[TriLUG] print queues work locally, but not over the network

[Steve Litt]

More info on my CUPS problem. The original symptom description is at the 
bottom of this email. I found out where the print job is getting "stuck" on 
the client, whose hostname is rena. The computer physically connected to the 
printer is at 192.168.100.2 and is called mydesk. Here it is:

[root at rena ~]# ps ax | grep cups
 6552 ?        Ss     0:01 cupsd
11692 pts/2    S+     0:00 grep cups
[root at rena ~]# lpr -P lp_dark test.txt
[root at rena ~]# ps ax | grep cups
 6552 ?        Ss     0:01 cupsd
11695 ?        S      0:00 ipp://192.168.100.2:631/printers/lp_dark 11 root 
test.txt 1 job-sheets=none,none job-priority=50 
job-hold-until=no-hold /var/spool/cups/d00011-001
11697 pts/2    R+     0:00 grep cups
[root at rena ~]# cat /var/spool/cups/d00011-001
steve was here
and now is gone
but left his name
to carry on.
[root at rena ~]#

In the preceding, the text of /var/spool/cups/d00011-001 exactly matches 
test.txt -- it's exactly what I printed.

To me, the command ipp://192.168.100.2:631/printers/lp_dark looks malformed -- 
not an executable. The spool file gets stuck as /var/spool/cups/d00011-001. 
Restarting cups on rena (the client) blows off the job and the spool file.

So basically, I've found where the print job gets stuck (never gets off the 
client computer) but I don't know enough about CUPS to interpret that or 
figure out the next diagnostic test.

Thanks

SteveT



On Monday 11 December 2006 00:34, Steve Litt wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My computer has an HP4050 hooked to its parallel port. Most printers in the
> house run Mandriva 2006 and access my printer via the network. I upgraded
> my computer to Mandriva 2007, and all of a sudden none of the other
> computers can print to my printer. It (in all its various configurations
> such as lp, lp_dark, lp_duplex etc) shows up on all the other Mandriva
> machines, but when you print to it on those printers it "vanishes into thin
> air". Nothing prints on my printer, and the lpq -P lp_dark command says
> nothing's queued on their computer or on mine. I can't figure out what
> happened to the print job. The same print job works perfectly if I sftp the
> file to my computer and then print it from my computer.
>
> The cupsd daemon is running on all the computers, and lp_dark (and the
> others) show up at http://localhost:631 on all the computers.
>
> This seemed to start when I upgraded my computer from Mandriva 2006 to
> Mandriva 2007.
>
> What are some of the steps I'd take to troubleshoot this problem? My wife
> and kids have started a fire under a 1000 gallon pot, and I'm scared I'll
> get boiled if I don't get the family's printers printing.
>
> Thanks
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> Author:
>    * Universal Troubleshooting Process courseware
>    * Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist
>    * Manager's Guide to Technical Troubleshooting
>    * Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
>    * Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist
>
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/utp/tcourses.htm