My prints are yellow!

Question

I'm not sure where to post this; seems as good a place as any.
Been on Windows for years (long story.)
My Sony P4 worked fine with my Canon Pixma iP6000d. I bought an iMac 20 Intel, specifically because I wanted to use Aperture. Prints on the Canon printer came out with a distinct yellow bias--yellow sky, etc. AppleCare thought it was the printer. I bought an HP Photosmart D7160 printer. It prints just as yellow. Normal prints with the Sony.
Either printer prints normally directly from Compact Flash--the same photograph. All software is up to date. I have re-installed OS X twice, first the way it kept my files and settings, the second time so that it wiped out everything and I had to start over. I re-installed Aperture, Adobe CS2 for Mac, etc, all under the direction of AppleCare, and updated them all. No change; it still prints yellow. Yes, I know about the sliders in the printer setup. Seven sliders, one hundred possible settings on each, for seven to the one hundredth power possible settings, I think. I have tried several hundred settings without finding a satisfactory combination to get a decent print. Cyan has to be set to plus 30 or 40 to get anywhere near the ballpark, for a start. And I have tried printing from Preview, Aperture, and Adobe CS2.
Local Apple Geniuses say this problem is well beyond their expertise. AppleCare says the local store will take it from here.
I'm trying to set up a test to use my files and printer on a store iMac 20, but so far they haven't been able to. They think I am going to just get a refund and go back to Windoze.

Answer 1

no matter what app i print from there is a yellow
cast. i didn't have any problems with my powerbook,
to be honest its really really getting on my nerves!
i bought the printer to be able to do decent photo
prints as i'm a freelance photographer and its
practically useless. even black and white prints are
yellowish!
Well, welcome to the club! I've used Photoshop for Windows--whatever the current version was--for years. The routine was to open the raw files, accept the automatic adjustments, save, and print. Since Mac is famed as a photographer's computer, I expected something similar. And Aperture sounded like a dream, since I do shoot digital photos in quantity.
And all my prints had a yellow cast. I tried three different printers, two HPs and one Canon. Yellow cast. I took my stuff into the local Apple store; they suggested I contact AppleCare. I did. I followed all their suggestions. I formatted and reinstalled OS X several times. I updated every program each time. Still yellow prints. I printed about four hundred prints trying various ideas. Still yellow prints. AppleCare gave up; said the problem would have to be solved locally. Local was convinced it was a software problem. They finally became convinced that I was doing something wrong in Aperture, and scheduled me for an hour one-on-one with their Aperture Genius. I had a hard time believing Aperture was the problem, as other programs printed yellow prints when Aperture had not been installed. Whatever. I had had the computer for three months and had not produced one acceptable photo so I was willing to try anything. They wanted to teach on their laptop; I insisted on using my Mac and printer, which we did. The Aperture Genius proceeded to produce a series of awful yellow prints, just like mine. At the end of the allotted hour, she gave up and summoned another Genius. This lady explained that the Mac can produce good prints, but you have to work for them. Turn off on-screen proofing, it will only confuse you. Edit each photo so that it is brilliant, "jumps off the page at you." Nothing like the scene you photographed, nothing like the print that is produced if you put the memory chip directly into the printer.
Then go into the print menu, to the color sliders, and experiment with various settings till you find one that makes your prints look better, and save it. This must be done for each type of photo you take. For landscapes, plus ten in yellow and magenta took away the awful yellow for my setup.
For flesh tones, plus six in yellow and plus five in magenta makes them look almost human.
She said that she had about twenty custom profiles in her Ma.
This is a far cry from what I expected from Mac. I cannot believe that every photographer has to go through this with each print, and that the prints for all of them look so much different from what is shown on the monitor. And, yes, mine is calibrated routinely with a SpyderPro 2.
Welcome to the wonderful world of photoprinting, Mac style.
There is nothing wrong with your printer, whatever it is.
iMac 20   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  
iMac 20   Mac OS X (10.4.8)