Can't print on Officejet Pro 8500 A910 via hp:/net - unable to open PrintContext object err=2

[Ralf]

When printing to an Officejet Pro 8500 A910 via DeviceURI "hp:/net" and with hpijs driver, the print job is not successful (nothing printed at all, job remains in queue) and/or a text "Unable to open the initial device" is printed on paper. Printing using hpcups driver works with the same setup! Both printers are created using hp-toolbox. However, when I create the hpijs-based printer via yast2 there is no problem. So, it seems to be a HPLIP-specific problem with the device communication.

Error messages in error_log:
------------------------------
D [29/Apr/2011:07:43:57 +0200] [Job 112] prnt/hpijs/hpijs.cpp 638: unable to open PrintContext object err=2
D [29/Apr/2011:07:43:57 +0200] [Job 112] GPL Ghostscript 9.00: Can't start ijs server "hpijs"
------------------------------
See also attached error_log file for the failed printer with hpijs driver and a 2nd log file for the working setup with hpcups driver.

printers.conf:
------------------------------
<Printer Officejet_Pro_8500_A910>
Info
Location
MakeModel HP Officejet Pro 8500 a910 hpijs, 3.11.3a
DeviceURI hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A910?ip=192.168.245.207
State Idle
StateTime 1303992647
Type 8425500
Filter application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
Filter application/vnd.cups-postscript 100 foomatic-rip-hplip
Filter application/vnd.cups-pdf 0 foomatic-rip-hplip
Filter application/vnd.cups-command 0 commandtops
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy stop-printer
</Printer>
<Printer Officejet_Pro_8500_A910_hpcups>
Info HP Officejet Pro 8500 a910, hpcups 3.11.3a
MakeModel HP Officejet Pro 8500 a910, hpcups 3.11.3a
DeviceURI hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A910?ip=192.168.245.207
State Idle
StateTime 1304059821
Type 36876
Filter application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
Filter application/vnd.cups-raster 0 hpcups
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy stop-printer
</Printer>
------------------------------

Futher info:

Linux Distribution: openSUSE 11.4 (32bit)

hp-check: see attachment

# rpm -qa | grep hplip
hplip-hpijs-3.11.3a-30.1.i586
hplip-3.11.3a-30.1.i586

# rpm -qa | grep -i ghostscript
ghostscript-fonts-other-9.00-53.1.noarch
ghostscript-fonts-std-9.00-53.1.noarch
ghostscript-x11-9.00-53.1.i586
ghostscript-library-9.00-53.1.i586

Packages from original openSUSE repo were updated via:
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Printing/openSUSE_11.4/
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/jsmeix:/branches:/Printing:/ghostscript/openSUSE_11.4/
(but without improvements)

This probems seems only affect some printer models, since my Photosmart C5180 works fine with hpijs driver over network.

See also bug at openSUSE/Novell: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=688614 with further dicussions about the problem and some hint what the problem could be.

That it happens the same to me for the printer HP officejet 7500A

[Jordi Relats (jordirelats)]

that it happens the same to me for the printer HP officejet 7500A

[gldickens3 (gordon-dickens)]

I am having this problem both with my HP 8500 A910 and my HP 8500 A909a printers.

Firstly, The hpijs driver does not work at all for printing in OpenSUSE 12.1 with CUPS (version 1.5.0) or hplip (3.11.10). You get the following errors in /var/log/cups/error_log with the hpijs driver:

[Job 118] prnt/hpijs/hpijs.cpp 638: unable to open PrintContext object err=2
[Job 118] GPL Ghostscript 9.00: Can't start ijs server "hpijs"
[Job 118] **** Unable to open the initial device, quitting.
[Job 118] renderer exited with status 1
[Job 118] Possible error on renderer command line or PostScript error. Check options.kid3 exited with status 3
[Job 118] Process is dying with "Error closing renderer

As an FYI, my work-around solution for this problem was to use the hpcups driver for printing. However, then I found a problem with the hpcups driver. That is, the hpcups driver will not print some images such as FedEx or UPS barcodes. So, I solved all this by setting up the printer configuration directly from the CUPS interface at http://localhost:631/printers with a socket driver. I setup the printer's network address as: socket://<Printer IP
Address>:9100. This is my driver for printing since it will print everything including barcode images, however, it will not work for xsane scanning. So, I then setup another printer configuration for scanning using the hpcups driver. While this is quite a kluge of a solution it does work to get my system printing and scanning. That is, I have one printer config for printing and another printer config for scanning.

[Ralf (user66)]

Yes, that fits to my latest experiences with the printer under openSUSE 12.1. The hpijs drivers does not work at all, the hpcups driver works (either setup with Yast or with the HP tool). However, I don't know which images the hpcups driver is not able print. I haven't tested with many different images yet.

[gldickens3 (gordon-dickens)]

Actually, the hpijs driver works fine as long as you use the socket://
connection instead of the standard hp:/net connection for the DeviceURI value.
You can do this manually in /etc/cups/printers.conf or with the cups web
interface. This is my HP 8500 A910 configuration in /etc/cups/printers.conf
which has so far worked for all printing including images such as FedEX and UPS
barcodes:

<Printer HP_8500_A910_Hurleston_Printer>
UUID urn:uuid:70e74a85-96b5-3a23-503f-7c85588fd8e9
Info HP Officejet Pro 8500 a909a hpijs, 3.11.10
Location
MakeModel HP Officejet Pro 8500 a910 hpijs, 3.11.10
DeviceURI socket://192.168.2.105:9100
State Idle
StateTime 1324887536
Type 8425500
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy stop-printer
Attribute marker-colors none,none,none,none
Attribute marker-levels 89,64,100,32
Attribute marker-names black ink C4906A,yellow ink C4905A,magenta ink
C4904S,cyan ink C4903S
Attribute marker-types ink,ink,ink,ink
Attribute marker-change-time 1324887536
</Printer>

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Hi,

As all distros have moved to cups. There is less development happening in hpijs path. Please configure the hplip install with hpcups enabled to install the hpcups filters. Download the latest hplip-3.11.12 from http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/gethplip.html and install it by running command "sh hplip-3.11.12.run". This will auto install the hplip with hpcups enabled.

