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

[ed_tushar · Accepted solution]

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.