Can't print on HP 4000N with Jaunty

[Christoph Langner]

Binary package hint: hplip

I own a HP 4000 with a HP Jetdirect 615n printserver, which makes my printer a HP 4000N. I can print via the network from several other ubuntu systems running Ubuntu Hardy or Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. But when I try to print from my test system with Jaunty the print fails.

When I print from Jaunty the job gets delivered to the printer, it receives data and says "Processing job". But after that nothing happens. The printer stays this way for hours. No page - even the cups testpage - gets printed when I print from Jaunty.

I tried to find a log entry, but my access_log shows that the printjob was successful

localhost - root [26/Mar/2009:08:08:41 +0100] "GET /ppd/LaserJet-4000.ppd HTTP/1.1" 200 45340 - -
localhost - - [26/Mar/2009:08:08:42 +0100] "POST /printers/LaserJet-4000 HTTP/1.1" 200 154584 Print-Job successful-ok
localhost - - [26/Mar/2009:08:08:42 +0100] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 200 200 Get-Jobs successful-ok
localhost - - [26/Mar/2009:08:08:42 +0100] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 200 185 Get-Notifications successful-ok

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
CupsErrorLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/cups/error_log'
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Lpstat:
 Gerät für DeskJet-970C: hp:/usb/DeskJet_970C?serial=ES0BE1613JJQ
 Gerät für LaserJet-4000: hp:/net/HP_LaserJet_4000_Series?ip=192.168.0.5
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: hplip 3.9.2-3ubuntu1
Papersize: a4
PpdFiles:
 LaserJet-4000: HP LaserJet 4000 Series Postscript (recommended)
 DeskJet-970C: HP DeskJet 970C - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.3
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=0ee32059-c767-413a-9e34-484203ddc022 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-11.37-generic
SourcePackage: hplip

[Christoph Langner (chrissss)]

/var/log/cups/error_log is empty...

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

Confirmed; the exact same problem..............

Linux jpeach-desktop 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:58:03 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Austin Lund (austin-lund)]

I have the same problem too. I've tried using different protocols, and they all give the same results.

[Austin Lund (austin-lund)]

Works fine on the HP LaserJet 4100 we have here. This problem seems to be to a very specific printer model.

[Christoph Langner (chrissss)]

Which printserver do you use on the printer which fails?

[Austin Lund (austin-lund)]

I'm not 100% sure how to answer that, but I'm using hpijs.

[Austin Lund (austin-lund)]

Err... I don't know what I'm talking about.

But hplip 3.9.2-3ubuntu4 the package I have.

[Christoph Langner (chrissss)]

Just take a look at the admin page of the integrated printserver...

http://www.ubuntu-pics.de/bild/12917/screenshot_002_b4eF88.png

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

My JetDirect card is a J3263A, I have tried every LaserJet 4000 option in the CUPS config and this printer worked until I upgraded my box to jaunty.........

[Lupi (sebastian-tat)]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7216551#post7216551

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Can you create a debug log of a job by clearing the print queue (for example "cancel -a" in a terminal window) and following the instructions in the "CUPS error_log" section on

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems

[Scott Howard (showard314)]

I think there was a typo:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups/+bug/372173

was supposed to be added to this report as a response to Till Kamppeter's request. I'm copying here and marking that one as a duplicate of this one.

From John Peach (files are attached to the above link):

Can you create a debug log of a job by clearing the print queue (for
example "cancel -a" in a terminal window) and following the instructions
in the "CUPS error_log" section on

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
CupsErrorLog:
 E [05/May/2009:07:51:25 -0400] CUPS-Add-Modify-Printer: Unauthorized
 E [05/May/2009:07:51:32 -0400] CUPS-Add-Modify-Printer: Unauthorized
 E [05/May/2009:08:03:07 -0400] CUPS-Add-Modify-Printer: Unauthorized
 E [05/May/2009:08:06:41 -0400] PID 26398 (/usr/lib/cups/filter/cpdftocps) crashed on signal 9!
 E [05/May/2009:08:06:41 -0400] PID 26399 (/usr/lib/cups/backend/socket) crashed on signal 9!
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Lpstat:
 device for HP_LaserJet_4000: socket://10.1.10.222
 device for PDF: cups-pdf:/
MachineType: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 745
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: cups 1.3.9-17ubuntu3
Papersize: letter
PpdFiles:
 PDF: Generic PDF file generator
 HP_LaserJet_4000: HP LaserJet 4000 Series Postscript (recommended)
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=b5bc57a8-e249-4e3b-bd04-bcccf34f8a8c ro noquiet nosplash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/ksh
 LC_COLLATE=C
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_CTYPE=C
 LC_TIME=C
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-11.42-generic
SourcePackage: cups

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Seems that you get the problem when printing your /etc/motd file. Can you attach this file here?

