New iMac won't communicate with printer

[Vistan]

Just received my 2024 M4 iMac and having big trouble trying to get it to connect to my Brother laser printer. The iMac "sees" the printer, but attempting to print gets me a "stopped, "filter failed" message. I also can't get the iMac to communicate with the printer using AirPrint. The printer works fine with another older iMac. As you might guess, Apple says it's a Brother problem; Brother says it's an Apple problem.

 

[wayne905]

my Brother printer has had nothing but problems as well when I got my MacBook Air. It's still hit and miss when printing. Sometimes it works, sometimes I have to reboot the printer to get it to work. Very frustrating.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

If the printer supports AirPrint, that's your answer to avoid the back-and-forth finger pointing. Get AirPrint working.

If it doesn't support AirPrint, get a new printer

 

[wayne905]

I do have AirPrint working on my printer, and my Mac still has issues at times

 

[NoBoMac]

Would help to provide the Brother model information.

And: if you have an iPhone or iPad, does it accept a print from either or? If not, probably does not have AirPrint and looks like time to get a new printer.

Can also give this a go: https://gimp-print.sourceforge.io/MacOSX.php (I have no experience with it, but mentioned on the site when this type of thing crops up)

 

[wayne905]

Mine is Brother HL-L2390DW. My printer is only about 6 months old. I never had this problem with my previous MacBook Pro.

 

[chabig]

I have never had a problem with my Brother printer and any of my Macs. Did you know the printer has a web interface? This is important because it's how you update the printer's firmware (including AirPrint). You can get there through System Settings in a few ways.

System Settings > [your printer] > Options & Supplies > Show printer web page
System Settings > [your printer] > Printer queue, click on the little "i" in the top right corner > Show printer web page

The printer home page looks like this.



Go to the administrator tab and make sure your firmware is up to date.



Another step you might take is resetting your Mac's printing system. Here are Apple's instructions.

Reset the printing system on your Mac to solve a problem

You can reset the printing system on your Mac if you can’t print and no other troubleshooting technique solves the problem.

support.apple.com

 

[Vistan]

Resetting the printing system after putting Mac and printer on AirPrint worked!

Thanks all for your assist...

Vistan

 

[chabig]

I still recommend keeping the printer firmware updated.

 

[drrich2]

A long shot, but one thing that's affected my Brother all-in-one usage is what wireless network my Mac is on. In a nutshell, like many people I have a main wireless network and a guest network, and my Mac can use either one. I tend to set it for the main network, but sometimes for whatever reason it may switch over to the guest network.

Our AIO printer is on the main network. Only when the Mac is on the same network as the printer can it drive the printer to print. Well, either that or connect via USB cable.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

like many people I have a main wireless network and a guest network, and my Mac can use either one.

I've run into that, and simply Forgetting the guest network has cured it. There's no reason for "me" to need my guest network other than testing - so if you do connect to it, be sure to FORGET it (not just re-connect to the main network) so that it won't connect on its own.