HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

[MatthewSchenker]

Can anyone please help me understand the printer issues I am experiencing with Hardy Heron?

As I've said in other discussions, I own an HP Photosmart C8180. Upon upgrading to 8.04, my system detected the printer wonderfully -- the printer and the scanner parts. But for some reason, after rebooting, the printer was no longer detected, and CUPS did not work.

Below, I summarize all the errors I'm receiving regarding printing:

• In applications like OpenOffice, the print options only list a "generic printer." When I try to print, it tells me there is an error with the printer.
• When I open the HPLIP Toolbox, I get this message: "No HP Installed Devices Found." If I click on the "CUPS Web Interface" it tries to open the "localhost:631" page, but all I see is "Problem loading page." If I click on "Setup Device," I get to the first screen, "Choose Connection Type." I select USB, and in the next screen I can see my printer listed properly (it even shows the serial number). But when I click "next" I get a warning box: "PPD Not File Found" (which doesn't even make grammatical sense).
• In System Settings > Printer, I get an error message: "Unable to retrieve the printer list. Error message received from manager: Connection to CUPS server failed. Check that the CUPS server is correctly installed and running. Error: localhost: read failed (14)."
• In System Settings > Printer, If I try to "Add" a printer I get this: "An error occurred while trying to retrieve a list of available backends. Connection to CUPS server failed. Check that the CUPS server is correctly installed and running."

Does any of this offer clues about what I can do to fix my printing issues?

Why would the printer work great one day, then suddenly fail?

Thanks,
Matt

[dibl]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

I've never had to fiddle with CUPS -- I guess I'm "lucky" to have an old Epson printer that just keeps on working.

However, it appears that you've got multiple indicators of problems with CUPS. I guess, lacking any better ideas, I'd be removing and reinstalling the CUPS packages, and then going into System Settings>Advanced>Services and making sure that the CUPS service is running. Maybe first reinstall CUPS, then reinstall HPLIP which I believe uses CUPS.

That's all I can think of .... :P

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

dibl,
I appreciate your trying to help. I have in fact already re-installed CUPS and HPLIP.

When I go to System Settings > Advanced > Services, CUPSYS was shown as "not running." When I tell it to "Start" I get this message:

 * Starting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd
cupsd: Child exited with status 1!

Do you have any idea what that message means?

I guess I still come back to my basic mystery: why would the printer work great after the 8.04 upgrade, then stop working? I did not change anything.

Thanks,
Matt

[dibl]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

When I tell it to "Start" I get this message:

 * Starting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd
cupsd: Child exited with status 1!

Do you have any idea what that message means?

I started to say "yeah, it means you're screwed", but then I though I'd give Mr. Google a shot at it. Guess what?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=366507

He claims to have fixed it on his rig -- why don't you give that a try?

EDIT: it appears to be a problem with the /etc/hosts file showing all the host on a single line instead of 1 per line.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

dibl,
Reading that post, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do exactly. I opened my "/etc/hosts" file and it does not appear to have the problem that poster reported.

Here are the contents of my "/etc/hosts" file:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 Main

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

I don't really know how to interpret that information. Do you see a problem with it?

Thanks,
Matt

[dibl]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

Hmmmm -- not the outcome I was hoping for. :P

OK, open your Konsole and try running

sudo cupsd -f

as he said, and see what you observe in the (probable) error output.

Edit: Also, open a browser or Konqueror, and in the address line enter "http://localhost:631" with no quote marks, and see what you get -- this is supposed to be the CUPS local host.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

Hmmmm -- not the outcome I was hoping for. :P

OK, open your Konsole and try running

sudo cupsd -f

as he said, and see what you observe in the (probable) error output.

Edit: Also, open a browser or Konqueror, and in the address line enter "http://localhost:631" with no quote marks, and see what you get -- this is supposed to be the CUPS local host.

When I run the

sudo cupsd -f

command, I get nothing -- no errors at all.

When I go into Konqueror and point to "http://localhost:631" I get this:

An error occurred while loading [url]http://localhost:631/:[/url]
Could not connect to host localhost (port 631).

As a last-ditch effort, I'm considering doing a fresh install of 8.04. Just wipe out the whole operating system and start all over. I used the upgrade feature to go from 7.10 to 8.04, so maybe there are some old settings laying around?

Matt

[dibl]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

When I go into Konqueror and point to "http://localhost:631" I get this:

An error occurred while loading [url]http://localhost:631/:[/url]
Could not connect to host localhost (port 631).

This is significant -- probably this is at the heart of your problem!

