[SOLVED] Printer suddenly stopped printing but scans no problem

[Neo]

Hi All,
As the title says, my printer suddenly stopped printing but scans no problem.

I tried rebooting, but no luck.
I tried installing it as a new printer and no joy.

It won't print anything from Open Office Writer or anything online, e-mails, etc.

The scanner works just fine though.

I am updating via Synaptic again right now and hope that there is something in the updates that will resolve this issue (there are some related to CUPS).

This is a strange one and I'll keep you posted if I have any success with the updates.

I welcome your thoughts.

[Neo]

I just finished updating via Synaptic and rebooted.
I tried to print something and again nothing happened.

Does anyone know how to resolve this issue?

[T6]

you gave us no information!

printer model, desktop you use

what repo are you using, if you  installed task-printer and everything related

if you tried reconfiguring printer

more info please

[Neo]

Sorry about not posting more info., I was right in the middle of a real crunch.

Here goes...
The printer is a Samsung SCX 4521F.
I now have two different drivers installed for it, one that came with PCLinuxOS 2010 (full updated) and the other from the manufacturer.
I have been using the one from the manufacturer as it works better.

Since this problem arose I tried reinstalling the PCLinuxOS driver (I had deleted it months ago since I only used the manufactures driver).

The printer is attached via USB.

This printer worked just fine a few days ago but today suddenly it stopped working.
When I attempt to print something it appears as if it has been sent to the printer but alas nothing happens - no error messages, nada.

As part of my trouble shooting, I decided to boot up into MEPIS and printed something.
It worked without a problem so I doubt that the issue is with the printer itself.

I'll try reinstalling the manufactures driver via the program Samsung supplied.

I'll keep you posted.

[Neo]

Will I tried reinstalling the Samsung driver but no joy.

I deleted the new printer driver and am working with the one that had worked fine until now.

Now I am getting an error message: "Unable to open device file "/dev/usb/lp0": Permission denied"

What the heck???

[Neo]

I've now tried reinstalling both drivers - Samsung's and PCLOS's.

All of them give me the permission denied error.

What the heck is going on here???

[BJF]

Have you checked the permissions of the denied file and are they set to allow User access?

[Neo]

Have you checked the permissions of the denied file and are they set to allow User access?

I can view it with Dolphin but cannot edit it as the only option under "Root Menu" is Delete.

Here is the Permissions information gleaned from the file:

Owner: Can read & write
Group: Can read & write
Others: Forbidden

User: root
Group: lp

[BJF]

Is it possible to rename /dev/usb/lp0 to /dev/usb/lp0.old via the command line and reinstall the printer to remedy whatever the permission issue is?

[Neo]

I stumbled across this thread and am wondering if it is related and if so could point the way to a solution:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,83677.0.html

[Old-Polack]

Have you checked the permissions of the denied file and are they set to allow User access?

I can view it with Dolphin but cannot edit it as the only option under "Root Menu" is Delete.

Here is the Permissions information gleaned from the file:

Owner: Can read & write
Group: Can read & write
Others: Forbidden

User: root
Group: lp

Add your user to the lp group.

[Neo]

Have you checked the permissions of the denied file and are they set to allow User access?

I can view it with Dolphin but cannot edit it as the only option under "Root Menu" is Delete.

Here is the Permissions information gleaned from the file:

Owner: Can read & write
Group: Can read & write
Others: Forbidden

User: root
Group: lp

Add your user to the lp group.

Thanks OP that's a great idea, I actually played with that very late last night with some success.
The problem I have now is the sudden disappearance of the "USB" directory/folder.
I have selected "view hidden files" in both Dolphin and Konqueror but it simply does not exist under the "Dev" directory/folder.

Honest, I couldn't make this stuff up.

[Old-Polack]

Thanks OP that's a great idea, I actually played with that very late last night with some success.
The problem I have now is the sudden disappearance of the "USB" directory/folder.
I have selected "view hidden files" in both Dolphin and Konqueror but it simply does not exist under the "Dev" directory/folder.

Honest, I couldn't make this stuff up.

Perhaps because it isn't needed, and your lp devices are now in /dev proper.

[root@littleboy ~]# ls -l /dev |grep lp
crw-rw----  1 root   lp          6,   0 Nov 29 16:29 lp0
crw-rw----  1 root   lp          6,   1 Nov 29 16:29 lp1
crw-rw----  1 root   lp          6,   2 Nov 29 16:29 lp2
crw-rw----  1 root   lp          6,   3 Nov 29 16:29 lp3
crw-rw----  1 root   lp         99,   0 Nov 29 22:30 parport0

[Neo]

Have you checked the permissions of the denied file and are they set to allow User access?

I can view it with Dolphin but cannot edit it as the only option under "Root Menu" is Delete.

Here is the Permissions information gleaned from the file:

Owner: Can read & write
Group: Can read & write
Others: Forbidden

User: root
Group: lp

Add your user to the lp group.

I just tried this but no joy.
I still get the "permission denied /dev/lp0" error.
On the bright side my brick wall now has a nice indentation matching my forehead...

[T6]

i like your philosophy, see the good on the bad