CUPS does not print to HP OfficeJet-G85

[Amir]

Binary package hint: cups

Package: CUPS
Ubuntu 10.04 (LTS) fresh install (not an upgrade)
My HP-OfficeJet-G85 is connected via USB. This is AMD64 machine and previously running 8.04 (LTS). With Hardy,
I had the same printer connected via USB and working fine with two printer names G85 (for local prints), G85-RAW for prints from the network machines (Windows XP, Max OS X and Fedora 12). Things just worked.

After the fresh install of 10.04, I see the printer defined and ready as OfficeJet-G85 and set as default. But nothing prints to the device and no errors from the local machine. I have not even tried to define the RAW printer for other clients' use yet. I need to get the local printing working first.

I tried all four device drivers (HP, CUPS+GutenPrint Simpler, CUPS+GutenPrint, Foomatic) and none has worked.
I can print to a PDF file.
I tried the printer from Firefox, command line lp <a text file> and via evince to print a PDF file. Nothing comes out of the printer and jobs appear to complete successfully. CUPS accepts a print a test page and it thinks it is done but still no pages being printed.

What do I need to do to help with re-mediating this unfortunate situation.
---
Architecture: amd64
CupsErrorLog:
 E [11/May/2010:07:57:29 -0500] [cups-driverd] Bad driver information file "/usr/share/cups/drv/sample.drv"!
 E [11/May/2010:08:07:18 -0500] Returning IPP client-error-document-format-not-supported for Print-Job (ipp://localhost/printers/OfficeJet_G85) from localhost
 E [11/May/2010:08:31:03 -0500] [cups-driverd] Bad driver information file "/usr/share/cups/drv/sample.drv"!
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
Lpstat: device for OfficeJet_G85: usb://HP/OfficeJet%20G85?serial=SGG14E32RFVL
MachineType: LENOVO 8702z
Package: cups 1.4.3-1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
Papersize: letter
PpdFiles: OfficeJet_G85: HP Officejet g85, hpcups 3.10.2
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=ee91e7b4-e44a-490f-aee9-a84f60551df9 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Tags: lucid
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
dmi.bios.date: 09/04/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 2SKG28A
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr2SKG28A:bd09/04/2007:svnLENOVO:pn8702z:pvrLENOVO3000:rvnLENOVO:rnTobefilledbyO.E.M.:rvrTobefilledbyO.E.M.:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: 8702z
dmi.product.version: LENOVO 3000
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Olli (patteh)]

Exactly the same symptoms here on an Acer Extensa 5220 notebook. G85 printer is attached via USB. I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 with updates. It worked before on Ubuntu 9. Printing on parallel Windows XP SP3 installtion is working fine. Where can I look at for more debugging information?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Can you supply an error_log as described in the "CUPS error_log" section of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems? Thanks.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Please apply also the proposed fix of bug 539708, as some of the drivers are affected by that bug.

[Olli (patteh)]

There were no errors in/var/log/cups/error_log but I applied the update as suggested (ghostscript-packages from proposed repository) and everything is working fine now.
Thanks.

[Amir (amirzod)]

Sorry, I was out of town. I'll get the info this evening. Meanwhile, I tried to print from Firefox (the Ubuntu Start Page for Lucid) and I check the cups error log and I noticed this error even though the job was reported completed and not pages printed:

E [07/May/2010:13:35:48 -0500] [cups-driverd] Bad driver information file "/usr/share/cups/drv/sample.drv"!

Would this be an issue?

[Amir (amirzod)]

apport information

[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

apport information

[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

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[Amir (amirzod)]

apport information

[Amir (amirzod)]

apport information

[Amir (amirzod)]

apport information appended.
additional attachment: (All text)
lpinfo-v.out contains "lpinfo -v" info
lsmod4usb.out contains "lsmod | fgrep usb" info
VarLogMessages.out contains "tail -f /var/log/messagers" info indicating printer disable and enable.

