LinuxQuestions.org - Printing headache -- HP Laserjet 4L

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Printing headache -- HP Laserjet 4L

I've been having a difficult time getting my HP Laserjet 4L to work with my system. I'll try to give as much info as I can for this issue below.

The printer of couse is the HP Laserjet 4L, which I have attached to an HP Omnibook 5500 CT. I am running Sackware 10.0, I'm using CUPS to set up the printer. I have already made sure that CUPS was the only print spooler on the system, I have even removed and reinstalled CUPS (making sure that LPRng was removed, first) with no luck.

I can go through the setup of the printer just fine, select the parallel port, and an appropriate driver. However, whenever I try and print a test page, nothing happens... the power/data light on the printer may blink momentarily, but then nothing. I have already tried several drivers, and following the instructions at linuxprinting.org. I have even tried to use a few drivers like the 5L, 6L, etc. drivers with no luck.

When I check the CUPS web admin tool, the printer config page says the printer is idle and accepting jobs, and that it's ready to print.

I was able to get some output from the printer using the RAW driver, but just some "gibberish" across the top of the page, and that's it.

here's some additional info that may help:

Code:

root@abulurd:~# dmesg | grep parport

parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [PCSPP]

parport0: Legacy device

lp0: using parport0 (polling)

Code:

root@abulurd:~# lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted

nfsd                  67376  8

usbcore                59308  1

vlsi_ir                8908  0  (unused)

irda                  84060  0  [vlsi_ir]

3c589_cs                8200  1

ds                      6548  2  [3c589_cs]

i82365                13668  2

isa-pnp                30736  0  [i82365]

pcmcia_core            39972  0  [3c589_cs ds i82365]

ide-scsi                9328  0

lp                      6724  0

parport_pc            14788  1

parport                23336  1  [lp parport_pc]

apm                    9580  1

Code:

root@abulurd:~# lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: OPTi Inc. 82C557 [Viper-M]

00:01.0 ISA bridge: OPTi Inc. 82C558 [Viper-M ISA+IDE]

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Chips and Technologies F65548

00:03.0 PCMCIA bridge: Cirrus Logic CL 6729 (rev e2)

00:04.0 Communication controller: VLSI Technology Inc 82C147 (rev 01)

I hope this is enough information.. and I hope someone can give me some insight into this issue. If you need anything else please let me know ;)

***edit***

I forgot to include this:

I'm running kernel 2.4.26

Have you tried the 'hpoj' drivers ? Either from http://hpoj.sourceforge.net or a slack mirror near you.

Cheers,

mj

http://linuxprinting.org/
Maybe you've been there already. I've had several laserjets (and various inkjets) install effortlessly, using CUPS on Slackware 10.x. Are you administering the printer from 127.0.0.1:631 or http://localhost:631?

nz

I'm administering the printer from 127.0.0.1:631, and yeah, I have already been to linuxprinting.org and tried the drivers from there...

I'm still trying some things, though

This might sound stupid, but are you sure that printer is ok? If it prints fine from another OS or another PC then ok. I've had my 4L for ten years and it's never done what you describe - I've been through Slackware (lpr) and RedHat (lprNG) and it's now working fine on Debian (cups).

Other non-linux things to check: the printer cable and the parallel port on that laptop. If all these things work fine and dandy (ie. the parallel port works fine for PLIP or laplink or a scanner, and the cable works fine connecting another printer to another PC) then I don't know what to suggest. Sorry.

Good luck,

CC
P.S. There is nothing wrong with any of the output you gave us - it all matches my setup exactly. This is why I think the problem might not be with linux.

You may wish to turn the logging level for Cups up to either Debug or Detailled Debugging, and then check the logs after attempting to print. Also, in some cases root needs to be able to included in the users allowed to print, as even for an ordinary user the printjob ownership is only transferred at the last minute.

Cheers,

mj

Thanks for all the suggestions :)

I have the printer working now, and it works quite nicely. I got a new hard drive for my main laptop, so I installed the old one into the laptop and then I reinstalled slackware. The thing has worked fine since then, no changes as to what packages I installed, or how I configured it..

odd, but I'm happy that it's working now :)