Member Avatar for Suomi@heart

Hi,

Ever since I upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard, I cannot print in color. It will print but only in black and white. I use a Dell 5100cn color laser printer. I have contacted Dell and of course there is no known time frame for a release of a driver. I hate to dump it and buy a new printer since I still have 4 full toners left! Any suggestions? Thanks!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by fabio78

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Short summary and quick context: this is a common symptom after an OS X upgrade — the printer still prints, but the Mac is using a driver or filter that forces black‑and‑white output. Earlier replies from , and point toward driver/installation differences after the Snow Leopard upgrade; the underlying cause is often the OS choosing a different driver/filter or the manufacturer driver not matching the new OS. (macworld.com)

Practical troubleshooting (try in this order):

  • Reset the Mac printing system, then power the printer off/on and add it again. This clears bad queues and lets you start fresh. (support.apple.com)
  • Re‑add the printer using its network address (IP/Socket or IPP) rather than auto‑detected USB. Adding by IP often forces the system to present PostScript/PPD options that restore color printing. (dell.com)
  • When adding, explicitly pick a PostScript/PPD driver (or the printer vendor option) instead of a Generic or PCL driver that may be monochrome. Open the printer options (or the CUPS web UI at ) to confirm the default Color/Output setting is Color. (manualslib.com)

If you see “filter failed” or similar errors: many older vendor installs included PowerPC filter binaries that relied on Rosetta; those will break on an Intel‑only install unless Rosetta was installed or the supplier provided an Intel build. If a filter error appears, look for an updated Intel driver from the vendor or use a generic PostScript PPD as a fallback. (dell.com)

If the above doesn’t help: (a) check the printer front‑panel menus for an “Output Color / Color Mode” setting (some devices can default to mono), (b) get the latest Mac package or PPD from the printer vendor site, and (c) as a last resort try a compatible PostScript PPD from an open PPD archive. These steps fix the vast majority of color‑only problems after an OS upgrade. (dell.com)

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Member Avatar for kudresov

Apple reduced Snow Leopard size, so now you won't find the drivers in the standard installation, try install the driver from snow leo disk.

Member Avatar for fabio78

For Dell Printer Color Laser 5110cn try the A06CD.iso at the following link:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails?driverId=R274622&deviceId=CC795&fileId=2731115640

I tested it and it works fine with Lion; the Mac OsX recognizes the .dmg you need.

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