Ubuntu and HP printer
 

A while back I'd been using a HP 3320 printer on a Ubuntu box and it worked fine. I had been experminenting with different distro's on the box and eventually ended up back with Ubuntu. Now - with a new black ink cartridge - the same printer will only print light blue - no black. Hooked to a Windows machine, it prints black just fine. I need a new color cartridge, so I'n not worried about that, but does anyone have suggestions as to why it won't print black? It installed as detected and not using HP drivers, but I did the same thing before and it worked fine then......

Are you using CUPS to print?

how could that be possible?? doesnt make sense.

I'm using CUPS, the driver apears to be right (hpijs).

And no, it doesn't make any sense at all.

This sounds crazy, but try using the Ubuntu live cd, add the printer, and test. Let me know if that works (obviously this won't change your hd installed Ubuntu, but I'm going somewhere with this).

printer on live cd
 

Well, when loaded on the live CD it does exactly the same thing.

Hm. I was hoping it wouldn't, because then we could tack it down to a misapplied driver. What's really getting me is that, as you said, it worked on the same box w/ Ubuntu before... I'm gonna tinker a bit sometime, and see if something comes to mind. Good luck!

I have one other thought......I've had a couple of other Linux distro's on that machine, as well as Solaris (and Nexenta) since the Ubuntu install the printer worked on. I don't recall formatting the hard drive in between installs. I know it's a long shot, but does anyone have any idea if the current printer driver might be corrupted by a driver from a previous install? OK, I'm reaching and I know it.......still......

It's a vexing problem and inquiring minds want to know.....

I know I could put another distro on there and it would work; I'd just like to figure out the answer. I also know it's a low end printer and not all is well in the low end world.....but it did work once.

Well, the live disk proved that it can't be corruption, since it doesn't even use the hard drive.

Another long shot...
is it the same version of Ubuntu? I remember that upgrading from warty to breezy made the printer stopped working. It wasn't the driver, but it automatically configured it wrong. I would look at the log files when you print for any clues there.

Unfortunately, it is the same version.

Alright, my first guess is that your printer driver is using the color cartridge to print black, by printing all three colors at the same time (cyan, magenta and yellow) and because you're out of magenta and yellow, it's only printing pale blue (cyan).

Have you looked at the printer options at all, to see if this sort of thing might be happening?

Ok....under administration-printers-edit-properties, I set it to greyscale and it does the same thing, but under yellow and red it does print yellow from about 40% on. No matter where I set it, it comes out the same.

I'm frustrated and feeling like at this point, I could

1: Get another printer or

2. Get another distro that does work with this printer.

I could do either and not be upset - it's just troubling.

There's two big areas that keep me from going Linux all the way. One is the derth of printer drivers. It's getting better, but it's still not as it could be. The other it that I own a wood flooring installation company and have yet to find a good invoicing program - Quickbooks or Peachtree-like. It doesn't have to be nearly as complete - no payroll or personal accounting, just invoicing. I'm fine with buying another printer, but please - someone - find me another invoicing program. In 2005 I searched high and low and came up empty handed and basically gave up. It wasn't worth my time.

But...that's another issue for another thread.......

What happens when you print the align cartridges page? (If the printer is capable of doing that...)

Actually, that's the page I was printing that I referred to in my last post.

Ah. Haha... this is a weird one...

Have you looked at http://www.gestix.com/?

Also, here's a freeware invoicing software: http://www.emadar.com/invoicer/invoicer_en.htm

And one more for good measure: http://www.tucows.com/preview/367952

I can't personally vouch for any of these, but they look like what you're looking for.

I was able to fix this problem on my system
 

Hi there. I have a HP OfficeJet 5510 and had the very same problem (all black printing was performed w/ the color cartridges)

I also tryed to print things using grayscale via an applications print properties dialog but that failed for me also. I found that there is a CUPS level Grayscale that did solve the problem for me.
I did the following:
1) start gnome-cups-manager ( available in the menu "System"-->"Administration"-->"Printing" )

2) right click on the printer and open "Properties"

3) On the "Advanced" tab, change "Printout Mode" from
"Normal (Color Cartridge)" to "Normal Grayscale (Black Cartridge)"
(Note: clicking the "Print Test Page" will still look wrong, but print from a different app and you should see black again)

The only catch is: If you want to print in color you need to go back into that settings app and change it back. But I seldom print color anyway so this work-around works for me.

Hope it helps you,
-Enrico