HP LaserJet Professional p1102w, hpcups 3.13.9, requires proprietary plugin

[David Oxland]

This printer has installed OK then after some use fails with the following message.
HP LaserJet Professional p1102w, hpcups 3.13.9, requires proprietary plugin
and
state
Stopped - Backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/hp does not exist!
 repeated attempts to reinstall have failed.
 Don't know where to go next
ubuntu 13.04
give trouble after updates.
 often fails and now will not reinstall at all.
There was an error during the CUPS operation: 'client-error-not-possible'

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: cups 1.7.0~rc1-0ubuntu5.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-17.31-generic 3.11.10.3
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-17-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: i386
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 33.816197] b44 ssb0:0 eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX
 [ 33.816431] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
 [ 233.140058] nouveau [ DRM] Calling LVDS script 6:
 [ 233.140071] nouveau [ DRM] 0xE146: Parsing digital output script table
Date: Tue Feb 25 21:35:51 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-02-16 (10 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release i386 (20121017.2)
Lpstat: device for HP_LaserJet_Professional_P1102w: hp:/usb/HP_LaserJet_Professional_P1102w?serial=000000000Q93422TPR1a
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 9300
MarkForUpload: True
Papersize: letter
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
PpdFiles: HP_LaserJet_Professional_P1102w: HP LaserJet Professional p1102w, hpcups 3.13.9, requires proprietary plugin
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-17-generic root=UUID=d84f067c-19fd-4c34-9442-f95d63e6d6b9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: cups
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2014-02-16 (9 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/21/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A04
dmi.board.name: 0C5668
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA04:bd06/21/2005:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron9300:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0C5668:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 9300
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
mtime.conffile..etc.apparmor.d.usr.sbin.cupsd: 2014-01-14T09:51:24
mtime.conffile..etc.cups.cups.files.conf: 2014-01-14T09:51:11
mtime.conffile..etc.cups.cupsd.conf: 2014-02-15T21:53:02.036751
mtime.conffile..etc.cups.cupsd.conf.default: 2014-01-14T09:51:11
mtime.conffile..etc.init.cups.conf: 2014-01-14T09:51:24

[David Oxland (doxland)]

Managed by accident to install this printer again and printed two jobs successfully.
 Computer shut down for the day and next day it was blocked by an error.
 Also showed that there were six other copies of the same printer.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Is the file /usr/lib/cups/backend/hp available on your system and executable? If not, run

sudo apt-get install --reinstall hplip

Otherwise, if you are not able to print again, follow the instructions of the section "CUPS error_log" on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems.

[David Oxland (doxland)]

Yes Thanks the problem was resolved. It just took a little more digging on the net . and did reinstall via HPlLIP found on the net. Result: HPLIP toolbox which contained "Install required plugin" and that got things rolling,ie called for a couple of more steps including reboot.
 Have not yet been able to make wireless available. USB is the only mode.
Just tested again before reply and after shutdown and restart.
I've been down this path before with this printer. It was one of the ones that masqueraded as a CD and had to use
#!/bin/bash

usb_modeswitch -v 0x03f0 -p 0x032a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n -2 474554202F6465762F666561747572655374617475732E786D6C20485454502F312E310D0A434F4E54454E542D4C454E4754483A20300D0A555345522D4147454E543A68702050726F78792F332E300D0A484F53543A6C6F63616C686F73743A333931300D0A0D0A -n -R

and then name the file 'hplip_usb_modeswitch.sh'

Subsequently, in the directory where the file is, just do in a terminal:

$ chmod +x hplip_usb_modeswitch.sh

to make the file executable. Now double-cliking on the file should do the job - you should have the option `Run in terminal' once you do so. Once you run it, you will need to disconnect the printer, turn it off, wait for 10 sec (power cycle), and turn it back on and connect, and it should be ready to roll!
to make it come alive
A tool I kept in reserve.
The tools available are not intuitive for me perhaps I'll remember now and trust HPLIP. after the masquerade problem I didn't trust HPLIP any more; It had gone completely out of favour with me and perhaps other folks as well.

Thank You Till Kamppeter!
Case/bug closed

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Can someone of the HPLIP developers at HP make these printers which appear as a CD driver by default work out-of-the-box with HPLIP, perhaps with adding the correct usb-modeswitch data files to the HPLIP package?