magic trick. I hope you'll be able to use the unplug/plug idea to help someone with a similar problem in the future.
best regards from
Forrest
 
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Oh dear, how simple, just unplug and replug ha ha.
Well done, sometimes one thinks of the most complicated solutions and totally misses the most simple!

Cheers :)

Hugh
 

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