Member Avatar for WCStoll

I am a windows user. My husband has both a laptop and a desktop, both 10.3.8. The laptop has no problems. The desktop, after d/ling 10.3.8 update, told him he doesn't have permission/privilege/admin to do anything with HP Deskjet 940C printer. He has the most recent driver. Learned how to get in as root and found root is ok to print. My husband is the only user on the mac and is admin. He tried fixing permissions with tools and said permissions fixed - but no difference. He keeps getting messages saying the start up is almost full and he needs to remove stuff. He says there is almost nothing left in start up. He went back and re-downloaded update. Nothing makes a difference. I have no problem messing around in windows registry, but whatever mac calls their system stuff - neither of us is familiar. We need very detailed help - if anyone has any ideas ... Thanks

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Brief summary and immediate caution: the combination of a nearly‑full startup disk plus an update that changed how drivers or prefs are laid out is the likely culprit. Back up irreplaceable data before doing anything else — low free space increases the chance of corruption and makes troubleshooting harder. was right to flag the disk‑space risk; address that first.

Practical, ordered checks to isolate the problem:

  • Free several gigabytes (aim for at least 1–2 GB or roughly 5–10% of the drive) by moving large files to an external disk, emptying Trash, and deleting old installer DMGs or large media you can archive. Then reboot and retest printing.
  • Create a new admin user and try printing there. If the new admin can print, the issue is limited to the original account’s preferences/permissions; if not, it’s system‑wide.
  • Boot in Safe Mode (hold Shift at startup) to force cache rebuilds and a more conservative launch sequence; try printing after that.
  • Run Disk Utility (from the Utilities folder or the install CD) to Verify/Repair the volume and repair permissions. Check the system logs (Console) for printing or CUPS errors when you attempt to print — look for permission denied or driver load failures.

If those diagnostics point to a driver/permission problem (printing works as root but not as the admin), remove HP’s printer software cleanly using the vendor uninstaller (if one exists) and reinstall a known good driver — sometimes the Apple-supplied or an older HP driver is more stable on 10.3.x. As a last resort, restore from a pre‑update backup or reinstall/roll back the system; that’s often the fastest fix when an update breaks device drivers. Keep a bootable clone or recent backup to make rollbacks painless.

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Member Avatar for yellow

Have you tried removing and readding the printer from the list in the Print Center?

Member Avatar for WCStoll

Have you tried removing and readding the printer from the list in the Print Center?

Yes, many times, we have added and removed the printer. We have deleted the printer .plist as well.

Member Avatar for yellow

We have deleted the printer .plist as well.

Which one?

The printer information is stored in /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist, it is invisible in the Finder.

Please note, many (many many many) other things are stored here as well, so I don't lightly recommend removing the file.

Member Avatar for WCStoll

Apple discussions told someone else who had problems to delete .plist and I am not sure but think it was .plistpreferences or some such similarly named and think it was in printer folder.

Starting from the HD and going thru folders and files... /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist does not exist on this mac
Is it invisible when looking this way?

BTW ... It is not JUST a printer problem here... also is OS X 10.3.8 administer , hp deskjet 940C, and startup disk issues ... dunno if they are all related or each problem by coincidence.

Member Avatar for yellow

You should NOT (I repeat, NOT) operate the Mac OS when it's warning you that you're running out of disk space. You risk data corruption and the OS behaves very strangely. This could easily account for the problems you're having. Tell your husband to remove or back up unneeded data ASAP.

If that doesn't fix your problem:

Yes the file is invisible to the Finder, so you cannot see it that way. You need to use the terminal to remove/rename it.

Open /Applications/Utilites/Terminal, (I put this in code tags because it's a longish line) type:

sudo mv /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist /Library/Preferences/GlobalPreferences.plist.BAK

Now enter your admin password when prompted. This will rename the file. Now restart the computer and see if the print issue is fixed.

Member Avatar for WCStoll

Problem was solved by rolling back to a previous version and archiving.

And this problem did not happen with Tiger.

Thanks.

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