Paused Printer Problem

[Skipmeister]

I've just migrated to Debian Wheezy from Windows, and had a good installation of Gnome which seems to work OK. My HP1220C printer was recognised when I added it using 'User > System settings > Printer > Add printer'. However, for some reason it stopped printing half way through a document whilst printing a graphic, although it had printed some graphics already. I tried to restart the printer, but going to 'User > System settings > Printers' it lists the printer and the job as 'paused', but it doesn't allow me to re-start the print job, even after unlocking the panel.
I then tried to add the printer icon to the top bar by <alt> <right click>, which opens up 'Add to panel', but it doesn't list 'printers' at all. Can anyone help to allow me to control the print queue, preferably without going to the Root Terminal? (I'm not quite ready for that yet unless the instructions are really explicit). I have tried all the options on the Applications button on the top bar, but cannot find any method of selecting a way of managing the printer. Many thanks.

[Bulkley]

How is your printer connected to your computer?

Consider that your problem is in the printer. I don't mean that anything is wrong with it, just that it might be timing out; something that Windows accounts for but Linux users might have to set.

Go into your 'User > System settings > Printers' and check the configuration settings. Check all of them very carefully to make sure there isn't something set wrong.

Sometimes the drivers aren't as sweet as we would like. Test the nearest driver to your HP1220C; perhaps a HP1280. You never know, it might work better or not at all.

[michapma]

Hi Skipmeister,

I’ve never been impressed by the printer controls available from Gnome’s system settings. They make things look nice and clean, but don’t help much when things go south. I personally use the CUPS interface, because it allows a much higher level of control; control that I sometimes need when printing doesn’t go as intended. HP printers, especially inkjets and deskjets like your own, enjoy support from HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HP LIP, the hplip package). Generally speaking, HP is one of the best-supporting printer OEMs for GNU/Linux. CUPS is so good though, that I don’t even use hplip for my HP LaserJet.

I’m willing to walk you through this with as little command-line interface (CLI, the “root terminal”) as possible, though really it would be great for you to start taking small steps with it. In any case, it will be helpful for me to know what packages you already have installed. I want to find out whether you have the cups and hplip packages installed. Everything you need to know is probably here:
https://wiki.debian.org/SystemPrinting
in sections 1 and the HP-specific sections; however, as I said I’ll walk you through this issue. What you’ll doubtless notice, though, is that it would take less time for you do read and solve it yourself.

To find out whether you have the packages cups and hplip while avoiding the CLI, open Synaptic, the package manager: In Gnome, go to the overview screen (click Activities) and start typing “synaptic.” Click on the Synaptic icon, and enter the root password when prompted. In the menu at the top, click search, under “Look in” select Name, then type in cups under “Search” and enter. This filters the packages and you will get cups somewhere in the list. It is the Common UNIX Printing System. If it is selected, then it’s installed. Repeat the process, this time filtering for hplip.

For learning, here’s how you could find out the same using the CLI. Open a terminal (Activities, start typing terminal), then type a single command:

Code: Select all

$ apt-cache policy cups hplip
cups:
  Installed: 1.7.1-4
  Candidate: 1.7.1-4
  Version table:
 *** 1.7.1-4 0
        500 http://ftp.ch.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
hplip:
  Installed: 3.14.1-1
  Candidate: 3.14.1-1
  Version table:
 *** 3.14.1-1 0
        500 http://ftp.ch.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

On my system, both packages are installed. Note that this is in a terminal, but not with root access: I did this with normal user access, and one can tell because the command prompt, just before the command name apt-cache, shows a dollar sign. You might check on your system whether the GUI package for hplip is installed. In the terminal, type the command “apt-cache policy hplip-gui”.

Concerning support for your printer under hplip, you can find out more by entering your printer details here:
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/su ... index.html
It’s supported, but not recommended.

Next steps: installing cups and hplip if they aren’t installed. If you can do that yourself or they are already installed, then we can work on configuring the printer and checking what the problem could be.

[Skipmeister]

Hi michapma,

Many thanks for the very prompt reply. I have both CUPS and hplip installed - I checked using both Synaptic and the command line as you suggested, and got similar results to you. I did have a look through the System Printing help page but it was a bit like Concord - over my head at Mach 2. I have tried the commands lpstat -r, lpstat -d and lpq which confirmed that the printer was installed and that the queue was paused, and had the following error message:

Paused - "/usr/lib/cups/backend/hp failed".

Does this suggest that it is the printer at fault? It's connected via a USB lead, and worked perfectly well under Windows, but of course is getting a bit long in the tooth (like me).
I do appreciate the "step by step" process, particularly with the CLI, which is somewhat intimidating until you learn the syntax and commands.

[kedaha]

You could try installing system-config-printer

System-config-printer is a GUI written in Python using GTK+ to
configure a CUPS server. Its primary use is to configure the printing
system on the local host, but can also be used to setup a remote
printer.

In gnome (classic) you'll find it under Applications->System Tools->Administration->Printing. I've always found it quite handy.

