My mac prints to my HP only 30 to 40% of the time

I'm not sure if this is a hardware issue or a software issue or...

When I send print jobs to my printer (an HP LaserJet 2100 w/Adobe postscript chip) from my mac (Dual 1.42) [attached via a USB cable) (printer selected in the list on the OS X software - OS is updated with the new apple releases - has always had this glitch) sometimes it prints, sometimes the print icon comes up for a minute and then goes away but doesn't print, sometimes the icon stays up and the print job never makes it to the printer (the status in the window of the printer box says "finally sending print job").

Anyone know what is going on? Does anyone have similar problems or had them and resolved the issue?

Everytime I hit print, there's a real question in my mind whether its going to work on that occassion and it shouldn't be so hit or miss.

Thanks for any help

Originally posted by alia
My mom's pcs 2110 is hit and miss as well. Also an HP printer. The damned this is infuriating. We've also never gotten the scanner to work and if you get it to copy properly, it won't print and vice versa.

Alia

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Well - it's good to know it's not just my setup - disappointing to find out that it appears to be a problem with Macs and HP printers. Can anyone tell me if other printers work better (I'd hate to lose the investment in the HP) or if there is some sort of software fix anyone has come across?

thanks -

LG

Re: me too!

Originally posted by dbally
I have exactly the same problem. I'm using a Brother HL-1650 laser printer though. It's hit or miss (hits from Word, misses from Safari and Preview mainly), but I haven't tried it on many other applications. It also supports duplexing, but OS X only gives this as a print option rarely. I've gotten the latest and greatest Brother drivers and have also used the ones that OS X defaults too. I'm glad I'm not the only one with these issues. Any help would be greatly appreciated

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Surely this can't be an acceptable result for Apple for something as basic to desktop computing as printing. My Commodore 64 printed 100% of the time to a dox-matrix printer in '84. My Mac Si printed 100% of the time to a SCSI GCC laser back in '92. It just seems to me that in 2003, something like printing shouldn't cause this much angst.

Perhaps it's the type of connection? My HP is connected via USB. Have folks had better luck with an ethernet connection to a print server like one of the HP direct connects?

Are apple's print driver's to blame?

Thanks