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

The problem happens when I try to print anything at all; lp /etc/motd was just convenient. I believe, as did the original author, that the bug is in hplip, not cups. fwiw /etc/motd contains:

Linux jpeach-desktop 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:58:03 UTC 2009 x86_64

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Note that most CUPS filters produce temporary files in /var/spool/cups/tmp/. Can you check whether your disk partition is perhaps full and also what permissions /var/spool/cups/tmp/ and /var/spool/cups/ have ("sudo ls -ld /var/spool/cups/tmp/ /var/spool/cups/")?

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

Please read the whole thread and stop asking us to repeat tests. My filesystems are not full, nor yet are the permissions wrong. The easy way to prove that was just to submit the print job as root...........

The job appears to complete successfully, but the printer just shows "processing job" until it's power-cycled. This printer used to work under previous versions of Ubuntu.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Printing as root does not change anything for CUPS. CUPS always runs its filters and backends as the system user "lp", for security reasons.

I have seen some warnings from the filters in your error_log which look like that perhaps one of the filters does not complete its work and so the subsequent filters get broken or incomplete data.

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

root@jpeach-desktop:~# ls -ld /var/spool/cups
drwx--x--- 3 root lp 4096 May 5 15:39 /var/spool/cups
root@jpeach-desktop:~# ls -ld /var/spool/cups/tmp
drwxrwx--T 2 root lp 6 May 5 15:39 /var/spool/cups/tmp

which are correct.

...and for completeness:
/dev/sda6 4.8G 640M 4.2G 14% /var

[Austin Lund (austin-lund)]

Not that I know much about printing, but I'd say the problem is in the preprocessing.

In particular this part I never saw in previous logs. Perhaps other printers can deal with this somehow.

D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] Discarding unused printer-state-changed event...
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] Read 4096 bytes of print data...
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] Wrote 4096 bytes of print data...
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18]
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] **** This file had errors that were repaired or ignored.
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] **** The file was produced by:
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] **** >>>> pdftopdf <<<<
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] **** Please notify the author of the software that produced this
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] **** file that it does not conform to Adobe's published PDF
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] **** specification.
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18]
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] Wrote 1 pages...
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] Read 2396 bytes of print data...
D [05/May/2009:08:39:36 -0400] [Job 18] Wrote 2396 bytes of print data...

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

I'm on 64bit Jaunty and have the same problem with my Laserjet 4000 on the parallel port. The printer displays Processing Job and then hangs in that state until I turn it off.

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

It's definitely a problem with the 4000, as I have a 4200 which works perfectly.

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

How come the Laserjet 4000 does print from ubuntu 6.10, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.10 without trouble and from 8.04 with a small workaround an doesn't print from 9.04 at all. Is that really a HP 4000 problem or is that a 9.04 problem?
I have exactly the same problem here. I can't test the system with another printer but it's very likel+y not a problem of the printer.
I'm using a sitecom 307 printerserver thats plugged into the parallel port of the Laserjet4000. The printerserver is connected by wire to my local router. Als from windows mavchines it's working fine.
I'm using socket 192.168.2.10 with port 9100 in all these systems. Only Ubuntu 9.04 refuses to print.

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

This same printer worked fine from the same peecee running 8.10. It only failed after the upgrade to 9.04. It still works fine from the Fedora 10 VM I have on the same box......... It's a problem with hplip in 9.04.

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

Would it be possible to downgrade the ubuntu 9.04 version of hplip to the 8.10 version?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Can everyone who has this problem attach his PPD file for the LaserJet 4000 (from /etc/cups/ppd/)?

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

Here is my ubuntu 9.04 ppd file for my laserjet 4000 printer

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

And here is the ppd version from ubuntu 8.10

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Please replace your /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops file by the attached file (and assure that it stays executable, for example with "sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops"). Now try to print again. Does it work now?

This file uses a slightly different method to convert PDF to PostScript. Probably the old PostScript was somehow incompatible with the printer's interpreter and in general somewhat broken.

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

My 9.04 ppd

[John Peach (john-launchpad)]

The replacement pdftops fixes it for me..............
Thank you.

[Christoph Langner (chrissss)]

My one

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

my ppd file

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

> Till Kamppeter wrote 6 minutes ago: (permalink)

> Please replace your /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops file by the attached file (and assure that it stays executable, for > example with "sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops"). Now try to print again. Does it work now?

> This file uses a slightly different method to convert PDF to PostScript. Probably the old PostScript was somehow incompatible with the printer's interpreter and in general somewhat broken.

Same problem, print hangs with msg 'Processing Job' :-(

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

Same problem, printer doesn't print. Computer asks if the printer is connected.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

JohnShep, adonet (and anyone else who still suffers the problem with the replacement of pdftops), please provide an error_log of a failed job following the instructions in the "CUPS error_log" section on

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems

DO NOT return to the old pdftops for doing so,

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

adonet, try also replacing the PPD file on your 9.04 machine by the PPD file from 8.10 (in /etc/cups/ppd/).

Execute

lpadmin -p HP-LaserJet-4000-2e -E -P Laserjet4000.ppd

in a terminal window.

Can you print again.

