Permanent "Printer-out-of-paper" message.

[Alexander Karatarakis]

Binary package hint: cups

This probably has to do with CUPS. Version: 1.4.1- 4ubuntu2.4 (latest on Karmic).

I was printing a document when the printer was out of paper and got a message that "The printer is out of paper". I went to reload it and clicked resume on the printer and printing carried on normally.

From this point on, the message "The printer is out of paper" is permanently stuck on the printer.
- Every time i print, i get the message "The printer is out of paper", but the printing occurs without errors.
- The configuration tool (system-config-printer 1.1.12) shows the printer with the red error sign. When viewing the properties of said printer, in the "Ink/Toner Levels" section, i have the "Status Message": "Printer HP-Officejet-Pro-k550 is out of paper". If i click refresh then i get a "CUPS server error": "There was an error during the CUPS operation: 'client-error-document-format-not-supported'." (Not sure this is relevant).

Removing and reinstalling the printer fixes this.

[Alexander Karatarakis (alexkaratarakis)]

This bug was posted because apparently it didn't only affect me:

http://newyork.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1439420

[Adam Procter (amp269)]

This seems to work for me as a workaround:

* Open /etc/cups/printers.conf in a text editor.
* Look for a line that says "Reason media-empty-error". Delete it.
* Save printers.conf and restart cups (sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart).

[Alexander Karatarakis (alexkaratarakis)]

^Confirming that this also does the trick. :)

[Vintage64 (ecarrasc)]

Same here. The workaround worked for me as well.

[maximi89 (maximi89)]

not working to me... i have a HP P1005...

Same problems as https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/71855

[maximi89 (maximi89)]

is there any possiblities to change the state from "out of paper" to "idle"? by using HP printers without turn off and then turn on them?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

maximi89, the HP P1005 is a special case, see bug 572125 and continue your discussion there.

[Graham White (graham-dcs)]

Hm. Will this happen every time the printer runs out of paper while printing? In which case the workaround will work,
but will be very tedious.

[Seb (nextgenseb)]

Just hit the same bug, about two years later on a Xerox Phaser 3425. Has there been a permanent solution by now? Although the workaround still seems to work.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Mark Tearle (mark-tearle)]

I had a similar problem with an out of toner message on my Xerox Phaser 6250. Deleting the "Reason" lines made it function again.

[Moses Moore (moses-ubuntu)]

Ubuntu 14.10 , CUPS 1.7.2, DeviceURI "hp:/usb/HP_LaserJet_Professional_P1102w" and I just ran into this problem myself.

Rebooted the printer, printed a test page with the printer to make sure there's no paperjam or bad mechanical sensor. Ubuntu still refuses to sent print jobs to the printer because "out-of-paper." Tried he workaround mentioned in #2 above, and CUPS automatically resumed the print jobs without my prompting.

It seems CUPS doesn't query the printer for its status, or doesn't query the printer often enough.

[reg (ppguara)]

Ubu 14.04-1 - HP 1018

Had this today and also followed advice by amp269 (FIVE years later..)
Never had this with 13.04 or 12.04 with same printer

cd /etc/cups
sudo gedit printers.conf
sudo service cups restart

Message disappeared and could print again.

[Richard (ismail-a)]

As of Ubuntu 15.10, a get-around is this:

sudo systemctl stop cups && sudo sed --in-place '/Reason media-empty-warning/d' /etc/cups/printers.conf; sudo systemctl start cups

Check the status:
$ system-config-printer
double-click your printer
in left pane, select Ink/Toner Levels
Under Status Messages either (bad):
- Printer 'xyz' is out of paper.
or (good):
There are no status messages for this printer.

[Ivan Tishchenko (ivan-t7ko)]

Affects me as well. Ubuntu 14.04, HP LaserJet Professional P1102. Work-around works. Any plans on fixing this? Or help us understand what is misconfigured in our systems which makes this happen to us? Thanks in advance!

[Sergio (sromano88)]

Answer #2 worked for me.
Ubuntu 16.04 with HP P1005.

[Paul Abraham (j-paul-q)]

This bug still affects me (after 7 years?) - I can clear it using the workround of deleting the incorrect status from printers.conf but this isn't really a solution.

System is

Linux gryphon 4.4.0-87-generic #110-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 18 12:54:58 UTC 2017 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

Printer is a Canon MP495 operating over a wireless network.

[Paul Abraham (j-paul-q)]

Any answers to this?

[mike (jronpaul)]

im having this issue ... canon MX490

Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya \n \l

if i comment out the "media" lines in printers.conf and restart the service..
the printer error goes away.. but as soon as i send a test print to the printer
i get a pop up saying the paper is empty and cups overwrites the conf file and puts the 2 media lines back.

[volker mischo (volker-i)]

Same Problem with Ubuntu 18-04 and xerox printer . Always out-of-paper but this is wrong. Can not clear that or suppress that message.

[Yves Lavoie (yves-lavoie-ing)]

Same problem here. Ubuntu 19.04 and Canon MG5320 printer.
ALways out of paper but wrong. A color ink is low but paper is ok and I print black & white.

[Tomofumi (tomofumi)]

There is a large printer in our office that have 4 trays, there are 2 trays that is always empty, and I think it is passing the out-of-paper error status to the CUPS. It can still print anyway, just the out-of-paper error status stuck in the ubuntu printer GUI with a red (-) mark. Is there anyway to ignore several trays producing such error? Thanks.

[Bruce Rout (bbrout)]

I also have this problem on a Samsung ML-2855 ND remote shared printer on Ubuntu 18.04 server
Using Ubuntu 20.04. When printing pdf file using lp or printing from Chrome browser the printer turns on paper out signal and cannot be cleared without turning off printer and turning back on again. Another printer, HP Photosmart works perfectly with lp and browser. Tried removing and reinstalling CUPS which found printer, but paper out bug still persists with printing from terminal. Seems a "paper out" signal is being sent which is a control character for the Samsung but not for the HP.

[Goth Queen (artistbraab)]

I'm afraid I also have to report another occurrence in this continuing saga (after 13 years).
In my case it is a Xerox AltaLink C8155 (as network printer).
As before, the work around in #2 works.