Printer Problems SOLVED

[dougmack]

I'm having trouble with my LaserJet.  First, the HP device manager doesn't recognize it.  (It recognizes my ink-jet printer.)  Then, it
sometimes prints, and mostly doesn't, even tho the activity light comes on, nothing further happens.  Then I look in Bash and get this
dialog:
[doug@dell ~]$ lpq -P Hewlett-Packard-HP-LaserJet-2200
Hewlett-Packard-HP-LaserJet-2200 is ready and printing
Rank    Owner   Job     File(s)                         Total Size
1st     doug    32      How to Set Up a Small Business  1990656 bytes
active  doug    38      The Linux Printing Usage HOWTO: 76800 bytes
[doug@dell ~]$ lprm 32
lprm: Job #32 is already canceled - can't cancel.
[doug@dell ~]$ lprm 38
[doug@dell ~]$ lpq -P Hewlett-Packard-HP-LaserJet-2200
Hewlett-Packard-HP-LaserJet-2200 is ready
Rank    Owner   Job     File(s)                         Total Size
1st     doug    32      How to Set Up a Small Business  1990656 bytes

The first item was cancelled, it says, but it still shows up.  The second is the file that this morning activated the light, but
won't print, even tho lpq says it's ready and printing.  Then I was successful in cancelling that. The LaserJet is connected to this laptop via usb; it has another input parallel port connected to a Windows computer, from where it works.  A similar arrangement worked some time ago--a Linux mahine in the parallel port, and the Win machine on usb. (It even worked in a network that I didn't consciously set up--
I could access it from the laptop without a printer connection, just the router!)


With the solution, both printers show up in HP Device Manager and both work normally.  Thans, guys!   --doug

[rubentje1991]

Check if the printers aren't disabled or paused (in PCLinuxOS Control Center)...
You can also open http://localhost:631/ to see the state of everything.

I have no experience with your hardware configuration - but removing and adding the printers again in PCC can't harm I think if you see no other way to solve the problem 

[alansecker]

The last suggestion presupposes that you have CUPS installed. If it turns out that you have not, go into synaptic and search for cups. Select cups and it should drag in the other items that it needs. If this does not include cups-pdf, I would add that as it is very useful.

Once that lot is installed, go to this hp supported site and download and install hplip.

http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/downloads.html

Then go to http://127.0.0.1:631 (which is the cups interface) and install your printer from there.

If that doesn't crack it, I don't know what will.

Oh! if you want to print pdfs using cups-pdf and want to know where they are after doing so, as root, edit /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf. Comment out the line starting with Out and replace it with the path to where you want to find your pdf files. Mine go to /home/<me>/Documents/pdf_files. You can create your own destination.

Best of Luck

[djohnston]

Then go to http://127.0.0.1:631 (which is the cups interface) and install your printer from there.

If that doesn't crack it, I don't know what will.

+1

[dougmack]

OK, I went to the Printer Control Center.  For the LaserJet, it said "Printer State: Idle - Printer busy; will retry in 5 seconds."
Then I went to Ink/Toner Levels.  It said "Marker levels are not reported for this printer."  In this window was a box "Refresh" and
when I snapped on that, a message came up: "Status Messages Printer 'Hewlett-Packard-HP-LaserJet-2200 may not be connected."
At this point, I removed all three (!) printers--the first was "CUPS Printer" and the other two were my real printers.
Cups is installed--all the boxes except one Minolta driver and the dev are checked.  I marked for reinstallation and applied that.
Now I went to http://127.0.0.1:631.  Chose to install printers. Got a box that asked for my user name and password.  I put in
my root user name and password, and got an answer: "Authorization required." And a message in the browser, "401 Unauthorized."
So I then went to the PCC Setup printer.  It showed both printers, so I installed the HP Deskjet, and printed a test page, OK.
Then I tried to install the LaserJet, but I could not make it appear (altho it had, originally).  When I selected "Other" it asked me for
a URI, whatever that is.  It seems that it is NOT "Hewlett-Packard-HP-LaserJet-2200" which is what the printer used to be called.
So how do I install the LJ?  (Both are connected to usb ports, if that matters.)
At this point, I decided to look at this:
[doug@dell ~]$ lpq
DeskJet is ready
Rank    Owner   Job     File(s)                         Total Size
1st     doug    41      (stdin)                         0 bytes
[doug@dell ~]$ lpstat -l
DeskJet-41              doug                 0   Fri 03 Feb 2012 01:33:47 PM EST
        Alerts: job-hold-until-specified
        queued for DeskJet
I don't know why there is a job-hold--there should be nothing pending on the printer.

Thank you for the quick answers you folks provided.
To say that I'm way over my head would be an understatement.  What now?

--doug

[smileeb]

If I'm not mistaken every time you send a job to a HP printer and it don't print it goes to that hold
condition and will not let any other print jobs be done. You have to go in there and clear them and
set the printer ready to print.

[dougmack]

[doug@dell ~]$ lprm 41
lprm: Job #41 is already aborted - can't cancel.

--doug

[smileeb]

HP device manager under printer control clear everything out then restart your printer and it should be
ready to print.

[dougmack]

Based on a previous printer problem that the Forum helped me with, I wound up installing the LaserJet from the command line,
*as superuser* which was the trick that worked.  (hp-setup)

But I think that the various answers here helped me put some of the problems to bed.  Now lpq shows just that the printers are
ready, and I just printed a 10-page pdf to the LaserJet, so I guess that it's working now.  It certainly wasn't when I started.
Thanx, everybody.

(I'll go back and mark this solved.)

--doug