[Amir (amirzod)]

Now I'm confused.
I followed instructions in comment #3, added proposed repo and updated Ghostscript.
I installed "hplip-cups" package.
What should I use for "PPD". The printer config dialog proposes the following:
HP OfficeJet G85 hpijs, 3.10.2
HP OfficeJet G85 - CUPS + GutenPrint v5.2.5 Simplified
HP OfficeJet G85 - CUPS + GutenPrint v5.2.5
HP OfficeJet G85, hpcups 3.10.2 (Currently is used by my printer)
HP OfficeJet G85 Foomatic/cdj550

/usr/share/cups/drv contains the following:
hpcups.drv hpijs.drv sample.drv

But I get errors for sample.drv!
So do I have my printer configuration incorrect? how do I fix that? BTW, I don't have 'hp-ppd' installed, do I need that?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Amir, ignore the sample.drv error, it does not affect you.

Choose

HP OfficeJet G85, hpcups 3.10.2

as your PPD file.

There is no package named hp-ppd in Ubuntu. If there is one, please report a bug on it for it getting removed, as all the PPDs for HP printers are in the HPLIP packages.

[Amir (amirzod)]

This is what I see regarding hp-ppd. Which repo is it coming from, "universe"?
aptitude show hp-ppd

Package: hp-ppd
State: not installed
Version: 0.9ubuntu2
Priority: optional
Section: universe/utils
Maintainer: Ubuntu MOTU Developers <email address hidden>
Uncompressed Size: 401k
Suggests: linuxprinting.org-ppds
Description: HP Postscript Printer Definition (PPD) files
 Because PostScript is just a page description language, there is a need to
 provide a mechanism for a print spooler to customize the PostScript Job to the
 actual printer device.

 A PPD (PostScript Printer Definitions) specify the device specific PostScript
 commands needed to utilize printer features (such as printing quality, paper
 tray, duplex printing).

 This package contains some PPDs for HP printers that are not in package
 linuxprinting.org-ppds

[Amir (amirzod)]

Here is the cups error_log using hpcups.

[Amir (amirzod)]

I have noticed that with the kernel module "usblp" loaded, I see two URI for a single HP OfficeJet-G85,
one is "usb://HP/...." the second one is "hp://....". What is the difference?
I have switched between these two and there is no difference when it comes to printing, none is working.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Amir, the two URIs are for two CUPS backends, the usb:/... is for the generic USB backend coming with CUPS. Using this backend you cannot scan or check ink levels. The hp:/... URI is for the HPLIP CUPS backend which is part of HPLIP. This backend enables support for the full functionality of HP's printers and multi-function devices. So you have to generally prefer this one.

In your case the HPLIP backend is used and it does not succeed to communicate with your printer. You can try the usb:/... URI to try the other backend.

Please post also the output of

ls -l /dev/usb/lp* /dev/bus/usb/*/*
lsusb
lpinfo -v
cp-check -r

The problem is most probably an upstream problem of HPLIP, adding HPLIP upstream task ...

[Amir (amirzod)]

I don't know what "cp-check -r" is and can't find it. Here are the rest of components that you requested

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Sorry, it must be

hp-check -r

[Amir (amirzod)]

Here is 'hp-check -r'. Another question. I think I did add the repository for proposed fixes and updated / installed Ghostscript,
but how do I check if it is installed and from what repo?

[Amir (amirzod)]

last night I installed some additional software from hp* here is the list.
A "HP" icon appeared on the notify area. I printed this URL page:
http://start.ubuntu.com/10.04/Google/
and I got the following error:

Thu 13 May 2010 11:24:05 AM CDT
"/usr/lib/cups/filter/hpcups failed"
PAGE: 1 1prnt/backend/hp.c 768: ERROR: cannot open channel PRINT

Here is the list of hp* related packages on my system "dpkg-query -l 'hp*'"

[Eduard Wulff (mail-eduard-wulff)]

I can confirm this bug since 10.04

Printing a testpage from either hplib-gui or localhost:631 gives "Job completed" but nothing gets printed

