Troubleshooting Mac OS X 10.1.2: Today's Reports: F12 key follow-up; printer problems; card reader tip; more

The F12 key: a follow-up Regarding whether holding down the F12 key still causes the CD tray to eject (as covered yesterday), several readers found that it does still do this. However, you now have to hold down the key a bit longer in 10.1.2 than you did in 10.1.1. But on the Apple keyboard that has a separate Eject button, the F12 key apparently will not work no matter how long you hold it down. Overall, a good solution.

Lexmark printers not working? At least two readers are reporting a similar failure of Lexmark printers to work in OS X 10.1.2:

Lee Rand writes: "Lexmark Z53 and X83 printers will not print. I get a message that says the computer can't communicate with the printer. I added the printers to the Print Center as instructed. The files spool, then the message comes up saying the document can't be printed because the computer and printer aren't communicating."

Finne Fortuin similarly notes: "Since I upgraded both my iBook and iMac to Mac OS X 10.1.2, I can't print to my Lexmark Z33 USB inkjet printer anymore. The printer starts initializing, and then a crash log comes up from the print center. The Print Center does not crash, but it says the job could not be printed because of an error. This happens every time I print. Lexmark's driver is the most current one (2.0.6)."

Epson printer not working? Bruce Dillingham has a similar "connect" error problem when trying to print to his USB Epson 890. It worked prior to updating to OS X 10.1.2.

Update: These Epson problems may be solved by quitting Classic before trying to print. Jim Williams suggests: "Epson's pre-Mac OS X printing solution involves a faceless background application that runs all the time. I suspect that this, running in the Classic environment, is interfering with OS X's communication with the printer." We have previously reported this.

A similar problem may be behind the Lexmark problems; we are still checking into this.

ZiO! card reader: a follow-up Ed Dyer notes this potential solution to problems with card readers (such as the ZiO! SmartMedia card reader) and OS X 10.1.2, as spotted on Apple's Discussion Boards: Replace the version of "IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext" found in 10.1.2 with the version that from 10.1.1). This file is located in /System/Library/Extensions. Obviously, the easiest way to do this is if you save this file before updating to 10.1.2. A posting on xlr8yourmac provides a link to get this file, if you have already upgraded: Note: you will likely need root access to replace the newer file with the older one.

The tip worked for Ed, but not for Rich Cook (who also wrote us about this tip).

Nikon crash Dan Pouliot describes yet another digital camera problem in 10.1.2 (see previous coverage): "I have a Nikon Coolpix 990 and a TiBook is running 10.1.2. I have a SanDisk 64MB CF card and a Microtech PC Card CF adapter. I was excited to see 10.1.2 now supports PC cards, and sure enough, my card appears on the desktop and launches Image Capture when I pop in my card. However, now whenever I put my card back in my camera and try to erase the images, my camera crashes, and I have to remove the batteries to reboot it. The only way I can erase my card is to use the Reformat command in my camera."

Loss of sound after sleep: a follow-up Henry Nathan offers yet another solution to the loss of sound when waking from sleep (see previous item): "After installing 10.1.2 on an G4 867 with Benwin speakers attached, I have noticed that without fail, if the Mac goes to sleep, the sound will be muted after waking up. the only way to get the sound back is to select Sound from System preferences, then select Output and finally click on Built-in Audio Controller."

Update: Slightly jiggliing the sound level adjuster in the menu bar was sufficient to bring sound back for Rick Owen. However, based on other reader emails, this is not likely to be a universal solution.

Yesterday's items updated We also added some updates to yesterday's 10.1.2 coverage.