Intermittent printing problem - device comm. error

[merrifie]

Binary package hint: cups

hp photosmart 7660 / ubuntu 9.05 / cups 1.3.9 / hplip 3.9.4b

Printing sometimes works even with consecutive jobs... Sometimes it won't work at all. The job is queued and status indicates 'processing' for a while and eventually says it's finish without any indication from the printer that any communication took place. The HP Device Manager shows "Device communication error" (5012) and the printer no longer appears in lsusb. The printer does not respond to the power button and has to be unplugged to reset. After plugging it back in and powering it up, the system recognizes the printer and is ready to attempt the whole process again.

See https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/70960

I've tried different usb ports. Printing works reliably from Win XP.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Lpstat: device for photosmart_7600: hp:/usb/photosmart_7600_series?serial=MY423330GHP7
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4600i
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: cups 1.3.9-17ubuntu3
Papersize: letter
PpdFiles: photosmart_7600: HP Photosmart 7600 Series hpijs, 3.9.4b
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=81c5bf3a-b6bd-46af-a0de-890c075c24dc ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-11.42-generic
SourcePackage: cups

[merrifie (merrifie)]

This could be related to "Printer (HWModel Name) May Not Be Connected" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hal-cups-utils/+bug/348316

I experienced the printing problems described in 348316 (and hplip/+question/70960 referenced above) while using 2.6.28-11 (the default boot option for Ubuntu 9.04). I happened to try 2.6.27-11 just to see what would happen. I no longer have printing problems with 2.6.27-11.

The discussion in 348316 wondered if this was a kernel regression. It seems like it to me.

The strange thing is that I have the latest version of hal-cups-utils which is supposed to include changes to resolve 348316...

[merrifie (merrifie)]

I experience the printing problems described above while using 2.6.28-11 (the initial default boot option for Ubuntu 9.04 and newer versions of the kernel). I happened to try 2.6.27-11 just to see what would happen. I DO NOT have printing problems with 2.6.27-11. However, this isn't a great option (as a long term solution) because this kernel version has other problems (can't mount external USB drive).

Is there anyway to sort this out?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Seems to be a kernel bug, moving ...

[merrifie (merrifie)]

Based on the comment by Mohd Syukor Abdul on 2009-06-14 in the hplip question "HP LaserJet 2420 won't print" (cf. https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hplip/+question/73423), I changed the device URI connection type for my printer from HPLIP to USB. It has printed from various applications without trouble for several days now!

Previously, I had to use kernel version 2.6.27-11 to resolve the printer problems described above.
I'm currently using the 2.6.28-15 kernel (latest with Jaunty) with the USB style connection device URI. I don't know what (if anything) I give up or gain by switching from the HPLIP URI to USB...

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi merrifie,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 382045

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[merrifie (merrifie)]

As far as my end user experience relative to this problem, little has changed. As you might expect, I have upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 (2.6.31-20-generic), hplip 3.9.8, cups 1.4.1. Until your comment on 2010-03-13, I had been printing without problems using the solution I described on 2009-09-08. Tonight I gave hplip and cups another try largely without success. It was back to the stalled print jobs, losing the printer in lsusb and having to power cycle the printer. As you can see from the hp-check log, I have two cups printer queues with different URI protocols. The first one works, the second does not.... I'd like to be using hplip but gave that up when I changed the URI to usb://... I wasn't able to resolve the pyqt4 or cupsddk-drivers issues...

[mutineer612 (mutineer612)]

AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 1: default [USB Sound Device ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices: **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: horstmann 3369 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'default'/'C-Media INC. USB Sound Device at usb-0000:00:1d.2-1, full speed'
   Mixer name : 'USB Mixer'
   Components : 'USB0d8c:0103'
   Controls : 3
   Simple ctrls : 2
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=9a4d9767-77bd-427d-ba49-a8991e207eb6
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: HP ProLiant ML310 G4
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux (not installed)
PciMultimedia:

ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=113da488-9756-40cc-a9fb-93403a9e7700 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.58-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-20-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.26
RfKill:

Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lp lpadmin plugdev sambashare
WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 04/06/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: HP
dmi.bios.version: W03
dmi.chassis.type: 2
dmi.chassis.vendor: HP
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHP:bvrW03:bd04/06/2007:svnHP:pnProLiantML310G4:pvr:cvnHP:ct2:cvr:
dmi.product.name: ProLiant ML310 G4
dmi.sys.vendor: HP

[mutineer612 (mutineer612)]

I just performed the same upgrade to kernel 2.6.31.20-generic and my hplj-1020 stopped working as described by merrifie. I ran the 'apport-collect -p linux 382045' command as requested by Jeremy. Hopefully the uploaded data will help expedite a fix.

Uploading additional information to Launchpad bug...
   short text data...
   attachment: AlsaDevices.txt...
   attachment: BootDmesg.gz...
   attachment: Card1.Amixer.values.txt...
   attachment: CurrentDmesg.txt...
   attachment: Lspci.txt...
   attachment: Lsusb.txt...
   attachment: ProcCpuinfo.txt...
   attachment: ProcInterrupts.txt...
   attachment: ProcModules.txt...
   attachment: UdevDb.txt...
   attachment: UdevLog.txt...
   attachment: WifiSyslog.gz...
   attachment: XsessionErrors.txt...

[merrifie (merrifie)]

Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 0: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Front]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: merrifie 5415 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Live'/'Dell Sound Blaster Live! at 0xdf20 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9708,11'
   Components : 'AC97a:83847608'
   Controls : 44
   Simple ctrls : 26
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=caac9a9b-365e-4753-ba2b-00e9e54225de
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4600i
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=81c5bf3a-b6bd-46af-a0de-890c075c24dc ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.58-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-20-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.26
RfKill:

Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout dip fax fuse lp lpadmin plugdev sambashare scanner tape
WifiSyslog:

WpaSupplicantLog:

XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:5447): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:5514): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:5494): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (nautilus:5587): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
dmi.bios.date: 02/20/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.bios.version: A09
dmi.board.name: 0F4491
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Computer Corp.
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellComputerCorporation:bvrA09:bd02/20/2004:svnDellComputerCorporation:pnDimension4600i:pvr:rvnDellComputerCorp.:rn0F4491:rvr:cvnDellComputerCorporation:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Dimension 4600i
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.