Linux ewX200 2.6.32-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 28 13:28:05 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 03f0:2f24 Hewlett-Packard
hp:/usb/OfficeJet_G85?serial=SGE0710Q0KVL

from cups-log:
localhost - - [14/May/2010:13:44:28 +0200] "POST /jobs HTTP/1.1" 401 140 Cancel-Job successful-ok
localhost - - [14/May/2010:13:44:30 +0200] "POST /jobs HTTP/1.1" 200 139 Cancel-Job successful-ok
localhost - - [14/May/2010:13:44:42 +0200] "POST /printers/OfficeJet_G85 HTTP/1.1" 200 460 Print-Job successful-ok
localhost - - [14/May/2010:13:51:02 +0200] "POST /printers/OfficeJet_G85 HTTP/1.1" 200 384 Create-Job successful-ok
localhost - - [14/May/2010:13:51:02 +0200] "POST /printers/OfficeJet_G85 HTTP/1.1" 200 423134 Send-Document successful-ok

I also can not scan: failed to open device `hpaio:/usb/OfficeJet_G85...

I switched the printer on/off, cut power/reapplied

I unplugged the usb-cable and replugged (dmesg shows my actions)

could there be a communication error? - see attached syslog

the printer worked last with kubuntu 9.10

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

@ Eduard Wulff

I have the same problem, but you can try - after "unsuccessful" printing,- to switch off the G85 and switch on again. After that, my G85 is scanning again.

[Eduard Wulff (mail-eduard-wulff)]

Yeah! Flipping the switch - again - makes the device scan

It even tried to print - what came out resembles a testpage and I could print the subject of an email from KMail ...

The things changed: I installed the ubuntu5.1 version of Ghostscript 8.71 from lucid-updates.

So there is hope for 5.2 ;-)

Just in case I will replace my nearly empty black cartridge tomorrow.

[Amir (amirzod)]

@ tomlaunch,
Yep, turning off and then back on the printer did the job. After this with printer on, I can turn off and on my PC and restart it and still be able to print.

Wow, thanks for the tip. Now I have to figure out how to print to this device on my server from a Fedora-12 laptop and a Windows XP laptop and a Mac book :-(

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

@ Eduard Wulff

How can I obtain the ubuntu5.1 version of Ghostscript 8.71 from lucid-updates?
What must be added to apt/sources.list?

Thank you

[Eduard Wulff (mail-eduard-wulff)]

lucid-updates

my "catch all" entry in /etc/apt/sources.list:

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the distribution.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted universe multiverse

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Closing the bug as it seems that

1. the Ghostscript update fixes all rendering problems

2. power-cycling the printer fixes the hardware communication problems

Eduard Wulff, what do you expect from Ghostscript ...ubuntu5.2? Is there any problem with the page rendering? If so, please tell. Note that if you get white objects printed in yellow, that this is bug 578181, for which there is also a fix available.

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

Hello

I have to admit that I am with my g85 - after updating Ghostscript to ubuntu 5.1 - still not able to print anything.
What kind of driver is necessary to select to make the G85 printing?

Thank you very much

[Eduard Wulff (mail-eduard-wulff)]

I am finally able to print (@tomlaunch: hplip 3.19.2)!

My solution: I put my venerable G85 to pasture (the new ink cartridges did not work either - this seems to be a hardware problem) and replaced it with an Officejet Pro 8500.
Works now for all my PCs via Ethernet, printouts are better quality, device is faster and is hyped to be cheaper on ink.

@Till: I expect(ed) a recognizable test printout from HPLIP and no blurred color all over the paper

[Amir (amirzod)]

@tomlaunch
Check my posting on #32 which lists hp* software that I have installed
I have the latest Ghostscript too.
I'm using hpcups driver
From "hp icon" in the notifier area, I can see all the components of my printer. The trick that got it working was
after installing software and configure the OfficeJet_G85, I had to turn off the printer, wait for 10 seconds or so and then power it back up and it worked. This was suggested in #37 for getting scan to work but in #38 I reported that it worked for me to get the printer going.
Now it's good. Local printing to the device "OfficeJet_G85" works. Moreover I can print from other machines (Ubuntu laptop, Fedora 12 laptop, two Windows XP laptop). The catch on the remote machines was to use IP address instead of hostname for the printer location: [ipp, http]://x.x.x.x:631/printers/OfficeJet_G85

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

Thank you to all

Sometimes things look different.
I have the same files installed as shown in #32 but still no reaction from the printer. I have switched of the G85 and unplugged the power too for some time without any result.
Obviously the G85 is working with XP but not with my ubuntu 10.4

Any ideas what can I do?

