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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Canon PIXMA iP4500

Tegansdad - Jan 11, 2008 - 6:50 pm

Please help ...

I have just installed Leopard on MB Pro 17, I have two Airports connected together, one with internet, the other with printer in.

Bought new printer Canon Pixma iP4500, plugged into Airport but cannot get the thing to work. Printer driver on disc supplied did not seem to install (was not visible in printer list), and I may be setting it up wrong.

Downloaded several drivers from Canon, finally found one that seems to fit the bill and is recognised.

When adding printer now, mac can see printer (but not in Apple talk), and 'adds' the printer.

Printer does not work .... HELP !

Tegansdad - Jan 13, 2008 - 3:53 am

Have connected the printer direct to the mac and it worked, when connected back into the airport it seems to be able to see it ok but when I send stuff to print I get the error 306 which says I should check all connections and try again, obviously I have checked all connections and they are ok ...

Really frustrated now ...

Natobasso - Jan 14, 2008 - 11:56 am

Your printer does not have Tiger support yet:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...elTechSpecsAct

Also, it does not have a built in print server. That means it needs to be connected to a computer on your wireless network, not one of the transmitters. That computer must have Print Sharing set to 'on' and be on the wireless network in order for you to connect to it and the printer.

Tegansdad - Jan 14, 2008 - 1:26 pm

Hi there, thanks for the response. The link below shows canon uk's list of drivers available for this printer and clearly shows support for mac osx 10.5 which I am running. I have set up numerous printers which do not have print servers on an airport network, I do not think this is the problem as they have worked well when a suitable driver has been found. The mac can see the printer on the airport and does try to print to it, but the error 306 prevents it doing the print. I am sure that it can be made to work because it seems to be trying very hard to do so ...

Natobasso - Jan 14, 2008 - 1:51 pm

Sorry, here's the us driver page and you're right, 10.5 is supported:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=15596

You might want to download the manual:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=15596

I still believe you need to have a print server within the printer for this to work, and the specs page doesn't mention your printer has this, so it won't work.

http://reviews.cnet.com/inkjet-print...-32592020.html

"The Pixma iP4500 offers a fairly basic feature set. The only connection option is USB, though you can network the printer using a print server. It offers up a built-in duplexer for automatic double-sided prints, though the print driver gives you the option of manual duplex print jobs. The iP4500 lacks memory card slots, but it does offer a PictBridge USB port for printing directly from PictBridge cameras and devices. The driver offers the same options as the driver for the iP3500: namely, the ability to create print profiles for common print jobs; photo manipulations options; and paper and source options."

Tegansdad - Jan 15, 2008 - 2:11 pm

Can you look at the CANON MP 390 printer and see if that has a print server. The reason I ask is that I have had one of those on this airport and it worked ok once I had installed the printfab driver set. I ask because it seems so close to printing that it does not feel that the print server (or lack of) is the issue.

Is it the error code 306 that suggests this is the problem ??? or is something else pointing us at this as a reason ???

Thanks again for your continued support/patience

Jamie

Natobasso - Jan 15, 2008 - 5:11 pm

Read the articles I posted for you. If the printer specs says it doesn't have a print server built in, it needs one to assist it, say another computer as I said in a previous post.

I imagine you could easily do this if you plug the printer into one of your wireless-enabled computer and turned print-sharing on.

Here's the spec sheet for the other printer:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...elTechSpecsAct

I'm not seeing a wireless print server built into that one either, though it can print files on its own if they are sent directly to it say through a flash memory card.

The error code doesn't tell me this, just experience. If you want a second opinion, we can always open this ticket up again.

Here's an example of a wireless printer from Canon:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=10438

Let me know.

Tegansdad - Jan 17, 2008 - 12:58 pm

I know that the printer I have does not have its own wireless capability i.e. 80211b-n but I am not expecting it to work in this way. I am trying to get it to connect via an airport extreme which should be possible as long as the printer driver is working correctly on the mac that sends the print to the airport. The wireless connection to the airport is only replacing the USB wire that connects the printer serially and should not therefore require its own print server, the problem lies in the driver or the settings. I have spoken with someone else who had the same sort of problems but now has the iP4500 working fine on his airport network but I cant contact him again because he is military and is now back on duty ....

Natobasso - Jan 17, 2008 - 1:42 pm

Oh, initially you said you had Airport, not Airport Express. That does make a huge difference.

Have you tried connecting directly to it first, making sure that works, and then connecting wirelessly?

Tegansdad - Jan 17, 2008 - 4:04 pm

It is airport extreme not express that I have, this is the same as the other guy that I contacted who had his printer working wirelessly via his airport extreme. I am now quite sure it is a driver, settings or software version based problem but I am no nearer to finding out which it is ...

Natobasso - Jan 17, 2008 - 5:22 pm

I apologize, you did say Airport Extreme.

However, what OS X is your friend running? That could be the difference. In an earlier post I mentioned there isn't yet Leopard support for your printer, but you could make sure that's true by downloading and installing any updates you haven't yet here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=15596

Tegansdad - Jan 20, 2008 - 9:54 am

He is running Leopard 10.5.1 the same as me, it is so frustrating that he is now out of contact for 6 months or I'm sure it would be easy to resolve this issue. I tried the link you gave me updating the drivers but Canon's website was "experiencing technical difficulties" at the time so still waiting to check. I did however install the most recent one from the Canon UK site but it still gives the error 306. The really frustrating thing is that it gets so close to printing now, it even says it has started the print and then errors and does not work at the last minute. I'll talk to Canon again tomorrow and see if they have any other ideas.

Natobasso - Jan 20, 2008 - 2:28 pm

Well a few things you could do:

1. Delete the printer from your print center and re add it (with the printer attached).

2. Try printing from a textedit file (txt format) and see if that prints. It could be your document causing the problem. Are there lots of photos/graphics in it?

3. Try printing when directly connected to the printer. (After you do step one).

Let me know what happens.