Printer default problem

[Parpar1836]

I work on an iMac that's connected to three others in our office. Mine isn't the mainframe; I do mostly editing of text. I'm not the great tech maven, either.

A few weeks ago, my printer default mysteriously changed from HP Laser Jet 1320 to our HP ColorJet CP 5520, which is also on my printer network, but has been impossible for me to use directly from my terminal. Previously, when I wanted to print a letter or any text or Internet pages, I simply clicked the "Print" command and the HP 1320 was my default, and the process was simple; I just had to choose the page range, number of copies, and duplexing options. Now, though, when I click the "Print" command, I'm getting the color printer as my default, and have to switch it to the HP 1320. I ended up with four jobs that were "running" on the CP, loading for a couple of hours without reaching the printing stage. I stopped them, but am still having trouble, and the CP icon has been displaying on my dock with a red ! spot, indicating that a job has been stopped. I then have to select and delete it. I wasn't getting this kind of display or spooling problem until recently. If I want to print something, I have to go through this whole default-switching shebang.

Our tech guy tried to readjust the default setting, but wasn't successful.

Can you help?

I finally got the CP icon off my dock by using the "Force Quit" option. But I'd like to have my the HP 1320 re-established as my default printer.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

System Preferences->Print & Scan

On the left side of the dialog you should see your list of printers. Right click on the one you want to be the default and select "Set default printer"

For future reference, the help files on the mac are pretty good. Start the finder, click help on the menubar, then help center. In this case, you can type "set default printer" in the search box and step-by-step instructions are presented to you.

 

[Parpar1836]

Pesky printer-default problem

Thanks for the lead and the sage advice, Scooby. I see that the HP 1320 is indeed checked off as the default. But I still found the CP listed as default printer when I clicked the "Print" command to start a new job. I manually switched it back to the HP 1320. Will see...

Update: I had more trouble. I tried to print a letter after our Internet was automatically shut down for the night, and got the error message that the HP 1320 was not on my list of printers. This morning, our tech guy disconnected the CP from my list and reset the HP 1320 as my default printer. But I still have to manually change the setting from the HP 2430 to the 1320. (The HP 2430 is y boss's printer, and the one I use as a backup if I can't get mine to work.) Why should the 2430 be listed as the default printer after the 1320 was selected as the default printer?

Here's another wrinkle: when I tested the printer by clicking the Print command from this Webpage (the one I'm posting to), I got the dialogue box correctly displaying the 1320 as the default printer. But when I switched over to Word and clicked the Print command, I got a dialogue displaying the 2430 as default.

Why? Can anyone figure this out?

Also, I can't reset the 1320 as default printer on the Printer List, since the 2430 is listed in bold and the default controls are dimmed.