[blueice03]

Before anyone says, "Google it" I have and I have read the countless articles detailing various solutions but I have found none that seem to work. Here is my set-up:

1 Windows XP SP2 PC
1 G4 Powerbook running latest Tiger update (10.4.9)
1 Canon MP600 connected to PC via USB
Both Mac and PC connected to a local Airport Express network wirelessly

All I am trying to do and to which end I am pulling hair out, is to simply print from my Mac to the Canon connected to the PC. I have the Canon set up as a shared printer under XP, changed the appropriate firewall settings on the PC, installed the Canon drivers on both the PC and Mac, and even created a user account on the PC that matches the account I have set up on my Mac. Still, it does not seem to work. On the Mac side, it seems to go through, but alas, nothing prints on the PC side of things.

I had originally tried setting up the printer through the Airport Express but persistently came up with driver problems despite the fact that according to the local Apple Store it should work with the Express. Everytime I tried connecting it to the Express it couldn't find suitable drivers. I got it working on the Mac, but the Express complained each and every time.

Okay, so two questions: What is the best solution to go after here? Figure out the Airport Express problem (keep in mind I need/want to be able to print from the PC as well), or figure out why the hell my Mac won't print to the PC? I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual and asking for help is a last resort for me and this, my friends, is my last resort. Does anybody have any suggestions or solutions to this?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by blueice03 

1 Canon MP600 connected to PC via USB

This is your culprit; a USB-connected printer. I jokingly tell people that there are three USB printers in the whole world that actually work on networks, two of 'em are broken and the third is out of ink. Really USB is a royal pain on networks. IF the vendor wrote a network-capable driver and IF the network supports everything the vendor assumed and IF the moon is in the right phase...it'll work. Most of the time the first item, a driver, is what's lacking. And worse, if there is a driver that works, it's probably only a Windows driver, so your Mac won't be able to access the printer over the network anyway. Yeah, I'm a bit of a sourpuss on this, but that's what I've seen.

It is not too big a deal most of the time to share a USB printer via a USB switch box, but of course that doesn't help when the networked computers you're trying to print from are in different rooms. Sorry for the bad news.

[blueice03]

I've got things working (finally!) through the Airport Express. I downloaded and installed Bonjour for WIndows (available through Apple), installed the printer drivers on the PC and did the same for the Mac. But before I reinstalled the printer drivers on the Mac, I deleted any previous mention of Canon drivers on my system including removing any references found in the /Library/Receipts folder. Also checked the /System folder for any extraneous files that might have been placed there as well. I also deleted any existing Printer queues set up in the Printer Setup Utility. Once I was sure I had purged my system of old or previous Canon software or references, I installed from the CD only the Printer drivers. Restarted my Mac, went into any application I could find, selected "Print" from app menu, and then viola! Suddenly, my printer was showing up properly under the "Bonjour Printers" list. Selected my printer and I am now printing wirelessly from both my Mac and PC. This has been a trip for sure, but I'm glad I finally have this working right.

[ghporter]

Wow. That's a lot of work, but it makes sense that cleaning up that debris from earlier drivers would help make the new one work better. I'm glad to hear that Canon actually makes a driver that works over networks!