Time Capsule printing - 'No Pages Found'

Setup a TC today. It's operating in wireless N 5GHz only bridge mode with a Linksys WRT54g as the master router. I have a MacBook and a Mac Pro hooked up. The Mac Pro is hooked up via GigE cat 6 cable. Also have an XP machine hooked up via GigE as well.

Everything is working fine, TM backups are working from the MacBook. I'm not doing TM backups for the Mac Pro, I have a FW800 drive for that.

I hooked up a Canon iP3500 to the TC. I installed the Canon drivers for OS X. Now, this printer prints fine when hooked directly to either machine via USB.

I removed the printer from OS X after removing it from being connected directly. I then unplugged the TC, connected the printer to it, and powered it back up (this was what Apple suggested online). The TC sees the printer fine.

I then went on my Mac Pro (which is connected via ethernet, figured I'd rule out any wireless issues right off the bat) to add the Printer. In sys prefs I clicked to add the printer, and OS X found it right away and listed it as a Bonjour printer. It selected the driver as well.

Now, when I go to print, it sends the print to the queue, but stops and says No Pages Found in the printer queue.

I set it up on the MacBook, same results.

Now, here's where it gets funny....and sad for Apple. I installed Bonjour on my XP machine. XP found the printer, added it, and can print perfectly fine.

This printer is not in the list of default printers installed with Leopard, that's why I needed to install the Canon driver. I installed the Canon CUPS driver.

Any ideas? Is this a Leopard 10.5.2 issue?

-Kevin

I'm beginning to think this is a Canon driver issue under OS X. I have a feeling that Canon makes sure it's drivers work when directly connected, but not when the printer is shared or connected to a router.

-Kevin

greg-y said:

I have a similar issue but with an Airport Express. I agree that it sounds like this may be more a problem with Canon printers than the Time Capsule per se. The thread at Apple (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1446937&tstart=0), which started with a post about a Lexmark printer, has post after post of Canon owners with the "No Pages Found" error when they try to print.

I had this issue start after updating the Canon driver. I forgot that when I first got the printer, it seemed that I had to first install the driver while the printer was directly connected via USB, then it would work when I subsequently installed the driver a second time while the printer was connected to the Airport Express.

Over at the Apple discussion, people seem to be having some success with:

1) disconnect the Time Capsule (or other wireless print server)
2) uninstall the printer drivers
3) reconnect the wireless print server
4) reinstall the printer drivers

Hasn't worked for me, though.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. Yeah, I tried that with no luck. And actually on my Macbook I had NO printer drivers installed, so those didn't get installed until after the TC was setup and working. Still no go.

The more searching I do, the more I realize that trying to print in OS X with a Networked or Shared printer is painful. Many manufacturers don't cooperate with the correct drivers.

Not too pleased that my Windows machine can print to it and the Mac can't!

Oh well. Guess it's my way of saving some trees! I'll just print as a PDF for most stuff.

-Kevin

greg-y said:

Updating Gutenprint and selecting an alternate driver worked for me.

Gutenprint is the open source printer software included in OS X (see Apple's page here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8714.html). I downloaded version 5.1.7 from the Gutenprint site (http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3); a slew of updated ppds (drivers) is included. Note that this is a development release.

When I went to add a new printer, I selected "Canon IJ Printer" in the "Print Using" pull-down. And ... I can print!

What's odd is that this driver is, I think, a 6.9.3 version from Canon, which would make it part of the update that started this whole problem. But it's not the one specifically for my printer.

If I create a printer with the other option that shows up in "Print Using," "Canon iP4500 series," I still get the "No Pages Found" error.

Unfortunately I didn't try the Gutenprint update and the alternate driver independently, so one or the other may be the solution in and of itself.

Click to expand...

Weird because the release notes:
http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3#5.1.7

Say: "Printing for the Canon PIXMA iP4500 has been fixed"

-Kevin

Ok, so I am printing now.

I have the iP3500. Here's is Canon driver page:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...ategoryid=184&modelid=15600#DownloadDetailAct

Under OS X there are two drivers listed:

iP3500 series Printer Driver Ver. 6.9.3 (Mac OS X)
ip3500sosx693ej7.dmg
03/25/2008

iP3500 series Printer Driver Ver. 10.1.0.0 (Mac OS X CUPS)
ip3500sosxcp10100ej7.dmg
12/13/2007

I thought I had installed both. However, on my MacBook suddenly the Canon IJ Printer driver showed up.

So off to my Mac Pro, I reinstall the CUPS driver. Reboot, add printer, no Canon IJ Printer is listed.

So I go back and install the 6.9.3 version. Reboot, add printer, it auto selects the iP3500 driver, however, if I pull the drop down list, I see the Canon IJ Printer driver.

Viola. Printing works through the Time Capsule.

Now, seeing as others are having issues, I guess I will have to hope that it sticks!

-Kevin

greg-y said:

... it sounds like the first step is to install Canon's 6.9.3 drivers and use the pulldown in Add Printer to find the generic Canon IJ Printer choice rather than the preselected (your printer model here).

Yes?

Click to expand...

That's what it looks like it's doing. The CUPS driver from Canon puts the Canon iP3500 driver in the list. This driver works fine when connected via USB, but not shared or networked.

With only this driver installed, that's the only option I get.

After installing the 6.9.3 drivers, it still defaults to the CUPS driver, but I can choose the Canon IJ Printer driver from the list.

Not sure if they are both required, or it just so happens that I installed in the wrong order. Who knows.

I think the CUPS driver puts the driver in ~/Library/Printers, while the other installs in the main /Library/Printers folder.

All I know is, I'm happy now that both my XP machine and the Macs can print to the iP3500 connected to the TC. And, the Canon IJ Printer driver is smart enough to allow me to select the Front tray to load the paper from. This was the main reason why I didn't want a generic driver, as I didn't want to use the foolish rear tray for the paper.

-Kevin