Dell Printer with a Macbook Pro

Hello. I recently purchased my first Macbook Pro and I'm trying to print to my Dell B2360dn printer, which is a great laser printer that I really like.

Problem is, from OS X, I can't print anything normally. Everything I print spits out as though I have the "print to pages to a sheet" setting on, even though I don't. So single pages print on a half page. Interestingly, if I print more than one page and tell the computer to print two pages to a sheet, it will print both pages on half a sheet - so it prints in 1/4 size.

If I open my instance of Windows 7 in VMware Fusion, I can print from there perfectly and without a problem.

I've tried updating the printer's firmware. I've downloaded the Mac printer driver from Dell and installed it so many times I think I'm going insane. I've reset all printers and started over many many times. I've tried printing from the network and from USB and there is no difference. I've also tried installing generic printer drivers, including PCL and IPP, LPD and postscript. None of these make a positive difference and some of them don't print at all.

I've contacted Apple Care who were so kind as to tell me the printer is not supported, but Dell clearly states they support Mac OS X and they do have a driver listed (10.6.+) which as I said, I've installed.

I contacted Dell support who informed me the printer is out of warranty and therefore they would not help me other than to direct me to the driver's I've already installed.

I'd love to keep this printer since I have 5 of them in the office and the printer itself is SOLID.

Does anyone have any ideas? I've been browsing new printers and the quality on most of them just sucks and the idea of spending $500 on a new laser printer because I want to work on a Macbook is pretty annoying.

Love to make this work. I've exhausted my search for answers on the internet, so you are really my last hope. Thanks.

Have you tried completely deleting the Dell software and shutdown/reboot, not just restart and then reinstall there appropriate Dell software?
HD/Library/Printers/Dell folder

Is the problem the same regardless of application?

Can you "save as pdf" when you goto Print, and then print the resulting pdf correctly?

It looks like a decent laser printer.

G'day and welcome to the forums.

That is Dell all over ~ no bucks no help.

Dell Printers are usually re-badged Lexmark units and Lexmark support for Mac OS X is lousy. Go through the Lexmark Laser Printer models to see if you can find one similar.

In the meantime Dell have drivers on their web site suitable for OS X.8 and X.9. If it works with Mavericks it should work with Yosemite.


http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=6KT8M

pm-r said:

Have you tried completely deleting the Dell software and shutdown/reboot, not just restart and then reinstall there appropriate Dell software?
HD/Library/Printers/Dell folder

Is the problem the same regardless of application?

Can you "save as pdf" when you goto Print, and then print the resulting pdf correctly?

It looks like a decent laser printer.

Click to expand...

I haven't tried deleting the driver. I'm new to Mac, and I asked a Mac guru friend of mine and he suggested I not delete anything, and I wouldn't know how to go about it at any rate.

The printing error is from every program. Gmail, Google docs, Mac programs, Adobe PDF reader, printing pictures - Everything.

harryb2448 said:

G'day and welcome to the forums.

That is Dell all over ~ no bucks no help.

Dell Printers are usually re-badged Lexmark units and Lexmark support for Mac OS X is lousy. Go through the Lexmark Laser Printer models to see if you can find one similar.

In the meantime Dell have drivers on their web site suitable for OS X.8 and X.9. If it works with Mavericks it should work with Yosemite.


Dell B2360DN print driver for Mac OS 10.8 & 10.9 Driver Details | Dell US

Click to expand...

I had heard about the rebranding, but I heard it was HP, not Lexmark, and I struck out when looking at HP. LEXMARK! Thank you! Turns out this printer is identical to the Lexmark MS410. They have what looks to be basically the same driver (based off the name "...10.6orLater_forIntel.dmg" but it was updated in January 2015 as opposed to Dell updating in 2014.

I'm going to give this a try tomorrow when I'm at the office and I'll post back with results.

Thanks!

Fingers crossed. The reason you heard it was HP was that Dell were reportedly interested in making a move on HP and used a limited number of that brand printers.


http://www.eweek.com/pc-hardware/dell-lenovo-take-aim-as-hp-begins-to-split-in-two.html

The Lexmark driver did NOT work - Same problem as the Dell driver.

Any other ideas? Does this sound like it is driver related and therefore un-curable?

Have you tried going through the printer settings, especially the "Layout" and set them to something you DON'T WANT, try some prints, and then try setting them all to what you DO WANT and try again.

That should "reset" the printer's .plist preference and might fix things.

It sure sounds like some software setting is goofed up and I didn't find any similar occurrences of Mac printing problems with the same Dell B2360dn printer. And at least your Mac and the printer are communicating, just not as you want.

PS: Also try various connection methods if you can.

I've changed back and forth every settling I can find. The printer continues to put out documents on half pages. It just won't even use half the page. If I tell it to print 4 pages to a sheet, it will put all 4 pages on half the sheet of paper and leave the other half blank.

I don't get it.

Have you tried printing from another Mac or even tried setting up a new "test user" and try when logged in there.

Is there possibly some switch setting on the printer itself, but I think you said it can print from other platforms…???

A bit strange…

Patrick
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