hplip in Ubuntu 12.04 beta 2, HP color laserjet 3600 prints wrong colors

[Leo]

After installation of HPLIP and configuring network printer HP Color LaserJet 3600 printer the color does not print correctly. Changing printout mode would not have any effect. Tried in 2 different printers with same result. Color palette in test page is also wrong.

Ubuntu 12.04 beta 2
HPLIP v 3.12.2

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Leo, do you have HP's plugin installed? Can you also try the hpcups driver for your printer?

Can someone at HP look into this? The driver used here is the HPIJS driver for the HP Color Laserjet 3600.

[Leo (leopoldo-pena)]

Hi Till,

yes i have the HP's plugin installed...does not make a difference at this point. Text and shapes print OK, but colors are totally wrong.
I did try with the hpcups driver using the 3 different connection options offered while installing the driver:
-HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP)
-AppSocket/JetDirect network printer via DNS-SD
-LPD network printer via DNS-SD

None of them work. In this case Text and shapes are not printer either, only a white page with an error message:

PCL XL error

Subsystem: KERNEL
Error: IllegalTag
Operator: 0x45
Position: 7

This would remind me not to install beta products on production machines :/

any ideas?

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Hi Leo,

If its not much of a trouble for you. Can you install hplip-3.12.2 package from its source. We have provided the steps to follow at http://localhost/web_html/install/manual/distros/ubuntu.html.

After the install please delete the print queues for this printer in "system-config-printer" and setup the printer using command "hp-setup -g" and post its output here.

If the issue is still the same we would request to provide us some log files to analyse this issue. Follow the below steps to get us the log files

1.Open the file /etc/cups/cupsd.conf in write permissions.
$sudo gedit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
 Change "LogLevel warn" to "LogLevel debug" and below that line add "hpLogLevel 15".

2. Restart the cups
$sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart

3. Empty the syslog file and error_log file.

$ sudo cat /dev/null > /var/log/syslog
$ sudo cat /dev/null > /var/log/cups/error_log

4. Print a test page.

5. Capture the syslog and error_log files

$ sudo cat /var/log/messages > ~/Desktop/syslog.txt
$ sudo cat /var/log/cups/error_log > ~/Desktop/error_log.txt

Attach the files syslog.txt and error_log.txt

6. In /tmp folder you will find files with name starting with hpcups like, hpcupsfilterc_1.bmp, hpcupsfilterk_1. bmp, hpcups_jobX.out.

Please attach these files too.

Regards,
Goutam Kodu

[Leo (leopoldo-pena)]

I have installed hplip-3.12.2 package from its source.
Here is the output from "hp-setup -g":
Copyright (c) 2001-9 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

hp-setup[2693]: debug: param=
hp-setup[2693]: debug: selected_device_name=None
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Sys.argv=['/usr/bin/hp-setup', '-g'] printer_name=None param= jd_port=1 device_uri=None remove=False
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Starting GUI loop...
Searching... (bus=net, timeout=5, ttl=4, search=(None) desc=0, method=mdns)
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Probing bus: net
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Outgoing: (44)
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0000: 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 0f 5f 70 64 ............._pd
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0010: 6c 2d 64 61 74 61 73 74 72 65 61 6d 04 5f 74 63 l-datastream._tc
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0020: 70 05 6c 6f 63 61 6c 00 00 0c 00 01 p.local.....
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Incoming: (312)
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0000: 00 00 84 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 03 0f 5f 70 64 ............._pd
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0010: 6c 2d 64 61 74 61 73 74 72 65 61 6d 04 5f 74 63 l-datastream._tc
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0020: 70 05 6c 6f 63 61 6c 00 00 0c 00 01 c0 0c 00 0c p.local.........
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0030: 00 01 00 00 00 0a 00 23 20 50 68 6f 74 6f 73 6d .......# Photosm
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0040: 61 72 74 20 43 37 32 30 30 20 73 65 72 69 65 73 art C7200 series
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0050: 20 5b 42 42 31 37 38 39 5d c0 0c c0 38 00 21 00 [BB1789]...8.!.
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0060: 01 00 00 00 0a 00 16 00 00 00 00 23 8c 0d 4b 69 ...........#..Ki
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0070: 6c 72 6f 79 77 61 73 68 65 72 65 c0 21 c0 38 00 lroywashere.!.8.
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0080: 10 00 01 00 00 00 0a 00 9f 09 74 78 74 76 65 72 ..........txtver
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0090: 73 3d 31 08 71 74 6f 74 61 6c 3d 31 1a 70 64 6c s=1.qtotal=1.pdl
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 00a0: 3d 61 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 69 6f 6e 2f 76 6e 64 =application/vnd
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 00b0: 2e 68 70 2d 50 43 4c 1a 74 79 3d 50 68 6f 74 6f .hp-PCL.ty=Photo
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 00c0: 73 6d 61 72 74 20 43 37 32 30 30 20 73 65 72 69 smart C7200 seri
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 00d0: 65 73 24 70 72 6f 64 75 63 74 3d 28 48 50 20 50 es$product=(HP P
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 00e0: 68 6f 74 6f 73 6d 61 72 74 20 43 37 32 30 30 20 hotosmart C7200
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 00f0: 73 65 72 69 65 73 29 0b 70 72 69 6f 72 69 74 79 series).priority
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0100: 3d 33 30 24 61 64 6d 69 6e 75 72 6c 3d 68 74 74 =30$adminurl=htt
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0110: 70 3a 2f 2f 4b 69 6c 72 6f 79 77 61 73 68 65 72 p://Kilroywasher
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0120: 65 2e 6c 6f 63 61 6c 2e c0 6d 00 01 00 01 00 00 e.local..m......
hp-setup[2693]: debug: 0130: 00 0a 00 04 81 ec 28 7d ......(}
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Response: ID=0 FLAGS=0x8400 Q=1 A=1 AUTH=0 ADD=3
hp-setup[2693]: debug: Q: _pdl-datastream._tcp.local. TYPE=12 CLASS=1
hp-setup[2693]: debug: PTR: Photosmart C7200 series [BB1789]._pdl-datastream._tcp.local.
hp-setu...

