I suspected that maybe there was a problem with keeping my old Photoshop CS on the computer as some sort of backup – I used to print with CS and CS2 using the Pixma, and got no such error. (And I’m the sort of person who just likes to keep things.) But the interfaces were all a little different, and so I decided it was best to stick with the latest. Anyway, I got rid of the old CS – though first I did a test, and it also gave me error 88! – but that didn’t help matters either. (Strange, if CS5 creates a problem, that CS should do the same.)

I also tried what you suggested about reinstalling the driver (first getting rid of the BJPrinters folder and the BJExtDDI.cfm file, as I’ve found out elsewhere how to do), but that hasn’t helped me. Before doing any of this, I also got rid of my presets in the Print Dialog (20-25 of them), incase there was something buggy in there, but neither did this help.

In all cases the different Canon drivers used – the 10.51.2.0 or the 10.26.00 – did not seem to affect things. Sorry if all this is a little inconclusive.

My next step is to reinstall CS5, which I don’t feel up to myself (though for most people it’s probably a joke), and have a techy friend do it for me. But I am still mystified by all this, and wish it were still practical to make BW prints in the darkroom in trays the way I used to. (Then I didn’t depend on anyone else’s expertise just to work.)

The only other thing I wish to say is how frustrated I’ve been (like many other people, it seems) with the Canon Support Center in the course of all this. Communicating by email, I got mostly inattentive answers from people who didn’t seem to have read my messages well, and who gave me mainly very unhelpful suggestions – it seemed they didn’t have the foggiest notion of the answer to the error 88 problem, but were unwilling to admit it. I persisted in my questioning – I’m sure I was a nuisance for them – and three times I was “promoted” to the next level of support. (It started to seem a bit like Dungeons and Dragons.) At last I was put in touch with a well-informed person who spoke to me at some length by phone, two or three times, while I carried out the tests he suggested (or while I reported back to him about the tests I’d done). It was only through his help that I arrived at my present, only moderately confused state. It’s true (apparently) that at the end it’s not a problem of the Canon driver, as I suspected (because the error was manifested there, not in Photoshop). But I’ve noticed the Support people are very quick to wash Canon’s hands of anything to do with a problem if they can. But these days, integration between programs is more crucial than ever, and Canon ought to know as well as anyone what the possible problems are, and be ready to share the information with Canon users.

It’s not the first time I’ve had to practically get apoplectic in my emails to get any serious attention from Canon Consumer Support. And it’s a shame, because I like the Pixma very much. If I hear about another pigment inkjet printer, I’ll give it serious consideration.

(Furthermore – though most of the following options probably have nothing to do with the problem, and are probably the correct or allowable settings anyway – I’m using Canon Color Matching; Media Type: “Fine Art Museum Etching”; Paper Source: Front Tray; Print Quality: High; and am printing in color, not grayscale. Color Options are all left set at zero.)

I’m printing from Photoshop CS5 Extended, Version 12.0 x64, using an iMac with MacOSX10.6.8. The Canon Printer Driver is “Pro9500 Driver – CUPS Version 10.51.2.0”, recently installed (or re-installed) just the other day when I was trying to deal with this problem (I didn’t check the CUPS version before reinstalling the driver, so I don’t know if this could be relevant).

(I also attempted to print by setting, in Paper Handling, “Scale to fit paper size”, with Destination Paper Size set also to the suggested Art A3+ (Margin 35), although I never had to do this in the past, and so I don’t suppose it matters. Still, this did not help.)

I had the same problem attempting to print on an A4 art paper, as one is supposed to do, using front loading and the paper size set to Art A4 (Margin 35), with Media Type set to “Fine Art Premium Matte” (it was a matte art paper). No go; I got error 88. I was able to print on the same sheet by setting “Matte Photo Paper” (while still using Front Loading), but this is not the media type one should use for such a paper.

In the past few years I have printed 8-bit files, in both AdobeRGB and sRGB, on A4 and A3Plus art papers, in both color and grayscale, always using the art margin settings, without any such difficulties. Typically I use Color Management by Printer, or “Canon Color Matching” (though I experimented with the use of dedicated paper profiles and Color Management by Photoshop). Lately I’m trying to print 16-bit files, generally Photoshop PSD or TIFF, with a document profiles of sRGB, AdobeRGB, or ProPhotoRGB. Of course I tried several times to print from an 8-bit file, and once using Color Management by Photoshop, but got error 88 just the same.

Does anyone know how to resolve this problem?

[1 - Update to Photoshop 12.0.4.
2 - Delete printer & reinstall with drivers downloaded from Canon. 10.51.2.0 looks like the most recent version, but if you had a previous version installed, deleting the printer first will get rid of any old preferences that might be screwing things up.
3 - If that doesn't work, contact Canon. The Error 88 is one of their errors, so there's not much more help we can offer. --J.]

Thanks,
Amanda