Brother Printer printing too light after MacOSX upgrade

Glassfishy · #1 September 22nd, 2009, 10:46 PM

Steve
MacBook OSX 10.4.11

When I print to my Brother HL-4040CN laser printer from any program (Safari, Firefox, Word, InDesign) the entire page is faded and light. I thought something was wrong with the printer so I decided to mess with things and printed the test pages and Demo pages. They're beautiful. Color is great on the demo and no problems. So I contacted Brother and talked to their Mac guy and we deleted the Driver and made sure I had the latest and still it looked bad. I also remembered that I had just upgraded a myriad of things through software update on Saturday. I've included an image of what was upgraded.

The Brother guy said it sounded as if there was something wrong on the Software (Apple side) since the demo was printing great... Obviously if the actual printer is able to print ok on the demo then it's not the printer...

So then I decided to put a file on my flash drive (just a simple PDF with color boxes) and printed it directly from the flash drive through the usb port on the printer through direct print... And it prints great.... Vivid colors the way the demo file does... So that tells me there is a problem when I print from the printer through my programs. I'm connected to the computer via an ethernet cable.

Here's the rub... I haven't printed anything with lots of full color for a bit so I don't know if it happened on Saturday or previously... Just wondering what I need to look at to narrow it down... Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Steve

MisterMe · #2 September 22nd, 2009, 11:20 PM

Your headline is that your printer does not print correctly after a MacOS X upgrade, but you haven't given a hint at what may have been upgraded.

Glassfishy · #3 September 22nd, 2009, 11:21 PM

I attached an image of what was upgraded via the software update...

MisterMe · #4 September 23rd, 2009, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glassfishy

I attached an image of what was upgraded via the software update...

OK. None of those things have anything to do with your printer. What else is going on?

Glassfishy · #5 September 23rd, 2009, 10:42 AM

That's what I'm not sure of. I haven't changed anything except for apple's normal software updates. I moved the printer about a week ago and it is now sitting on the floor. But again, it is printing great files from the demo and from my flash drive in that position. So it has to be something that was changed on the computer. I don't recall changing anything.

MisterMe · #6 September 23rd, 2009, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glassfishy

That's what I'm not sure of. I haven't changed anything except for apple's normal software updates. I moved the printer about a week ago and it is now sitting on the floor. But again, it is printing great files from the demo and from my flash drive in that position. So it has to be something that was changed on the computer. I don't recall changing anything.

It would be one thing if you had updated your OS. However, you merely applied security updates to an old OS. The security updates are unrelated to printing. My guess is that somewhere along the line you changed setting in your File/Print dialog box and set your new settings as the default. Go back through your print and color quality settings to see what they are set to. If all else fails, then uninstall your current printer installation and redo.

Glassfishy · #7 September 23rd, 2009, 03:11 PM

Hey MisterMe... Thanks for replying. I have been through my print dialogues several time. I have presets set up for my printing that have not changed. i've tried all the settings. I've deleted all my printer PPDs while on the phone with the guy from Brother. I've reinstalled the printer drivers... Updated the Firmware on the printer and nothing has made a difference.

thelittlebird · #8 November 15th, 2009, 12:59 PM

I'm having the same problem - my iMac prints to the printer fine but my MacBook prints are lighter - almost like they're printing in some sort of ink conservation mode. But I am at a loss to figure out how to fix this! The MacBook is fairly new and all of the drivers are updated. I've gone through all of the print settings I can find and still can't get it to print correctly. Like the other user, printing is fine from another input, such as usb or my iMac. I'm having problems with multiple applications (excel & acrobat).