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Troubleshooting Mac OS X Print Services
Printing is a fundamental task in any networked office environment, and every support professional is called on to perform printer support at some point. These exercises address the logical structure of troubleshooting, the tools you use to set up printers and troubleshoot problems, and the location of files used by the printing system.You will view file locations used by the printing system in Terminal, then use Printer Setup Utility to reset the printing system. After resetting the printing system, you will review the CUPS log to see the results of your actions.In Mac OS X, fax services are designed for robustness and require very little attention. With background-receive features and print-to-fax functionality built into the operating system, most fax troubleshooting will involve phone line issues. Printing issues will take significantly more of your troubleshooting time, so this material focuses on that subject.
Identifying File Locations
In Mac OS X, CUPS is the printing engine that manages and executes print jobs. CUPS stores its configuration files in several locations. You will use Terminal to view some of the essential configuration files.
Reviewing Activity in the CUPS Log
Your actions in Printer Setup Utility are logged in the CUPS log in Console. This log can be invaluable in identifying the actions that led to any problem you encountered.
| 1. | Open Console (/Applications/Utilities). |
| 2. | Click the Logs button in the toolbar to show the list of logs. |
| 3. | Click the disclosure triangle next to /var/log. |
| 4. | Click the disclosure triangle for CUPS.You will also see the fax log in the /var/log list. This is where you can perform fax system troubleshooting if needed. |
| 5. | Select error_log in the CUPS list. You can see all of your printer setup work in the log contents at the right. To show only the pertinent entries, use the Filter field to limit the log display. |
| 6. | Enter queued in the Filter field.The log display is truncated to show only the log entries for queued print jobs. |
| 7. | Quit Console. |
Resetting the Print System in Printer Setup Utility
You use Printer Setup Utility for most of your initial printer troubleshooting, because it can easily resolve many basic printing problems. If a problem is especially troublesome or persistent, you might find that it's easier to reset the printing system entirely.
| 1. | Open Printer Setup Utility (/Applications/Utilities).Printer Setup Utility opens and displays the printer list. |
| 2. | Choose Printer Setup Utility > Reset Printing System.Printer Setup Utility will display a warning dialog that you are deleting all of your printers and print jobs. This command removes all setup files, configuration files, and pending or completed spool jobs. It does not remove print drivers or PPDs, so you can use this without needing to reinstall drivers for printers that require them. |
| 3. | Click Cancel to leave your computer unchanged.If you click Reset, you must authenticate as an administrator. |
| 4. | Quit Printer Setup Utility. |
Using Strategies for Print Troubleshooting
Here are some strategies for identifying and fixing problems with printing:
- If there are problems with the format of the printed documents, make sure that you formatted the page for the correct printer in Page Setup. Also, attempt to print to a different printer, if one is available, to see if the problem is with the printer. Try printing from a different application to see if there is an application setting that is interfering with the print formatting.
- Try removing and then re-adding the printer in Printer Setup Utility.
- For USB printers, try adding them manually. If you are unable to locate the printer in Printer Setup Utility, use the troubleshooting techniques suggested in Lesson 11, "Peripherals," to identify if you have a hardware or software issue.
- Lesson 8, "Networking Configuration and Troubleshooting," to make sure that your network settings are correct and your connection to the network is functioning properly.
- If you've verified that it isn't a hardware problem, but you can't see the printer listed in Printer Setup Utility, reinstall the printer's driver. Since the installation of printer drivers is optional while installing Mac OS X, it could be that the drivers were never installed. Also, check the manufacturer's website to get the latest version of the printer driver. Even if your printer came with Mac OS X printer drivers, they may be out-of-date.
- Use Console to read the log files related to printing. They are access_log, error_log, and page_log, all located in /var/log/cups. They serve as the best source of information for any problems you may encounter.
- A new feature in Mac OS X allows you to reset the printing system. You can reset the printing system if you suspect that there are problems with a number of different printer queues or printing components. This deletes all print queues and custom drivers. In Printer Setup Utility, choose Printer Setup Utility > Reset Printing System.
- Keep in mind that you might not have control over problems that occur with network printers and print servers. You should coordinate with the administrators of those computers and printers to resolve problems.
- Occasionally, you might have to call the printer vendor to resolve a problem.
MORE INFORefer to Knowledge Base document 25407, "Mac OS X: About Third-Party Printer Compatibility."
