Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw cannot print colors

[Jarl]

Ubuntu version: 18.10
HPLIP version 3.18.7

I just bought a Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw because HP supports printing from Linux.

The installation was simple, quick and very easy.

Printing a test page from the printer itself shows a beautiful image of a colorul ballon.
However printing a test page from HPLIP only prints a grayscale test page where it usually prints a color test page.

Further information: In the graphical HPLIP configuration tool (HP Device manager) in the Print Settings tab under the General section I can see a Output Mode drop-down box, but the drop-down box only has one option; "Grayscale".

I cannot run hp-doctor due to this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hplip/+bug/1759278

This has now also been reported on https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Software-and-Drivers/HP-Color-LaserJet-Pro-MFP-M280nw-cannot-print-colors-using/m-p/6983569/highlight/true#M153283

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Open localhost:631 in a browser. Navigate:

  Printers->your printer entry->Administration->Set Default Options

Check the Color settings.

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

I enter Printer->HP_ColorLaserJet_MFP_M278-M281->Administration->Set Default Options

There is no color settings. Only these:

Media Size: 
Media Type: 
Media Source: 
EconoMode:
Print Quality: 

[brian_p (claremont102)]

You should have a PPD in /etc/cups/ppd. Please post what you get for

grep "*NickName" /etc/cups/ppd/<PPD>.

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

Here you are:

$ sudo grep "*NickName" /etc/cups/ppd/HP_ColorLaserJet_MFP_M278-M281.ppd
*NickName: "HP LaserJet MFP m28-m31, hpcups 3.18.7"

[brian_p (claremont102)]

> "HP LaserJet MFP m28-m31, hpcups 3.18.7"

Look closely. You are using the wrong PPD.

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

OK. Thanks for the observation.

Your observation is just a step into why "HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw cannot print colors" and the explanation is "HPLIP installs the wrong PPD file for HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw"

So sticking to 5 whys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys
The next step towards solving this bug would be to ask "Why does HPLIP install/select the wrong PPD file for HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw during printer installation?" because I just followed the installation wizard with default recommendations.

Under the assumption that you want HPLIP to pick the right PPD file during installation, I ask is there anything I can do to help you find the reason for why it picks the wrong PPD file?

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Note: I am only a user like you and not directly associated with the development of HPLIP. Furthermore, I do not possess the device to test with and am not familiar with whatever the "installation wizard" is. However, help is avilable to set up the printer if you wish to have it.

Of course, this is possibly a bug in the HPLIP software. I'd delete the queue and repeat what you did before and also use the 'hplip -i' command in a terminal.

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

@brian_p: I am sorry, I somehow had the impression that you were a developer of HPLIP. Sorry, my bad. Thank you for the clarification.

Thanks for isolating/identifying the problem closer than I had initially. I will follow your advice and remove the printer and try to install it again, and see if I am given any choices along the way. Thank you for the help so far.

How are you so sure that the PPD is the wrong one? Do you know which PPD is the correct PPD? and how I can verify this?

[brian_p (claremont102)]

I am sure because

1. You cannot print in colour.
2. *Nickname says the PPD you have is for a m28-m31 not a M278-M281.

Execute the command

lpinfo -m | grep -i m278

This is the correct PPD. Are you connecting the printer by USB?

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

Well

Ad 1) It could also be that the PPD file is the right one (the one which is inteded for my printer) and that the content of the PPD is buggy, maybe a single property is wrong.

Ad 2) My printer model is Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw as stated in bug header and I would guess m28-m31 would cover mode numbers starting with M28 which "M280nw" does. So from that point of view it doesn't look like the wrong PPD to me.

$ lpinfo -m | grep -i m278

gives nothing

I connect via USB.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Please provide the output of

dpkg -l printer-driver-postscript-hp

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

$ LANG=C dpkg -l printer-driver-postscript-hp
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-=====================-===============-===============-================================================
ii printer-driver-postsc 3.18.7+dfsg1-2u amd64 HP Printers PostScript Descriptions

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Now the output of

/usr/lib/cups/driver/postscript-hp list | wc -l

--
Brian.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

I am now lost. My expectation in response to my question was to get the number of PPDs provided by the package. "description: updated" isn't useful and doesn't move us on.

--
Brian.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

The first post in this thread has a link to h30434.www3.hp.com. Quoting from it:

 > I have called the danish HP customer support (case number
 > 5026253440) and described the problem. Their reaction is
 > that HPLIP is not supported.

Strangly enough, HPLIP *is* supported here (very often successfully). As it happens, the OP's issue has nothing to do with HPLIP but with Ubuntu. He could have had colour printing on his machine working a couple of hours ago.

--
Brian.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

Running (without the printer connected, but doesn't matter, right?)
$ /usr/lib/cups/driver/postscript-hp list
"postscript-hp:0/ppd/hplip/HP/HP-Fax-hpcups.ppd" en "HP" "HP Fax hpcups" "MFG:HP;MDL:Fax;DES:HP Fax;"
"postscript-hp:0/ppd/hplip/HP/HP-Fax2-hpcups.ppd" en "HP" "HP Fax2 hpcups" "MFG:HP;MDL:Fax 2;DES:HP Fax 2;"
"postscript-hp:0/ppd/hplip/HP/HP-Fax3-hpcups.ppd" en "HP" "HP Fax3 hpcups" "MFG:HP;MDL:Fax 3;DES:HP Fax 3;"
"postscript-hp:0/ppd/hplip/HP/HP-Fax4-hpcups.ppd" en "HP" "HP Fax4 hpcups" "MFG:HP;MDL:Fax 4;DES:HP Fax 4;"

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Welcome back, Jarl. Pleased to see you.

Not a single PostScript printer PPD in sight! Does that look right to you for a package which proclaims it has them?

This is Debian Bug #913578.

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=913578

not Ad 1) or Ad 2) in message #11.

Your only solution is to download and install the package from the Ubuntu disco distribution with 'dpkg -i'.

Please say how you go on.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

> Your only solution is to download and install the package from the Ubuntu disco distribution with 'dpkg -i'.

So does that mean that the bug is not in HPLIP at all and the bug is in the packaging of HPLIP? And that the packaging bug has been fixed in package version hplip/3.18.10+dfsg0-3 ?

Or does it mean that the bug is in HPLIP and it has been fixed in HPLIP 3.18.10?

[brian_p (claremont102)]

> So does that mean that the bug is not in HPLIP at all
> and the bug is in the packaging of HPLIP? And that the
> packaging bug has been fixed in package version
> hplip/3.18.10+dfsg0-3 ?

It means this.

--
Brian.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Checked in Disco and there it works correctly.

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

On 18.10 the problem is solved with
sudo dpkg -i printer-driver-postscript-hp_3.18.12+dfsg0-2_amd64.deb

That also solved another issue about printer expecting paper from tray 1, whereas tray too is the most common tray.