"Waiting for printer to become available" message

[Beesknees1001]

Before I try the latest suggestion here is a bit more background.

In addition to the Laserjet 5200 we have the following other HP printers on our network:

HP Designjet Z6200ps 42" plotter

HP Color Laserjet 5550tn

HP Laserjet 5000tn

HP Laserjet P2055dn

HP Photosmart 8400

All print perfectly with no issues from any on the multiple Macs on our network, except for the Laserjet 5200.

Could making the suggested changes (resetting the pram and and installing the HP driver update) from just one computer be effective, or would it need to be done to all of the computers. Given the number of computers and printers we have we'd like to avoid have to re-setup all of the printers on all of the computers.

The computers have a variety of OS's... from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.

thanks

John

[PrintDoc]

Resetting the PRAM and installing the driver should have no effect on the rest of the printers.   Resetting the printing system, however, will delete all of the printers from that Mac, so you may want to hold off on doing that.

So, you have mutilpe Macs having the same problem with the same printer?  If that is the case, perhaps the printer is faulty.

[psychopengy]

I successfully downloaded and installed Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 after switching the browser from Firefox to Safari. Thanks for that suggestion.

Unfortunately the "Waiting for printer to become available" message still appears. I'll reset the PRAM and download HP Printer Drivers v.2.14 for OS X, but your link to the PRAM reset says that it's for OS X Lion. I'm running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. Would the instructions be the same? I searched for PRAM reset instructions for my version but couldn't locate any.

[PrintDoc]

Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that.  Yes, the PRAM reset instructions are the same for all Intel processor Macs.

[psychopengy]

I reset the PRAM and downloaded and installed the HP Printer Drivers v.2.14. I still get the "Waiting for printer to become available" message. Very frustrated. Once again (for the third year running) we haven't been able to fix this. I guess I'm back to turning the printer off and back on every time I have to do a different print job.

or . . . any more suggestions?

[PrintDoc]

Have you reset the printer?  Have you repaired permissions on your Mac?

[psychopengy]

I followed your instructions to re-set the printing system (deleting all the printers and then adding my HP 2550L). Same problem occured. I don't know how to repair permissions, but I'm willing to try!

[PrintDoc · Accepted solution]

OK, let's repair permissions:

1. Open Finder: Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.  Open it.

2. Select your Macintosh HD on the left side, then click Repari Disk Permissions along the bottom.

3. Let it finish (20 minutes or so), then close Disk Utility.

Reset the printer - I am not sure how to do this.  Turn it off and unplug it from the wall for 15 minutes?

[emirsky]

Thank you.  Your solution worked perfectly.  Happy that I found it.

[TPCoMatt]

Hello - I am having the same problem as "psychopengy" was reporting with the HP 2550L, however I am running OS X 10.8.5 with the latest printer drivers (2.16.1 I believe?) installed.  This only recently started happening (last few months or so).  I've tried swapping the USB cables and ports and the same problem persists:

Power cycle the printer, 1 job prints successfully.  Power cycle the printer, 1 job prints successfully, etc., etc. 

If I don't power cycle, the next print job gets "Waiting for printer to become available"

Any assistance would be appreciated!