[Leo (leopoldo-pena)]

Forgot the attachments

[Leo (leopoldo-pena)]

and another one

[Leo (leopoldo-pena)]

On a side note, I successfully installed and tested an HP Photosmart D110 printer through wireless connection last night using hplip 3.12.2. I believe the issue only affects laser printers maybe?

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Thanks for the logs

You are using the hpijs drivers again which has certain issues with it and it is getting deprecated.
Recommend you to use hpcups drivers.

Please launch the terminal and go to the directory hplip-3.12.2 (source folder) and run configuration

./configure - -prefix=/usr - -libdir=/usr/lib

This will configure and enable hpcups install. Next run

make ; sudo make install

Post us the output of "hp-check -t" command to check if it has configured hpcups correctly.

Remove the existing print queues for this printer from "system-config-printer" and run command "hp-setup -g" and make sure it picks hp-color_laserjet_3600.ppd PPD file.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

On a standard installation of Ubuntu hpcups is installed and system-config-printer prefers it against hpijs. In addition I have this printer on an Oneiric print server and it works perfectly, with the automatic setup of Ubuntu.

Therefore I close the Ubuntu package task ...

[Michael Ireland (irelands-the)]

Just a heads up. (I am unsure if this deserves a separate new bug report). Last night I updated from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04 LTS. I have the same issue as the original poster. Just to reiterate:

1. This printer (The HP Laserjet 3600n) was working normally in Ubuntu 11.10, although I don't remember which driver it had chosen.

2. Upon update to 12.04, all print jobs would print 2 pages. The first was empty, the second contained this error in the upper left:

PCL XL error

Subsystem: KERNEL
Error: IllegalTag
Operator: 0x45
Position: 7

3. Upon checking the driver (Right-click the printer, select properties, click Make and Model), it recommended to use the "pxljr" variety under HP Laserjet 3600.

4. Upon selecting one of the other options (either "hplip" or "hpcups") under either the "3600" or "3600n" variety, the colour is always incorrect, including the test page. Specifically:

The "C" is printed in pink; the "M" is printed in brown; the "R" is printed in green; the 4th color circle (bottom right) is a pale blue outline of a circle with no contents; the "K" is black; the "B" is a different black with a bluish tint; and the final test mark is a series of 4 10% pie-pieces ranging from dark gray to medium-light gray.

Printing an image that displays in medium blues on my screen comes out red/pink/purple/white.

Please advise as to whether I should report a new bug. I am not well-versed in bug reporting.

[Eli Mitrani (eli-mit-g)]

Hi,
I too updated last night from 11.10 to 12.04 LTS (X64) and my HP ColorLaserJet 3550 displays the exatct same symptoms described by #11.
I tried configuring as suggested by goutam in #9, it fixed the warning when running "hp-check -t" but the colors still print wrong.
Please advise... thank you.

[Leo (leopoldo-pena)]

Hi all,
i solved the issue by selecting manually the PPD file during the installation of the driver. By default it selects the hpijs, which is deprecated. When prompted with the PPD file to use you have to navigate to the hplip driver folder and select the right PPD file (hp-color_laserjet_3600.ppd).

After that, maker sure that printing quality is always set at BEST. I know, a waste of toner, but otherwise will not work. Hope this makes sense and that it gets fixed in future hplip versions. Not acceptable to get a deprecated PPD file as default selection.

[Andreas Korth (andreaskorth)]

Hiho,

I can confirm #13 regarding to the quality-settings. By using the testpage-function of CUPSthe colors appear as follows:
cyan -> pink (like magenta but lighter and/or with less saturation)
magenta → brown
yellow → white
black → black
red → green (only a little bit lighter than the correct green)
green → only the thin bounding circle (but in cyan)
blue → dark blue, near to dark purple
the circle with 10 grayscale pieces → only a half circle with 5 gray pieces (the lightest one is lighter than the lightest one of the correct circle and the bounding circle is also missing)

I have also tested the normal quality option with the “hp-color_laserjet_3600.ppd” file of the hplip-3.12.4.tar.gz from the hplip project on sourceforge.net by using CUPS-function to specify a ppd file manually (thus, still using hplip 3.12.2 of the ubuntu 12.04 packages). This leads to the same behaviour (normal quality provides a faulty result, best quality provides a good result).

I also printed the test page as a pdf and compared an Ubuntu-best-Printout with a Windows-standard-Printout and could not see any differences in saturation excepting a tiny little bit darker black-level on the ubuntu-printout. For this reason I think that there won’t be a big waste of toner by using best quality setting.

[Andreas Korth (andreaskorth)]

Sorry, I recognised the duplicate status too late ;)