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

troubleshoot.txt

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

JohnShep, the error_log in your troubleshoot.txt shows that your computer does not succeed to connect to your printer. Try at first to load the needed parport_pc kernel module:

sudo modprobe parport_pc

If you can print then, your bug is bug 369850. Please follow the instructions there.

If you still cannot print, try to replace the HP backend by the standard parallel backend creating a new print queue with system-config-printer, selecting your printer under the detected ones, and then clicking the little triangle at "Connection" (in the right part at the bottom). Choose "Parallel Port", not "HP Linux Imaging and Printing".

Can you print now? Then there seems to be also a problem with HPLIP, but you are also suffering bug 369850 in this case.

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

re
sudo modprobe parport_pc

didn't work :-(

If you still cannot print, try to replace the HP backend by the standard
parallel backend creating a new print queue with system-config-printer,
selecting your printer under the detected ones, and then clicking the
little triangle at "Connection" (in the right part at the bottom).
Choose "Parallel Port", not "HP Linux Imaging and Printing".

didn't work :-(

thanks for trying to help though, much appreicated :-)

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

JohnShep, can you try to switch your printer to a different driver, like pxlmono, hpijs, Generic PostScript PPD for example? Can you print then? If yes, with which drivers? Try also choosing the manufacturer "Generic" and things like "PostScript printer", "PCL-6/XL printer", "PCL-5e printer". To do so right-click your printer's icon in system-config-printer and click "Properties" in the pop-up menu.

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

OK

Generic PostScript Printer - doesn't work - same problem
Generic PCL 5e Printer Foomatic/ljet4 - doesn't work - same problem
Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/ljet4 - works :-)
Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.3 - works :-)

Thank You

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

JohnShep, can you also try

Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlmono

[JohnShep (john-boxrec)]

> Till Kamppeter wrote 24 minutes ago: (permalink)
> JohnShep, can you also try
> Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlmono

Works a treat, subjectively seemed to be a lot faster than the other drivers as well.

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

Dear Till Kamppeter

Quote
Please replace your /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops file by the attached file (and assure that it stays executable, for example with "sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops"). Now try to print again. Does it work now?

This file uses a slightly different method to convert PDF to PostScript. Probably the old PostScript was somehow incompatible with the printer's interpreter and in general somewhat broken.
Quote

I completely reinstalled Jaunty. Ran all the updates.
The new pdftops file doesn't change anything

the ppd file from Intrepid doesn't change anything :-(

sudo modprobe parport_pc doesn't change anything :-(

Another ppd Generic doesn't change anything :-(

Same problem, printer doesn't print. Computer asks if the printer is connected.

And still, when booted in Hardy, Intrepid, Mint6 or Windows, the printer works fine from the very same machine.

Do you have any other suggestion?

[Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst)]

I also have HP Laserjet 4000N and replaced the pdftops by this newer version of the alternative pdftops filter Till recently posted here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups/+bug/377011/comments/9 and made it executable with "sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops".
Printing works fine now with the HP LaserJet 4000 Series Postscript (recommended) driver!

[Jesse (sbjesse)]

I'm having difficulty with LJ4000N too. I print via a samba server. The same printer in Hardy and Intrepid worked without much trouble.
In jaunty however, the job will be submitted to the print server (when CUPS pops the jolly "Print job XXX completed" notification), and hang indefinitely printing nothing.
Changing the driver to hpijs solves half the problem, when printing without duplex (that's thow the test page succeeded). With double-sided enabled, the printout is strangely changed to 2-page-per-side, right-to-left, god knows what happened...
Since evince and acroread would submit postscript to the printer, i doubt modifying pdftops filter would be of much help in my case.
Thanks in advance

[adonet (jeroen-adolfse)]

I sometimes can print with a Generic PCL5 CUPS+Gutenprint driver. But it's not predictable when the system will print and when it doesn't.

The recommended driver for the laserjet doesn't work. Even not with the new pdftops file.

I'm sad because everything else works OK with this Ubuntu.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Please use this file as alternative pdftops filter, it contains additional workarounds:

http://launchpadlibrarian.net/27277232/pdftops

[Michael Spall (spalmich)]

Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Lpstat:
 device for HP-LaserJet-4000-ITRC-Front-Lab: socket://134.50.150.69:9100
 device for LaserJet-4000-itrc-front: hp:/net/HP_LaserJet_4000_Series?ip=134.50.150.69
 device for LaserJet-4000-itrc-front-lab: socket://134.50.150.69:9100
MachineType: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 755
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: hplip 3.9.2-3ubuntu4
PackageArchitecture: amd64
Papersize: letter
PpdFiles:
 LaserJet-4000-itrc-front: HP LaserJet 4000 Series Postscript (recommended)
 HP-LaserJet-4000-ITRC-Front-Lab: HP LaserJet 4000 Series Postscript (recommended)
 LaserJet-4000-itrc-front-lab: HP LaserJet 4000 Series Postscript (recommended)
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=0d02aa60-082d-44d8-8e2e-0d37b1521f44 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-11.42-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare