Solved: Mac OS 10.5 Bonjour Unable to find printer driver for P1606d... - HP Support Community

ed_tushar · ‎11-17-2012

I have been trying to connect my HP Laserjet Pro P1606dn to my PowerMac G5 running Mac OS 10.5.8. I connected the priner to my LAN via Ethernet cables and NetGear 8-port switch. I then successfully installed the printer driver from the supplied CD on the Mac and went to System Preferences / Print & Fax to add the printer to the list of connected printers. Hit the "+" button. The HP P106dn was listed in the table (Kind = Bonjour).

I selected this entry in the table, and the dialog box immediately went into action: the "Print Using" pullodwn listed the greyed out message "Please select a driver or printer model" and a spinning wheel labeled "Searching for new drivers" appeared below it. The dialog box searches for but never finds the printer driver (I waited 20 minutes with no success). I have installed other HP printers this way on this machine without any problem, e.g., HP Color Laserjet 2605dn. Why is this method not working with this printer?

I was able to connect this printer with other (Intel) Macs in my household via this LAN arrangement. Is the printer driver for Intel-only Macs?

I disconnecting the printer from the LAN and connected it directly to my Mac with a USB cable. Followed the same process, and I was able to connect to this printer. Successfully printed a document page. While this provides me with a work-around for the G5 Mac, I need to share this printer with the other Macs in my household.

I went to the HP download site and downloaded the latest driver for this printer, re-installed the printer driver on the Mac, and repeated the steps for the LAN arrangement (above) to complete the connection via the Print & Fax dialog. The result was the same: spinning wheel searching for a printer driver that it cannot find.

I do not know what else to do, or why this installation will not work. I would appreciate it very much if anyone could offer an explanation for this or some suggestions as to what else can be done?

Ed

ed_tushar · ‎11-26-2012

I apologize for getting back to you on this so late. I was OOT all day Sunday.

OK. So, here is what happened. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I was in the process of reset my printing system, repairing disk permissions, and restarting. Resetting the print system wiped out all of my printers in the "Printers" pane in the "Print & Fax" System Preferences dialog window. I went ahead and repaired the disk permissions on my systems disk. A number of permissions were repaired, but nothing that I could decipher as related ro printing. Finally, I restarted my Mac and went directly to the Print & Fax dialog.

As the Printers pane was still empty, I went ahead to add the simplest of my printers (LaserWriter 360 connected via AppleTalk) which has always been successfully added to the Printers List in the past. No luck! Waited a few minutes while is was "Searching for new drivers.". I tried the Color Laserjet 2605dn. No luck. Then the Laserjet P1606dn. No luck.

So, that solution path did not work, and now I was without any drivers associated with any of my connected printers. I decided that I had no choice bu to rebuild the OS. I reverted back to my OS 10.5.4 Installation DVD to rebuild my system (without reformatting my HDD). When that was completed, I immediately went to the Print & Fax dialog and tried adding in each of my printers. Within a matter of seconds the LaserWriter was successfully added, then the HP Color Laserjet 2605dn, and FINALLY, the Laserjet P1606dn. So, it appeared that my upgrade to OS 10.5.8 was at the root of the problem.

I proceeded with Sofware Update to restore the computer to OS 10.5.8, and once again, went to the Print & Fax dialog to experiment with adding each of the printers again. Stopping short of accepting each "add", I was able to quickly and successfully find drivers for each of the connected printers. So, there does not appear to be a problem with OS 10.5.8 finding printer drivers.

After some thought, I have conclude that the problem must have arisen when upgrading from OS 10.4.11 to OS 10.5.4, but it remained hidden until I tried adding these newer printers to the Printer List.

I appreciate the reference to the latest Laserjet Full Feature Software download. Since I was able to resolve the problem without it, I did not bother doing the download.

I want to thank you for patiently staying with me over the past two weeks offering your advice and commentary. Just having someone to "talk to" about this was reassuring and helpful as I proceeded along applying each suggestion to the problem. I had tried resolving this problem several times on my own before this, searching the forums, and I was reluctant to actively participate --to reach out. I feel much different about it now. Again, thanks very much.

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PrintDoc · ‎11-18-2012

What router? Have you tried to restart it by pulling its power plug momentarily?

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ed_tushar · ‎11-18-2012

The Router is a Linksys BEFSR41.

I restarted the router (pulled power, waited one minute, re-powered), and then restarted the NetGear switch (pulled power, waited 30s, re-powered). Probably over-kill, but I re-started the printer and my PowerMac. Went into System Preferences / Print & Fax to add the P1606dn printer. Still "searching for new drivers" after 10 minutes.

PrintDoc · ‎11-19-2012

It could very well be the switch. Plug the Mac and Printer into the router directly and see if that works.

Also, its a pretty old router, it could have problems....

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ed_tushar · ‎11-21-2012

I apologize for the delay in responding to you. I was on the road all day yesterday.

OK. I switched the printer's Ethernet cable to a Linksys Switch (Model EZX S55W) that's part of this local network. That did not work. I swapped out the cable for one that I know works. Still no change. I switched the printer's Ethernet cable directly to a port on the router. No change. I even swapped cables here, too, but no success.

As I was doing all this, I was wondering: When I select the HP P1606dn printer in the Print and Fax "Add" dialog box, (see the image below) and the Print Using pulldown menu displays "Please select a driver or printer model" and the message "Searching for new drivers" appears under it (with the spinning wheel), why is it that the Ethernet connection to printer is critical to "finding" a new (printer) driver?

Isn't the utility searching through my system and libraries looking for a printer driver app for the printer that I identified/selected in the dialog box?

After all, if the dialog box lists the printer among those to choose from, hasn't the utility already discovered the printer via the Ethernet connection?

PrintDoc · ‎11-22-2012

Good find! Download and install this: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL907

Restart your Mac and try adding the printer again.

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ed_tushar · ‎11-23-2012

I down loaded the file referenced by your link. Ran the installation package and recived this message: "This volume does not meet the requirements for this update." I looked into the the package contents and found it was for OS 10.6 and above. I am running OS 10.5.8.

I went to HP.COM and its Software Driver Downloads to find the latest driver for the P1606dn. I downloaded this, installed it, and tried to add the printer, but the results are the same: still "seraching for new drivers".

Any other ideas?

PrintDoc · ‎11-23-2012

Oh, my mistake. Try this: http://support.apple.com/downloads/HP_Printer_Driver_1_1_1

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ed_tushar · ‎11-24-2012

I downloaded and installed the update this morning. No change.

I looked into the list of downloaded printer drivers, but the P1606dn was not listed among them. I think this printer was offered by HP after that download was created.

While at Apple Support, I looked around a bit for any tid bits offered by Apple, and I came across a suggestion to reset my printing system, repair disk permissions, and restart. I am in the process of doing that right now. I'll get back to you after the restart and let you know how that worked out.

PrintDoc · ‎11-25-2012

Also, you may want to try this: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=bi-80684-8&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&...

I am employed by HP

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Mac OS 10.5 Bonjour Unable to find printer driver for P1606dn connected via wired network.

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