Why does my mac not print correctly and how do I troubleshoot?
A common issue with Mac OSX is the bonjour management for the printer driver. Printouts come out with error or without colour. Colour is blotched, and in most cases, the print job sent out as successful, and your printer has printed out nothing. Does this sound like the type of problem you face? Here in this blog, we address these issues and the solution that you can undertake that correct these problems almost immediately. It is simple and straightforward to follow.
Blotched paper troubleshooting (Smudged)
Mac OS printer troubleshooting
Does your printout smudge? You have installed the driver for your computer in Mac, choose the correct model or let Bonjour automatically select the correct driver for your printer. It says your printer installed successfully. And when you print out the image or document, the images have come out as blurred or smudgy. Lines formed, weird letters come out. These common problems faced by many people like yourself and you never get a straight answer from the IT department or your IT outsourcing company. And the most technical guy in your office does not think it is part of his job to help you out or is tired out. And you feel bad asking him for a favour. So what do you do?
It is almost always a drive issue
Mac OS printer troubleshooting
The funny thing is, the solution is more or less always the same. The printer companies don't want you to know it nor do the IT vendors or department. Because they feel it threatens their job. Here are some of the steps you can do to fix the problem.
STEP 1: Take a picture of your printer brand and the model number that is almost always at the front, take this example for where the ideal place you would find the model number for a printer.
STEP 2: Google the model and make of the printer. And download the latest driver available for Mac OS. Please do take note of the version of Mac OS you are using. It always helps to update to the latest version, makes life easier on all of us.
STEP 3: Once you have successfully downloaded the installation file for the correct printer, now run the pkg file and have it install the driver in the background. Do take note once the installation is done, you will probably not see any form of confirmation for installation. In some cases, you would. But do not worry, the driver installed inside your operating system.
STEP 4: So now this is how we resolve the problem for your printer, uninstall all of your current printer drivers. Since this is a work computer and you only have one main printer in your office. Then again, if you have more than one printer, focus on the uninstalling the printer in question. And now focus on re-installation. This time from the image on the right, select the printer software from the list as opposed to Auto Select. Key in the model of your printer in the search and click on the correct model. If the driver installation is successful, you should easily be able to find the correct model driver in your driver list.
Once that is done, you may even see the thumbnail of your printer updated to resemble your printer more accurately (not always). STEP 5: Print. We are pretty sure your problem has been solved now. If it does not. Call a professional. You either have a different problem or you may have botched a step.
Thank you for reading 'IT Support 101: Mac OS printer troubleshooting' and we hope you have a beautiful day.
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