Thanks,
Goutam

[gldickens3 (gordon-dickens)]

Hi Goutam,

One of the first things that I did was install hplip-3.11.12 from hplipopensource.com as you have suggested, however, that doesn't fix anything. The problem does not have anything to do with the hplip version that you are running. The problem is that the hpijs driver does not work with the standard hp:/net connection but the hpijs driver does work fine (for printing only) as long as you use the socket:// connection. That is, the scanner functions will not work with the socket:// connection. Therefore, if you want to use both scanning and printing on a HP OfficeJet 8500 then you must setup two devices, one for printing and another for scanning. Also, as previously stated, the hpcups driver works somewhat with the hp:/net connection for both printing and scanning, however, the hpcups driver will not print graphical images such as bar codes for FedEX and UPS mailing labels.

In other words, I have devised a work-around but it is an ugly kluge. The solution should be one of the following two alternatives:

1) Either make the hpijs driver work with the standard hp:/net connection so that printing and scanning will work from one device configuration; or

2) Fix the bug in the hpcups driver so that it will print bar code images.

Gordon

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Hi,

Thank you for providing more information on this.
Will try to reproduce this defect and get back to you with the solution.

With the hpcups installed please provide us some logs to understand why it does not print graphical images such as bar codes for FedEX and UPS mailing labels.

To provide the logs follow the below steps.

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

2. Restart the cups
$su -c "/etc/init.d/cups restart"

3.make the log file empty
$su -c "cat /dev/null > /var/log/syslog"
$su -c "cat /dev/null > /var/log/cups/error_log"

4. Send a print job containing graphical images such as bar codes for FedEX and UPS mailing labels.

5. Copy the contents of syslog file.
$su -c "cat /var/log/syslog > debug.txt"
$su -c "cat /var/log/cups/error_log > cups_log.txt"

Attach me the debug.txt & cups_log.txt files.

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

Also let us know which application you are using to print to the printer.

Thanks & Regards,
Goutam Kodu

[gldickens3 (gordon-dickens)]

As a FYI, I am using the hpcups driver primarily for scanning and so that device is called HP_8500_A910_Hurleston_Scanner.

I first attempted to print a FedEX barcode mailing label with Adobe Acroread. Nothing printed out and the print job becomes stuck in the print queue. Nothing was generated in /var/log/syslog, however, the attached cups_acroread_log.txt has the contents of /var/log/cups/error_log. Please note the following lines from the cups error_log:

E [05/Jan/2012:15:09:36 -0500] PID 7429 (/usr/lib/cups/filter/pstoraster) crashed on signal 11.
D [05/Jan/2012:15:09:36 -0500] [Job 149] prnt/hpcups/HPCupsFilter.cpp 511: cupsRasterOpen failed, fd = 0
D [05/Jan/2012:15:09:36 -0500] PID 7430 (/usr/lib/cups/filter/hpcups) stopped with status 1.
D [05/Jan/2012:15:09:36 -0500] [Job 149] prnt/backend/hp.c 839: ERROR: null print job total=0

[gldickens3 (gordon-dickens)]

Next, I printed the same FedEx barcode mailing label through the hpcups driver with Okular. Then the printer produced the document but omitted the bar code. That is, the top half of the FedEx shipping label (that includes the barcode) is blank but the bottom part of the shipping label (that includes shipping instructions) prints out properly. That is, when you print though the hpcups driver with acroread then the print job gets stuck in the print queue and will not print. However, Okular will print the document omitting the barcode graphics part of the document. Again, nothing was contained in /var/log/syslog, however the attached cups_okuloar_log.txt has the contents of /var/log/cups/error_log. Personally, I didn't see anything peculiar in the cups error_log when printing with Okular although the document was printed incorrectly.

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Hi gordon.

Sorry for late on this.
I checked the logs and they are fine. Printing from the Acroread is causing failure of pstoraster filter. While printing from Okular has no crashes. Not understanding whats going wrong here. I tried to reproduce it here on Ubuntu machine with hpcups setup and printed using Document Viewer and it printed fine with the bar code.

Can you try printing form "hp-print" utility and let us know if its printing fine.

if you can attach us the files which i asked in the sixth step of comment #8 it will help us in some understanding. I can try flashing of the "hpcups_jobX.out" file on the same device we have in our lab.

Sorry for causing you the inconvenience.

Thanks,
Goutam Kodu

[David McNeill (davemc)]

I get the same error

 sh: 1: hpijs: not found
 GPL Ghostscript 9.07: Can't start ijs server "hpijs"

On a clean install of raring 13.04, printing to an hp laser on a remote server running lucid 10.04.

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Hi David,

Please install latest HPLIP 3.13.8 on the remote server by downloading it from http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/gethplip.html and install it by running command "sh hplip-3.13.8.run" in terminal.

Let us know if the issue remains same.

Thanks,
Goutam