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TICKET ARCHIVE -> hp Color LaserJet 3500, OS 10.4.5, "Job Stopped" message

JanetGold - Apr 15, 2006 - 1:29 am

I'm an editor/designer for a small educational publishing company. My setup (home office) includes a relatively new (purchased August 2005) PowerMac G5/1.8GHz, OS 10.4.5, and two printers, the HP Color LaserJet 3500 and an HP OfficeJet 4200 series all-in-one. The LaserJet is connected via USB; the OfficeJet, via Ethernet and a wireless router. (My Comcast cable modem is also connected to the wireless router; my husband's new iMac/Intel machine shares it.)

I haven't used the LaserJet for about a month (the OfficeJet is fine for the minimal printing/faxing I do, unless I'm designing a book in QuarkXPress). I'm now starting to design a book. When I tried to print from the LaserJet today, the printer processed the job, showed me a print preview, and then quit, with a "Job stopped" alert. Clicking on "Start Jobs" resulted in the same thing happening again. And again.

This happened with files in both MS Word (Office 2004) and QuarkXPress 6.5.

I can still print to the OfficeJet, but not to the LaserJet.

I am new to OS X -- I was one of the last holdouts in my company (I really didn't want to switch from OS 9/QuarkXPress 4, with which I was totally comfortable)), and I received this new G5 and the two printers only two months ago. Frankly, OS X still frightens me. Too many things in too many places! So while I'm not a total newbie or technophobe, I no longer consider myself a competent Mac professional.

Please be gentle with me ... and help me get my laser printer working again so I can see how my book pages will look!

Oh, and by the way, my husband's Epson inkjet printer, directly connected to his iMac, suddenly stopped printing in black today; only the color inks work. The printer says it's printing, but all we get is a blank page. He knows NOTHING about OS X and is totally disgusted. But that's a separate issue.

Can you help me?

Many thanks, in advance...

Janet

skapp - Apr 15, 2006 - 2:56 am

I don't know if this will be helpful, but it appears to be germane to your problem:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...4071&lsrc=osxh

Also, sometimes it's helpful to delete the printer from the list in the Printer Setup Utility, then re-add the printer. There is also a shareware utility called Printer Setup Repair that may help. You will find it at www.versiontracker.com or www.macupdate.com.

JanetGold - Apr 17, 2006 - 12:25 am

Hi Steven K.,

Thanks so much for your reply. I checked the article, but found that there was no new driver or software for Mac OS 10.4; the original Mac OS X software was still current. So I deleted the printer from the list ... and found that I couldn't re-add it (it didn't appear in the list of available HP Color LaserJets!).

So, after whispering a prayer to the Gods of Technology, I got out the original documentation and tremblingly reinstalled the software that came with the printer ... and went to Printer Setup Utility ... and THERE IT WAS!

And, of course, I can now use my laser printer again.

Just one question ... why did this happen? Is it because I updated my system software to 10.4.5? If so, another question for you: Should I download the 10.4.6 update? One of my colleagues updated from 10.4.4 to 10.4.5 and ended up losing all her data when her hard drive malfunctioned as a result, she says, of the upgrade. I also read in some posts on VersionTracker (regarding Printer Setup Repair) that an upgrade to 10.4.6 "ate all my printer files."

Please let me know if it's safe for me to upgrade to 10.4.6. My first priority these days is working in QuarkXPress and printing pages on my laser printer. This is my livelihood. I can't take any more chances!

Thanks, Steve, for any suggestions.

Janet

skapp - Apr 17, 2006 - 9:46 am

Janet,

I have one word for you - Backup. Anyone who has critical work data on their computer must have and maintain a regular backup strategy. Not to do so is both foolish and costly. Visit http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html and read the FAQ on backup and restore strategies. Purchase an external Firewire drive large enough to store your entire hard drive. Maintain a cloned backup on that drive to protect you in the case of emergencies.

Now that you have your computer working properly I advise you do not upgrade it unless: A. You have a backup of your system and a backup strategy in place; and, B. You actually need to upgrade in order to use some software important to your work. Upgrades should never be done until you have assured that they will not create a problem for mission critical software.

JanetGold - Apr 17, 2006 - 12:22 pm

Hi Steve,

I own an external HD (160 gb) and already back up my document files. (I am a newbie to OS X, but I've used Macs professionally since 1988, and I am well aware of what can happen.) However, thanks for the warning.

QUESTION: In Tiger, what's the easiest way to back up my entire system?

Hi Jack,

It was an ink problem. We printed the test page, and CYM showed up, but K did not. We cleaned the heads (software permits this). Black is back.

Thanks to both of you for helping me!

Janet

skapp - Apr 18, 2006 - 12:16 am

Janet,

Here's the short and simple method to clone your drive:

1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the startup volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the startup volume to the Source entry field.
5. Select the backup volume from the leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Check the box to Erase Destination. Skip this step if you've already formatted the drive or if you cannot format it.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

If you already have data on your backup drive, then I suggest you make a new folder and put everything that is currently on the drive into this folder. Then do the clone as above, but skip Step 6. This will keep all your other files isolated from the cloned system.

JanetGold - Apr 19, 2006 - 12:14 am

Thanks, Steve ... worked like a charm!

Janet