Mac OS X 10.10.4 Print Driver 4.0.5 for HP Officejet Pro K550 Stalls Printing

[ChrisP3]

Recently my Officejet Pro K550 started to prints only a couple of lines from my MacMini running OS X version 10.10.4 before it ceases and the green on/off light and the amber paper feed light flash in unison. These are the diagnostic steps I've taken:

• Checked App store for any updates to the print driver: None
• The print driver is 4.0.5
• Checked the Apple support site at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201465 and found that the latest driver for the HP Officejet Pro K550 printer is 4.0.5.
• Verified Disk Permissions on the drive where the driver and operating system is located.
• Repaired Disk Permissions on that drive.
• Reset Printing System in Utilities/Printers & Scanners.
• Saw a blank left column in the Utilities/Printers & Scanners as all printers were removed.
• Clicked the + button to the bottom of the left column.
• Did not see my printer, but did see others on my work network.
• Disconnected and then reconnected the USB cable from my MacMini to the Officejet Pro K550.
• The Officejet Pro K550 then appeared in the left column.
• Click on the Options & Supplies button.
• Click on the Utility tab.
• Click on the Open Printer Utility button. 
• Click on the Print Configuration Page.
• The entire "HP Officejet Pro K550 Series Configuration Page" prints sans problems.
• Open Word
• Type a "." at the top line and a "." about 10 lines down.
• Press Print.
• Printer prints the first "." then ceases and the green on/off light and the amber paper feed light flash in unison.
• Print Status window jumps up and down. Clicked on it. 
• Window says "Printer busy. Microsoft Word - Document1. Printing - Printing page 1, 100% comple. . ."
• After about a minute the page ejects from the printer.
• The green light and the amber light continue flashing.
• Press the green light to turn off. 
• Window appears "Connection to the device was lost."
• Press the green light to turn on.
• Printer communicates with MacMini. HP Utility - HP Officejet Pro K550 Device Status: Idle.
• Open Apple Mail. Select a email. Print 1 page. Wait. 
• The Print Job window shows 2 Jobs. Click on the X to the right of the Microsoft Word - Document1 that hasn't cleared yet. 
• The email prints the first two lines then ceases and the green on/off light and the amber paper feed light flash in unison.
• About a minute later it ejects the page.
• Press the green light to turn off.
• Window appears "Connection to the device was lost."
• Disconnect the USB cable from MacMini to the printer.
• Connect the USB cable to my PC Laptop running Vista.
• Open MS Word
• Type a '." on the top line and another "." about 10 lines down.
• Clicked on print.
• Prints normally from my PC.
• On my MacMini I have 31 GB available on a 512 GB SSD aftermarket (not Apple).
• Trim Enable is on.

I wondered if there is compatibility problem between the print driver 4.0.5 and OS X 10.10.4 as this was working well until recently. I updated to OS X 10.10.4 on June 9, 2015, but I recall that the problems started more recently than that. In other words, I believe that the printer worked well with the MacMini for a time with 10.10.4. 

Any suggestions to resolve this?

[RnRMusicMan]

Hi @ChrisP3,

Welcome to the HP Forums!

I noticed that the green on/off light, and the amber paper feed light flash in unison, with your HP Officejet Pro K550 printer on Mac OS X 10.10.4. I am happy to look into this for you! 

According to this guide: Blinking Lights on the HP Officejet Pro K550 Printer Series, The product might be out of paper or there might be a paper jam.

Issue The power light and resume light is blinking. Figure : Power light and resume light is blinking

Solution one: Press the resume button Load paper in the paper tray and press the resume button (). Try to print the job. If the issue continues, proceed to the next step. Solution two: Clear the paper jam Step one: Clear the jam from the back and top of the product Remove any paper loaded in the output tray. Turn off the product. Push the button on either side of the rear access panel or duplex unit and remove it. Figure : Removing the rear access door Locate any jammed paper inside the product and pull it out towards you. If there is no jam, push the latch on the top of the duplex and lower its cover. Figure : Lower the product cover If the jam is there, carefully remove any jammed paper and close the cover. Replace the rear access panel or duplex unit. Open the top cover. Check for and remove any jammed paper by gently pulling it out. Make sure that there are no scraps of paper stuck between the rollers. Close the top cover, turn on the product, and resend the print job. Try to print the job again. If the issue continues, proceed to the next step. Step three: Service the printer If you have completed all the steps listed above and are still experiencing a problem, service the product.

To have your printer serviced/replaced, please contact HP, phone support for further assistance. (After you fill out the information, you will be given a phone number.) If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get the support number for your region. Country-language selector.

Best of luck! 

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[ChrisP3]

Thanks for the suggestion to check for paper jams. I proceeded to clean the printer with compressed air. I removed a portion of a stray label stuck inside.

The printer still stalls when printing from my MacMini but prints well from my PC. I suspect that this is a software issue. The printer prints the test configuration page, the feature page (holding the resume button for a few seconds), and advances 20 pages during the paper handling test in utilities. When I print the identical file from my PC there is no problem.  I am considering testing this printer on my MacPro at home. 

Any other ideas?

[RnRMusicMan]

Hi ChrisP3,

You are very welcome!

Now that the paper jam has been cleared. I would recommend the following:

• A hard reset, by going to this post, How to perform a Hard Reset, by @Rich1. it is important that the printer's power cable is plugged directly into the wall outlet, and not a surge protector. Issues when Connected to an Uninterruptible Power Supply/Power Strip/Surge Protector. This applies to Inkjet printers as well.
• Uninstall the Printer Software.
• Boot the Mac into Safe Mode.
• Create a new user account.
• Reinstall the printer software Using Apple Software Update. 

Hope this solves the problem, and have a nice day!

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[ChrisP3]

Thank you for the instructions on a hard reset, uninstallation, and installation on a new user account. I followed each step on my Mac Mini. It did not fix the problem, though. When I print a page from the Mac Mini it prints the first 1-1/2" and then stalls. I have tested this printer with 5 computers: 3 Macs and 2 PC's. The printer works flawlessly with the 2 PC's using the same USB cable I use to connect to the Macs. I suspect that the print driver for this printer, 4.0.5 is incompatible with OS X 10.10.4. The printer does not work with any of the Macs. Unfortunately, all of the Macs have the latest drivers so I have been unable to test this with the prior driver. I found that the current HP Print driver 3.1 installs 4.0.5, but even when I use an older version of HP Print driver 3.0 that it also installs 4.0.5. Is there any way to get the prior version of the print driver so I can test my theory?