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Printer prefers PC!

Avatar Rick Churchill
My Epson printer shows "Idle, default" with a green dot in System Preferences which changes to "In use, default" with an amber dot when I attempt to print something. The print queue shows "Printing - the printer is not responding" .When the printer is turned off System Preferences reports that the printer is offline and a red dot appears. Because of this, and that I can use web pages, I conclude that the Mac is connecting to the printer over the wi-fi network.

I downloaded new Epson software and restarted the Mac but to no avail.

The PC prints as normal.

I suspect that it is a printer driver software problem but do to know how to solve it. If it was a PC I would reinstate the drivers but I don't know how to do this on the Mac.

Re: Printer prefers PC!

Avatar Rick Churchill
UPDATE
I deleted the printer in System Preferences and added it back. There were two options: One of type Bonjour multifunction and the other which takes a time to appear in the "Add Pane" called EPSON TCPIP.

There were various error messages with adding either like "An error occurred while trying to add the device" or "Unable to verify the printer on your network. Unable to connect to Epson xxxxx Would you still like to create the printer"
Unfortunately neither created printer works. They are both showing "error" with an amber dot next to them.

Things can only get better!

Re: Printer prefers PC!

Avatar Mick Burrell
Delete the driver again then restart the Mac. Try to add it back. If it appears in the window to enable you to add it, that proves the Mac can see the printer. I would suggest using the Bonjour driver - TCP/IP would require you to work with IP addresses.

Re: Printer prefers PC!

Avatar Rick Churchill
Thanks Mick.
I tried the Mac this morning and it would not print so I connected the Mac directly using the USB ports and it printed.
The other two drivers then began working!

So I have a fully working system but I don't know why. Thank goodness we still have Macs with USB ports! I fear some day all devices will be wireless and then what shall we do?

Incidentally, not for the first time, I pressed Reply at the top right of this Quick Reply panel instead of the button that is sometimes just off the screen below.

Re: Printer prefers PC!

Avatar Mick Burrell
If the Mac cannot "see" the printer without the USB cable, then I suspect the printer is not on your wireless network. Have you changed your ISP/router/network name recently? Check the printer instructions for how to get it to join.

Re: Printer prefers PC!

Avatar Rick Churchill
No Mick. Connecting, printing via the USB cable then disconnecting the USB cable seems to have beaten it into submission. The Mac now prints via the wi-fi network using both Bonjour and TCP/IP drivers. Dunno why?
 
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