Arch Linux

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Can't get printer to work for my life

kernel 2.6.25
printer: HP  laserjet 4
usb
CUPS

Even if printer is on at boot, printer won't work.
This has happened before, and I can usually get it working after fiddling with it for 10-15 minutes, then it stops working promptly.
I had it working a few nights ago, now it has stopped again.

dmesg

input: Video Bus as /class/input/input6
usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 3 if 0 alt 1 proto 2 vid 0x0557 pid 0x2006
usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp
sdhci: Secure Digital Host Controller Interface driver

What should the URI for a usb printer be?
USB is not an option for "Device for PrinterName" in the CUPS web interface

I can print from vbox on this machine, so this is slightly less urgent.

Last edited by Raccoon1400 (2008-06-18 23:07:06)

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Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

Bumped and consolidated.

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Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

Help! It is frustrating when you can't print!

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Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

bump

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skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

I can't answer your question, but I will help you get people more interested...

When the printer is not working, what does lsusb say?

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

I can't answer your question, but I will help you get people more interested...

When the printer is not working, what does lsusb say?

[duncan@duncan-arch ~]$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002  
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0557:2006 ATEN International Co., Ltd UC-1284B Printer Port
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001  
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 045e:0047 Microsoft Corp. IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001  
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001  
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001  
[duncan@duncan-arch ~]$

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Fustrated Windows users have two options.
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skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

So this device 'ATEN International Co., Ltd UC-1284B Printer Port' is a hub of some sort, correct? If so, what happens when you plug the printer in directly?

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

There is no hub. The laptop has 2 ports on the front, 2 on the back, with the printer plugged into the back.
If it matters, this is a parallel printer, with a parallel to usb cable connecting it to the machine.
Now that we know the usb port number the printer is plugged into, we should be able to figure out the uri.

EDIT: lsubs shows the same whether printer is on or not.

Last edited by Raccoon1400 (2008-06-21 16:45:31)

---

Fustrated Windows users have two options.
1. Resort to the throwing of computers out of windows.
2. Resort to the throwing of windows out of computers.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

There is no hub. The laptop has 2 ports on the front, 2 on the back, with the printer plugged into the back.
If it matters, this is a parallel printer, with a parallel to usb cable connecting it to the machine.
Now that we know the usb port number the printer is plugged into, we should be able to figure out the uri.

EDIT: lsubs shows the same whether printer is on or not.

An adapter, my mistake.

I had a parallel printer plugged into a USB port through an adapter for a while, and it exhibited the same behavior. My "solution" was to delete the printer and then recreate in CUPS. Sometimes the interface would reappear and sometimes it wouldn't.

Dusty started a thread about this a while back, and I was the last one to answer. Maybe you can get a hold of him and see if he had any success.

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

I'll try that again. It did work in ubuntu, though. Never had any problems with it there.

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Fustrated Windows users have two options.
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2. Resort to the throwing of windows out of computers.

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

No, doesn't make a difference. I even tried loading parallel printer modules.
I think it more or less worked with the 2.6.24 kernel. Using 2.6.25 now.

Last edited by Raccoon1400 (2008-06-21 17:14:09)

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Fustrated Windows users have two options.
1. Resort to the throwing of computers out of windows.
2. Resort to the throwing of windows out of computers.

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

I think they dropped a module or something for the 2.6.25 kernel that allowed me to printed, or maybe the module is still there but not loaded by default.
My mom's usb HP printer works fine.

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Fustrated Windows users have two options.
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Misfit138

Misfit Emeritus

From: USA

Registered: 2006-11-27

Posts: 4,189

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

This page recommends hplip. Did you install it?

pacman -S hplip

After that run

hp-setup

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Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Can't get printer to work for my life

Nope. Doesn't pick it up, automatically or manually.

this must have to do with the method of connection, because my mom's newer HP printer worked fine.
I think mine worked fairly well under 2.6.24. for the latest kernel, I suspect the modules that allow that to work are either dropped from the kernel, or not loaded automatically.

---

Fustrated Windows users have two options.
1. Resort to the throwing of computers out of windows.
2. Resort to the throwing of windows out of computers.