And, I fear re-installing everything will not necessarily produce a different result. You need to work Google and find out what this is all about -- it could be a bug in Hardy Heron, it could be some phenomenon with the hardware on your motherboard -- I dunno. But I'll bet this was the problem when you were trying to get that unit working in Gutsy, too.

I'd say crack through this CUPS local host issue first, then if you want to re-install at least you'll know how to deal with it. It's not one I've ever had to fix, so I can't offer you any instant solutions. :P

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

dibl,
I don't get it. For three months, I was running an HP 8250 flawlessly on this same computer. CUPS worked great.

The problem only arose when I purchased this new all-in-one printer. Even then, at first it worked great for printing. It was only after I installed 8.04 that things went awry. And even then, it worked fine at first.

The inconsistencies just don't make sense.

Matt

[Snowhog]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

Matt -

Most likely, the 'real problem' now, is a combination of things. Without an accurate record of what was done, fixing it is going to be a 'trial and error' process - something you have already been going through.

You may be better off simply reinstalling either Gutsy or Hardy, and going through the process of updating the packages 'without setting up a printer' so you have a solid 'base installation.' At that point, I would then start a log, recording exactly what actions you take to install the printer and the scanner and the results there of. Test after each completed action and record the results.

I know that this suggestion probably isn't what you want, but ....

[dibl]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

Yep, Snowhog's advice sounds pretty good, as usual.

I know you had an initial success with Hardy Heron, which probably makes you strongly disposed to hang your hopes on it again. But, HH is alpha software -- it is far from a stable release at this point, and is subject to multiple future breakages as they mature it through the rest of the alpha phase, into beta, and then the final release candidate. So if I had that problem, and especially now that it seems to be a CUPS local host issue, I think I'd install Gutsy, complete just as Snowhog says, and then plug in the printer, open Konqueror and address the local host again, and see what you see.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

dibl and Snowhog,
I see your logic in suggesting that the unstable 8.04 alpha 3 release may be the issue. However, the reason I installed 8.04 alpha is because the drivers in 7.10 refused to recognize the printer at all. Installing the new HPLIP drivers in 7.10 just didn't work. That's why I updated to 8.04 -- for the new drivers. If it were not for that, I would have stuck with the stable 7.10.

So I already know that my printer won't work in 7.10, and 8.04 seems to cause even bigger problems.

At the same time, there's that openprinting Web site claiming that the new drivers work "perfectly"!

Kind of stuck, aren't I?

Matt

[dibl]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

I'm not a printing guru, Matt, but I actually suspect the driver might not be the culprit in your case. Or perhaps it is, but not directly. The CUPS printing system is kind of like xorg -- it is a "system" within your system, and it should function correctly whether you have the right printer driver installed or not. I mean CUPS should not have errors of the sort you found, even if you have a bad driver and the printer won't print.

I really think it's all about that local host issue -- you need to figure out when/how it is breaking. If you want to try again with a clean HH installation, that's OK, but do the logging thing as you (a) verify that on a clean install, the local host is right and the cupsd daemon starts out running in the background like it's supposed to, then (b) connect your printer, and re-verify that cupsd isn't broke yet, then (c) get the driver and run the installation routine, and see if cupsd is broken yet, and finally try a restart and probably find a broken local host and no cupsd daemon running.

Also, be careful to only do things as "sudo" when you absolutely have to. I have wondered if there might be a permissions problem lurking somewhere in your printing/scanning problems, such as where a user function of some kind has inadvertently been converted to a "root access only" function, to your disadvantage.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HPLIP, CUPS, Printing Issues

dibl,
Thanks to you and others for all your help. However, this issue with incompatible hardware has overwhelmed me technically. Every time the solution is in sight, another aspect of basic hardware functioning breaks. Worse, I can't seem to find any consistent logic to explain why something breaks. I can handle technical problems, as long as, within a reasonable time, I can pinpoint the basic cause.

For example, in this current situation, at first I was able to print but could not scan. After updating Kubuntu, I was unable to print or scan. But this morning, after trying a few things, I'm able to scan but can't print. In essence, after hours of effort, I have just replaced one problem with another (worse) one.

After the huge amount of time I have put into this, I just don't have the energy to begin a whole new effort to analyze basic CUPS issues. The analysis you're presenting seems like a lot complication to go through. Anyway, my fear is that, even if I were to do everything you're suggesting, I'll still be facing a new issues.

There is just some basic problem here at the level of hardware compatibility, and all these steps don't get at the causes.

Matthew