[SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

grodrigues · 2017-10-16 17:13:57

I have set up an HP Deskjet 3630 printer. It is connected to the computer via a usb port. Here are the steps I have followed (mostly, just lavishly following the arch wiki):

- installed cups
- enabled and started the cups service
- install hplip
- basic setup via the gui tool hp-setup -u

At this point, I also printed a test page and it came out just fine and dandy.

- used printer-manager (a kde app) to add a couple users that can print.

Then opening a pdf file on Okular, sent it to the printer and the page just rolls out of it blank. The file itself was exported from LibreOffice and had no colors. Opening another pdf file, with forms to fill, the input values have blue color and these are printed but nothing else is (that is, all the black lines in the background are not printed). Tried both color and grayscale in the options but it made no difference.

Maybe my google-fu is not that strong, but have found nothing helpful.

So, excuse my newbie-ness, but anyone can help me out here? Anymore info needed just holler.

Last edited by grodrigues (2017-10-18 09:38:21)

seth · 2017-10-16 17:49:16

Out of ink, dried or badly seated cartridges?

grodrigues · 2017-10-16 18:00:20

@Seth:

Since it is a brand new printer, "Out of ink, dried" is implausible. Excuse my ignorance, but how would I check if the cartridges are "badly seated"? I have just tried to print a testing page (from print-manager) and contrary to what I said above, not even that is working now.

seth · 2017-10-16 18:07:01

Especially check whether you removed the transport sealing from the cartridges.
Single-color-print is very most likely a HW issue. The printer usually comes w/ a brief manual on how to insert the cartridges and what to care about.

The printer should also have a self-test feature which works independently from the OS - see whether that works to rule out HW issues.

ewaller · 2017-10-16 18:12:26

I don't think it is the ink. Test pages print okay.
Have you tried changing the cups ppd file to other options for may exist for that printer. You might also try the foomatic drivers.

grodrigues · 2017-10-16 22:30:09

Here are a few more things I tried:

Check the cartridges and everything seems ok. Have not tried the foomatic drivers. Instead what I did was removed the printer and then re-added it via kde's printer-manager. There were two drivers for the Deskjet 3630, I chose the one with (en) instead of the one with () -- have no idea what the difference is. I did notice that I had more options than before e.g. normal grayscale and whatnot -- left everything at the default values. Print test page went fine -- although colors seem a bit faded.

Then ran

sudo hp-check -r

Only some errors about missing dependencies, mostly optional python packages. One warning:

warning: Failed to read /etc/cups/ppd/DeskJet_3630.ppd ppd file

Changed the permission with chmod o+r. Re-running, no more warning. Except:

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
warning: Could not access file: No such file or directory

Do not know what that is, as file exists and permissions look just fine.

Print pdf file and still blank. As my head atm.

I did notice something I hadn't before though. The black cartridge indicator is low, which is mighty odd, as the printer is new. Could this be the problem? Shouldn't the printer still print *something* even if in a faded tone?

seth · 2017-10-17 05:49:40

Is the page just pulled through the printer or does the printer pretend to print something (the head moves around, what you should be able to hear)
About the low black ink: given the price strategy of the model this doesn't surprise.

I googled up on how to perform self tests:
https://support.hp.com/ph-en/document/c04617078 - the status report looks promising.

grodrigues · 2017-10-17 11:17:36

@Seth:

First, thanks for bearing with me and all the help.

Ok, tried to print the status report as per the instructions on the video... and blank page, except for 4 characters disposed in a line close to something like this:

    [     ]     [     ]

As per your question, the head does move around and, I imagine, is trying to fool me in that it is doing its work.

The test page is more interesting. Comparing with the image on the site, all color bars are printed, all the text is printed, but the thick black bars do *not* appear on the test page.

seth · 2017-10-17 13:09:54

New or not - you're short on ink and apparently out of black ink or there's something wrong with the cartriges. The self test has nothing to do with the OS, drivers etcetc.

=> Have a close look and if there's no obvious cause (like the sealing si still on, you broke it when brute forcing it into the device etc. ;-) : RMA.

Notice that these printers come with barely loaded cartridges (because they are the way HP makes money here), so if this happend "just after printing 5 pictures from the last family party" - that's probably "normal" :-(

grodrigues · 2017-10-18 09:37:52

@Seth:

Looked again at the cartridges and everything seems ok. Even compared the color cartridge (which seems to be working fine) with the black one, and there are no noticeable differences. So my tentative conclusion is that you are right, and the printer is just out of ink (even though the indicator says low not empty).

Anyway, once again thanks for everything, and marking this as solved.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-10-16 17:13:57

[SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#2 2017-10-16 17:49:16

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#3 2017-10-16 18:00:20

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#4 2017-10-16 18:07:01

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#5 2017-10-16 18:12:26

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#6 2017-10-16 22:30:09

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#7 2017-10-17 05:49:40

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#8 2017-10-17 11:17:36

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#9 2017-10-17 13:09:54

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

#10 2017-10-18 09:37:52

Re: [SOLVED] Printer only prints blank pages (almost).

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