HP LaserJet and Snow Leopard: printing problems

November 14, 4:25 PMApple Products ExaminerLisa Spangenberg

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We have a sturdy little USB HP LaserJet 1022 printer. We've used it very happily, over Wifi; I connected the USB cable to the Apple Airport Express, and then used the Add Printer option to locate the correct drivers. The printer worked like a charm over WiFi, and was dead easy to set-up.

Flash forward: I have a new MacBook, and Snow Leopard. It would print a single document via Wifi to the HP LaserJet, then stop with the gray flashing exclamation point next to the printer name in System Preferences/Print & Fax. It didn't matter what application I used, or what font. The Log said that my Mac couldn't communicate with the printer. I figured it was using an old driver.

I reset the System Preferences/Fax & Print settings, for a fresh start. (Pretty much after each solution failed, I would Ctrl + click the list of printers in System Preference/Fax and Print and select Reset printing system).

I deleted the drivers. I used Software Update to download the latest drivers. No joy.

I discovered that I'm not alone in the world; lots of people are having the same sorts of problems using an HP LaserJet 1022 over WiFi. And it is a supported printer.

1. I downloaded the New Official HP drivers.
2. I reset the Printer settings.
3. I re-booted.
4. I saw the same behavior. A single document would print, then any Mac running Snow Leopard would indicate via the logs that it couldn't communicate with the printer. The printer it could still see (it shows in Nearby Printers). I tried connecting the printer via USB to the AirPort Extreme. Same problems.
5. Rebooting the WiFi, rebooting the Mac, rebooting the Printer—none of these made any difference. But the printer worked perfectly using a direct USB connection from any Mac (something that isn't true for everyone using Snow Leopard).

At this point, I'd lost more than half a day to trying to get the HP LaserJet 1022 to work via WiFi.

Last week I connected the USB cable to an iMac, went to System Preferences/Sharing/ on the iMac and turned on Printer Sharing.

The printer works beautifully now from any Mac on our WiFi LAN, but I haven't giving up on getting the printer to work over Wifi via the AirPort Express. I'm still seeing lots of others with the same problem.