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After updating to Big Sur, one of my three Mac Minis doen't recognize my HP6980 LAN-printer (neither on WiFi nor ethernet). It thinks it is a PCL-laser printer. Duplex recognized but it only prints black/white (status color cartridges not shown). The other 2 Mac Minis have no issues. How do I try to fix this?

Edit 20 dec 2020: The Mac giving the issue has a driver version 2.3 The Macs without issues have driver version 4.0.5. Even after "forcing" BS to choose the correct deskjet instead of the PCL-laser the wrong driver persists.

nohillside
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JayBee
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    Try turning on printer sharing on a Mac that does recognize the printer. Next, try accessing the shared printer from the Mac that did not recognize the printer. – David Anderson Dec 18 '20 at 19:24
  • @David, tnx for the suggestion. It is a great workaround. The Mac mini in question still doesn't recognize the printer, but it prints correctly through the other Mac. Caveat: the other Mac has to be turned on. Seems to be a local flaw for this Mac. – JayBee Dec 18 '20 at 19:53
  • Found a workable solution. 1 of my 3 Mac's is always on (music, video and more streaming). Using this one also as a "printer-server". Problem not solved but skipped. Works just as well for me. – JayBee Dec 18 '20 at 20:03
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    With my Macs, once working though sharing, I can turn sharing off and the Mac will now work directly with the printer. You man have to manually add the printer for this to work. In any case, if you found a solution, then you should post your own answer. Later you can return and accept your own answer. If someone else knows a better answer, then they can still post their answer. If you wish, you can change which answer is accepted. – David Anderson Dec 19 '20 at 00:11
  • See if the HP has an update. HP had a lot of certificate troubles earlier in the year, requiring Apple to fudge some certificates to work again & HP to have to update a lot of their Apple software & printer firmware too. My Apple drivers were updated a month or so ago, but the printer's onboard firmware (which I have set to auto-update) only arrived this week. If you login to your HP "home" page you'll see the announcements. – Tetsujin Dec 20 '20 at 12:48
  • First tnx for the reactions. I've found a different driver on the Mac mini with the printer-problem. HP update didn't work (Big Sur has issue, developer has to update). Trying to manually replace/update driver (maybe thru the terminal). Have to find out where drivers can be found in the system. Until then using printer share (tnx @David Anderson). Will be back when issue resolved but it isn't a showstopper (anymore) because I seldom print. Tnx guys, appreciate the help and directions. – JayBee Dec 22 '20 at 19:06
  • At the very least, you should be able to print to it using a "Generic PostScript" PPD. – benwiggy May 22 '21 at 09:07
  • @benwigggy The issue was a bit more complicated. My inktcartridges also had to be replaced inspite the status shown. I have 2 options now. Print using the ACL printer or print using the shared printer on a different Mac. Works fine now. Modern Apple with classic HP, who would have thought that haha. Tnx for the suggestion, Learned some new things again. – JayBee May 23 '21 at 18:08

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We have had luck connecting a HP printer to the mac with USB, adding it to a local print queue and then letting software update install the drivers. The drivers are mostly monolithic so any update to any HP generally gets them all updated in one shot.

In the past, they had used a certificate to sign their helper app and when it was revoked, many chose to go get the driver and install it but I haven’t needed that procedure since a month after that event.

bmike
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