[michapma]

Intimidating it is, at first. So was making love, or driving a car, though I don’t often remember my initial jitters. Just like anything else, it just takes some instruction, exploring and experience, so I’ll explain as we go. The command “lp” is not something I use often, but it is ancient, flexible and powerful. The p stands for printer, and the l for line or local, though technology has evolved since then. The naming of the other commands base off of it: lpstat gives you status information, and lpq shows the printer queue status. You can get a summary of a command at the terminal, along with all the dirty details of its options, by typing man (for manual) and the name of the command, such as “man lpstat”. Note that you can navigate with Page Up, Page Down, and the arrow keys, and “q” quits, landing you back at the terminal with a prompt.

One thing we should do while in the terminal is to make sure your user has rights to manage the printers. I’ll assume you sign into your machine using the moniker “skipmeister.” In the terminal, gain access to root privileges by using the superuser command:

Code: Select all

$ su

Enter your root password, and you’ll notice that the prompt now gives you the hash sign (#). You now have absolute access to make arbitrary changes to your entire machine. You’re going to modify your user account, with the command usermod, to add (switch -a) good old skipmeister to the group (-G) lpadmin, as so:

Code: Select all

usermod -a -G lpadmin skipmeister

Of course, you’ll want to use your actual user name. You guessed it, see “man usermod.” This is described in https://wiki.debian.org/SystemPrinting#Add_Printer. Edit: Ha! Forgot to mention, to return from superuser to your normal, well-mannered user, just type “exit” and press enter.

Wait! You’re doing it all wrong, you just ran over an elderly lady. No wait... she’s okay, she’s getting up. Alright, let’s get away from the CLI. Open a browser and enter the following URL into the address field:
http://localhost:631/
This is the local address that CUPS uses as an interface to manage your printers. There’s a screenshot for you on the Debian wiki. Along the top row is a link for Printers, click it. I’ll assume you will find your printer listed there. If not, let us know. If so, click on it. This will take you to a page showing the status of your printer (probably paused) in the title, and two drop-down lists beside each other. You can unpause your printer using the drop-down list on the left—just click the list and select the entry “Resume Printer.” You will be prompted for credentials, but since you have added yourself to the lpadmin group, you can just enter skipmeister (you know, your username) and the password you normally use to log in.

It’s a bit of a mystery to me how printers get paused sometimes, but with USB printers, I think starting a print job before attaching and turning on the printer will usually do it. Feel free to explore the CUPS interface in your browser, you’re highly unlikely to injure any pedestrians or make any babies.

[michapma]

In gnome (classic) you'll find it under Applications->System Tools->Administration->Printing.

Cool, I just found out you can open it in Gnome Shell with Activities > type print. It’s listed as “Printing.”

[Skipmeister]

Hi michapma,

Sorry about the delay in replying - just been out for a driving lesson, flying lesson and a few other things! I did add my username to the printer list, and all is working now. The printer has printed quite a few items now without a problem, and it seems that if I turn the printer on before booting the computer, it doesn't hang. Maybe that's a false conclusion, but at least I know now how to control the printer. I have also found out that I am using Gnome version 3.4.2, which apparently doesn't yet support the use of the printer icon (hence why I can't add it to the top bar). I'm getting quite keen on finding things out now.

I would like to thank you for the very good detail you gave when helping me. I am very grateful, particularly as you have explained things well to a raw beginner.

Many thanks,

Skipmeister.

[michapma]

Ooh, flying lessons... I'm jealous!

Of course you’re welcome, glad it's working for you. I’m especially glad if a bit of success makes you keener to find things out.

I usually just try to remember to turn my printer on before I start any print jobs. Sometimes I close the program I want to print with, turn on the printer, and then open the program back up, but if I forget it's easy enough to select “resume printing” from the CUPS interface in a browser. Often, I forget to turn my printer off and let it sit for a couple of days.

This pausing behavior bugged my wife for a while, until I thought of adding her to the lpadmin group.

[jkeating]

I had similar problems with an HP Photosmart B110, which prints fine on a USB connection but lost its wireless connection during an upgrade. Over a period of many months, I've tried all sorts of things -- adding myself to lpadmin, changing ownership of /usr/lib/cups/backend and its contents to to root.lp, on and on. The printer was recognized wirelessly, but print jobs always failed and the printer was paused or disabled.

What finally worked for me was simple: I set it up with system-config-printer (Applications, Settings, Printing) instead of from HP's GUI interface. I just made sure the printer wasn't sleeping, and system-config-printer detected it under Network and set it up correctly.

This worked on a laptop with Wheezy and with one running Lubuntu.

Don't use the HP tools. They don't do anything that the system tools can't do better, as far as I can tell.

[gnulux]

That was a great guide for beginners, michapma, thank you so much on their behalf

Cups web interface works for me far better than any other applet but then we have a Brother printer and no fancy HP software.

[Bulkley]

What finally worked for me was simple: I set it up with system-config-printer . . .

+1
system-config-printer functions as a GUI for CUPS. At least that's the way I see it. Any and all changes made by system-config-printer can be seen with CUPS.