Thank you

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

@ Eduard Wulff

Unplugging the power-line, then pressing "6" and "#" at the same time and then plug in the power-line ended up with my G85 in a complete reset. Even the language settings were gone.

Might help with your hardware issues.

Good luck

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

tomlaunch, did this "reset to factory defaults" fix your printing problem? Or are you still scan-only?

If you still cannot print, please supply your PPD file (in /etc/cups/ppd/) and the error_log as described in the "CUPS error_log" section of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems.

Post also the output of the commands

lsusb
ls -l /dev/bus/usb/*/* /dev/usb/lp*
lpinfo -v
hp-check -r

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

@ Till Kamppeter
Hello
Thank you for your help. I hope the following informations are the right ones and I picked up the right informations

The name of the file is OfficeJet_G85.ppd it is the hpcups 3.10.2

the http://127.0.0.1:631/admin/log/error_log is empty

lsusb gives me: Bus 005 Device 004: ID 03f0:0211 Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet G85

ls -l /dev/bus/usb/*/* /dev/usb/lp*
gives me
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 0 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/001/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 1 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/001/002
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 128 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/002/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 129 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/002/002
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 256 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/003/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 384 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/004/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 512 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/005/001
crw-rw-r--+ 1 root vboxusers 189, 515 2010-05-22 05:22 /dev/bus/usb/005/004
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 640 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/006/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 768 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/007/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root vboxusers 189, 896 2010-05-20 15:07 /dev/bus/usb/008/001
crw-rw---- 1 root lp 180, 0 2010-05-22 05:22 /dev/usb/lp0

lpinfo -v
direct hp
direct usb://HP/OfficeJet%20G85?serial=SGA02E5GXMVL
direct hpfax

hp-check -r:

OfficeJet_G85
-------------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/usb/OfficeJet_G85?serial=SGA02E5GXMVL
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/OfficeJet_G85.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet g85, hpcups 3.10.2
Printer status: Drucker „OfficeJet_G85“ ist inaktiv; aktiviert seit Sa 22 Mai 2010 05:25:1/usr/lib/cups/filter/hpcups failed
Communication status: Good

Checking for permissions of USB attached printers...

HP Device 0x211 at 005:004:
    Device URI: hp:/usb/OfficeJet_G85?serial=SGA02E5GXMVL
    Device node: /dev/bus/usb/005/004
    Mode: 0664

Thank you for your help

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

tomlaunch, it seems that your printing is broken by virtualbox (which uses the "vboxusers" group). The problem is that the device file /dev/bus/usb/005/004 of your printer must have "lp" as group ownership and not "vboxusers". This seems to be a bug of virtualbox overwriting ownerships of device files. Moving ...

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Sorry, the bug will not get moved to virtualbox, as it also describes other causes. Adding virtualbox task ...

[Felix Geyer (debfx)]

virtualbox-ose doesn't use/create the vboxusers group as the Open Source Edition doesn't support USB.
Please report this to virtualbox.org

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

Hello and thank you

First I have to explain that I am not using virtualbox-ose but virtualbox 3.0 from sun.
Virtualbox from sun does use the usb-port.
So there might be a connection between virtualbox and cups.

But I have to add that I am using a HP 930 via USB seamless without any problems.
Therefore I might be that there is a different reason for not printing with the G85.
Any Ideas what can I do

Thank you

[tomlaunch (101-166607)]

@ Thank you to all
The problem is fixed.
I have uninstalled the virtualbox 3.0 - restarted - an installed the virtualbox 3.2.
Now the G85 is printing and scanning again.