All my printers have disappeared.

[fastdriver]

All my printers, label writer and stamp printer have disappeared. I tried reinstalling them and I get an error message or the ADD button is dimmed out. I don't know what happened.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-What version of Mac OS X?
-Is there more than one account on the Mac?
-Have you tried repairing disk permissions?
-Have you tried resetting the printing system, restarting, then trying to add a printer?

C

 

[fastdriver]

Hello and welcome.

-What version of Mac OS X?
-Is there more than one account on the Mac?
-Have you tried repairing disk permissions?
-Have you tried resetting the printing system, restarting, then trying to add a printer?

C

Thank you Cory for responding. There are VERY FEW problems that I cannot fix when I have a problem with my Mac. However, this one had ME stumped AND also the AppleCare guy I spoke to! I have Yosemite 10.10.3 on ONE Mac. Repaired disk permissions. Verified disk. Restarted with Command R. Reset the PRAM! Unplugged the computer. NOTHING! Would NOT let me ADD printers because that button was greyed out! Could not add my Dymo LabelWriters either! So, the Apple guy made an appointment for me at the Apple Store yesterday at 11 AM. I lugged my 24" iMac, my Canon i9900 large print printer and one of my Dymo LabelWriters into the store. Get there and the Apple Genius guy plugs in my computer, connects the printer, goes to system preferences and then printers and scanners and VOILA- EVERYTHING was there! NO ONE has ANY clue WHY this happened. Oh, before I left home for the Apple Store, I went to the printer list again and it was EMPTY!

Wish I could tell you what happened so you could help others, but it's a big mystery!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Well, glad it's working.

It could have simply been that the iMac USB ports reset during the time driving back and forth, although that usually worked for FireWire, not USB. That is effectively an SMC reset.

You stated you unplugged everything - including every single cable connect to the iMac, and left it that way for more than 5 mins?

If you find out anything, or I think of any other cause, we should post here for future reference.

Go enjoy the working peripherals,



C

 

[fastdriver]

Well, glad it's working.

It could have simply been that the iMac USB ports reset during the time driving back and forth, although that usually worked for FireWire, not USB. That is effectively an SMC reset.

You stated you unplugged everything - including every single cable connect to the iMac, and left it that way for more than 5 mins?

If you find out anything, or I think of any other cause, we should post here for future reference.

Go enjoy the working peripherals,



C

Cory- MAYBE that was the problem- UNPLUGGING everything connected to the computer? I did NOT do that while running all the tests or while talking to the Apple Guy on the phone. I only did that when I brought it to the Apple Store? I do have FireWire external HDs, but nothing connected to my printers. Wouldn't hurt if people with this problem tried that. Thanks for your responses.