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Re: printing stopped working--any ideas?



On Thu, 10 Jan 2002 20:03:20 -0700, Luke Call wrote:

>I believe they are compiled into the kernel; not modules. I just 
>re-checked the options selected in make menuconfig and "parallel port" 
>had an asterisk, as did "pc-style hardware". lpd is in the ps list, if 
>that matters.
>
>Does that sound like it should be OK?
>Thanks!!
>Luke
>
Let's back up a step or three.  First of all did you run 
cat <filename> > /dev/lp0
as root or regular user.  Printer services are installed as root user
with superuser privileges.  So, the above command must be run by the
superuser.  If you are not superuser, you must use the print utilities.

As *root* user, try this;

lptest > /dev/lp0 (or /dev/lp1 depending on your installation) 

This should send 16,000 characters to the printer, or ~200 lines.  See
man lptest for options.

If this test fails, then the printer installation itself is bad (since
the printer still tests ok).

If the above worked, kill and restart lpd, then run (as root)

lptest | lpr

If this works, you're good to go.  If it doesn't, then the problem lies
with the print software or configuration.  These two tests should at
least narrow the area of search.

>Gary Turner wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 10 Jan 2002 18:31:58 -0700, Luke Call wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>>Please post the output of lsmod, the end several lines of 
>>>>
>>>/var/log/lpr.log,
>>>
>>>>/etc/printcap, and /var/log/cups/error_log.  This may give some
>>>>indication of what's going on.
>>>>Steve
>>>>
>>>Here's the lsmod output:
>>>	Module                  Size  Used by
>>>	vmmon                  18436   0  (unused)
>>>	rtc                     5272   0  (autoclean)
>>>
>>>
>> Where are your lp and parport modules?
>> 
>>>Here is the recent /var/log/lpr.log output (just after a failed print job):
>>>	Jan  6 19:45:11 lacall-hat lpd[230]: restarted
>>>	Jan  8 07:01:06 lacall-hat lpd[200]: restarted
>>>	Jan  9 18:16:56 lacall-hat lpd[230]: restarted
>>>
>>>Here is /etc/printcap:
>>># /etc/printcap: printer capability database. See printcap(5).
>>># You can use the filter entries df, tf, cf, gf etc. for
>>># your own filters. See /etc/filter.ps, /etc/filter.pcl and
>>># the printcap(5) manual page for further details.
>>>
>>>lp|Generic dot-matrix printer entry:\
Is this what you have? IBM Pro24 or Epson emulation e.g.?  See below
>>>        :lp=/dev/lp0:\
>>>        :sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp:\
Does this file *exist*?  If not, anything sent to this printer will
vanish.
>>>        :af=/var/log/lp-acct:\
>>>        :lf=/var/log/lp-errs:\
>>>        :pl#66:\
>>>        :pw#80:\
>>>        :pc#150:\
>>>        :mx#0:\
>>>        :sh:
Since there is no if (input filter), the default is ASCII/DOS style
character output.  That could confuse a PS printer.
>>>
>>># rlp|Remote printer entry:\
>>>#         :lp=:\
>>>#         :rm=remotehost:\
>>>#         :rp=remoteprinter:\
>>>#         :sd=/var/spool/lpd/remote:\
>>>#         :mx#0:\
>>>#         :sh:
>>>
>>>
>> This looks like mine (working).
>> 
>>>Note that I can't even cat filename > /dev/lp0. Absolutely nothing 
>>>happens that I can see. Also, when I Print from Gimp (I have a CUPS and 
>>>gimp-print setup), then check "lpstat", I briefly see something in the 
>>>queue, then it disappears without any action to the printer. And this 
>>>was all working a month ago before I started messing with kernels; still 
>>>stumped; I thought I'd changed everything back to how it was!
>>>
>>>
>> Looks like you forgot to re-install the drivers.
>> 
>> gt
>> Yes I fear I am living beyond my mental means--Nash
>> 
Luke, I haven't run into it myself yet, but as I understand, lpd creates
a lock file if a job terminates abnormally.  You may have to clear the
spool before you can print anything else.

So, in summary:

run lptest > <dev> to check hardware setup;  if it works go to the next
	thing.

run lptest | lpr  to check software/config.

Remember to do these tests as superuser.

gt

Yes I fear I am living beyond my mental means--Nash



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