Canon MX870 Printer Always Busy on Precise 12.04 64-Bit

[Brian Knoll]

The Canon MX870 printer is connected via either wireless or wired ethernet. It worked fine in Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit if one followed workarounds available on various sites which basically involve downloading Canon drivers from Canon, forcing the architecture on the Canon drivers, then installing them.

In 12.04 this looks like it should no longer be required, since in 12.04 the MX870 is supposedly supported in Gutenprint and does show up in the list of supported printers in CUPS. It is possible to add the MX870 and, for example, set it as the default printer and query status. However, looking at the cups error_log reveals something very wrong:

W [13/Apr/2012:20:24:26 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:24:31 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:24:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:24:56 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:25:16 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:25:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:26:11 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:26:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:27:11 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:27:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:28:11 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:28:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:29:11 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:29:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:30:11 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:30:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:31:11 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.
W [13/Apr/2012:20:31:41 -0400] [Job 3] The printer is busy.

Further, printing to the device of course does not work, since the printer is never available. I have installed the ia32-multiarch libraries since I know that Canon only ships 32-bit drivers, but that did not help. I am very open to suggestions.

This is a fresh install of 12.04 64-bit. The mention above of forcing the drivers into 10.04 was for a previous install, but this is a completely fresh Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit installation.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: cups 1.5.2-9ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Apr 13 20:25:54 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120411)
Lpstat: device for mfc: socket://mfc.localnet:9100
MachineType: eMachines eMachines E525
Papersize: letter
PpdFiles: mfc: Canon PIXMA MX870 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.8-pre1
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=/dev/mapper/sda2_crypt ro nomodeset quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: cups
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/30/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: eMachines
dmi.bios.version: V3.03
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: eMachines E525
dmi.board.vendor: eMachines
dmi.board.version: V3.03
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: eMachines
dmi.chassis.version: V3.03
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvneMachines:bvrV3.03:bd11/30/2009:svneMachines:pneMachinesE525:pvrV3.03:rvneMachines:rneMachinesE525:rvrV3.03:cvneMachines:ct10:cvrV3.03:
dmi.product.name: eMachines E525
dmi.product.version: V3.03
dmi.sys.vendor: eMachines

[gilles (maboutoune)]

Please take a look to this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups/+bug/992468
If you think it could be the same, subscribe to it...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Brian Knoll (brianknoll)]

I am not sure this is the same bug as that mentioned in comment #2. For example, after finding that my Canon MX870 would not function under Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit, I purchased a cheap HP printer that uses the hplip driver, and that works fine. I would like to have this Canon function, however, so I am still searching for a solution to this problem.

Note that the Canon printer does not use the hplip driver mentioned in comment #2. To get it to work under Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit I had to force-install the drivers downloaded from the Canon site. Even that does not work now, however, primarily due to the standard library changes introduced since then.

[welefort (welefort)]

I have a similar issue, But I have a Lexmark s310 Networked using wireless.

Direct connection via USB no Issue. However when connected via wireless, I get the "Printer is busy" message . The only way I am able to resolve this is, shut the printer off. Remove from the system. Turn printer back on. and readd the printer to UBuntu.

Logs attached:

[welefort (welefort)]

sorry also Access Log.