Officejet 8500A is printing wrong colors

Asked by Ronnie Schmitt

I bought an HP Officejet Pro 8500A and set it up as mentioned on the HPLIP-Pages (http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/step4/cups/net.html). Since I got it working, it is printing false colors (kind of inverted or not at all, see: http://www.pic-upload.de/view-7707489/hpscan001.jpg.html). This behavior does not occur if I do a direct scan copy with the printer or if I use another PC with an actual Mandriva installed (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-7707491/hpscan002.jpg.html).

I'm running an Arch Linux Installation with up to date packages. The printer is connected via WLAN.

The output of hp-check -t :

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.10.9)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 14.3

Copyright (c) 2001-9 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

Note: hp-check can be run in three modes:
1. Compile-time check mode (-c or --compile): Use this mode before compiling the
HPLIP supplied tarball (.tar.gz or .run) to determine if the proper dependencies are
installed to successfully compile HPLIP.
2. Run-time check mode (-r or --run): Use this mode to determine if a distro supplied
package (.deb, .rpm, etc) or an already built HPLIP supplied tarball has the proper
dependencies installed to successfully run.
3. Both compile- and run-time check mode (-b or --both) (Default): This mode will
check both of the above cases (both compile- and run-time dependencies).

Saving output in log file: hp-check.log

Initializing. Please wait...

---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

Basic system information:
Linux acer-8935 2.6.35-ck #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Oct 13 07:14:33 CEST 2010 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9550 @ 2.66GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Distribution:
unknown 0.0

Checking Python version...
OK, version 2.7.0 installed

Checking PyQt 4.x version...
OK, version 4.8.1 installed.

Checking for CUPS...
Status: Scheduler ist aktiv
Version: 1.4.4
warning: /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file not found or not accessible.

Checking for dbus/python-dbus...
dbus daemon is running.
python-dbus version: 0.83.1

------------------------------------
| COMPILE AND RUNTIME DEPENDENCIES |
------------------------------------

note: To check for compile-time only dependencies, re-run hp-check with the -c parameter (ie, hp-check -c).
note: To check for run-time only dependencies, re-run hp-check with the -r parameter (ie, hp-check -r).

Checking for dependency: CUPS - Common Unix Printing System...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: CUPS image - CUPS image development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: DBus - Message bus system...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libjpeg - JPEG library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libpthread - POSIX threads library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libtool - Library building support services...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: libusb - USB library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PolicyKit - Administrative policy framework...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PyQt 4 DBus - DBus Support for PyQt4...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python DBus - Python bindings for DBus...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python devel - Python development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python libnotify - Python bindings for the libnotify Desktop notifications...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python XML libraries...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.3 or greater - Required for fax functionality...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library development files...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: scanimage - Shell scanning program...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

----------------------
| HPLIP INSTALLATION |
----------------------

Currently installed HPLIP version...
HPLIP 3.10.9 currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.10.9

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.10.9
icon=/usr/share/applications
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/share/cups/drv/hp

# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
pp-build=yes
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
hpijs-install=yes
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=yes
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=yes
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=yes
cups-ppd-install=no
internal-tag=3.10.9.11
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt4
qt3=no
qt4=yes
policy-kit=no
hpijs-only-build=no
lite-build=no
udev-acl-rules=yes
hpcups-only-build=no
hpijs-only-build=no

Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
# hplip.state - HPLIP runtime persistent variables.

[plugin]
installed=0
eula=0

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[settings]
systray_visible = 0
systray_messages = 0

[last_used]
device_uri = "hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A910?ip=192.168.0.41"
printer_name =
working_dir = .

[commands]
scan =

[refresh]
rate = 30
enable = false
type = 1

[polling]
enable = false
interval = 5
device_list =

[fax]
voice_phone =
email_address =

[installation]
date_time = 10.11.2010 08:45:50
version = 3.10.9.11

--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

No devices found.

---------------------------------
| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
---------------------------------

HP_Officejet_Pro_8500_A910
--------------------------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A910?ip=192.168.0.41
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Officejet_Pro_8500_A910.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet Pro 8500 a910, hpcups 3.10.9
Printer status: Drucker „HP_Officejet_Pro_8500_A910“ ist inaktiv; aktiviert seit Mi 10 Nov 20Processing page 1...
Communication status: Good

----------------------
| SANE CONFIGURATION |
----------------------

'hpaio' in '/etc/sane.d/dll.conf'...
OK, found. SANE backend 'hpaio' is properly set up.

Checking output of 'scanimage -L'...
device `hpaio:/net/Officejet_Pro_8500_A910?ip=192.168.0.41' is a Hewlett-Packard Officejet_Pro_8500_A910 all-in-one
device `v4l:/dev/video0' is a Noname HD Video WebCam virtual device

---------------------
| PYTHON EXTENSIONS |
---------------------

Checking 'cupsext' CUPS extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'pcardext' Photocard extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'hpmudext' I/O extension...
OK, found.

Checking 'scanext' SANE scanning extension...
OK, found.

---------------
| USER GROUPS |
---------------

lp ewigkeit

-----------
| SUMMARY |
-----------

error: 2 errors and/or warnings.

Please refer to the installation instructions at:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/install/index.html

Done.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
HPLIP Edit question
Assignee:
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Solved by:
Ronnie Schmitt
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Ani Balakrishnan (anib) said :
#1

Hi Ronnie,

 Please install RPM package for Acer as mentioned at http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/manual/distros/linpus.html.
Then configure the printer using hp-setup.

Thanks and Regards
Ani Balakrishnan

Revision history for this message
Ronnie Schmitt (ba1320) said :
#2

Hi Ani,

first: thanks for your answer. But I'm not running the Linpus-Distribution. Arch Linux doesn't support RPM-Packages, but I even compiled HPLIP from source yesterday and installed it, that still doesn't solve the color-printing-problem.

Revision history for this message
Ani Balakrishnan (anib) said :
#3

Hi,

 We haven't tested on Arch Linux. Without being able to test, its pretty hard for me to be able to give you any additional information. In theory HPLIP should work on any Linux distro assuming the requirements are met.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused

Thanks and Regards
Ani Balakrishnan

Revision history for this message
Adam Williamson (awilliamson) said :
#4

I'm seeing very similar behaviour with my M1212nf, using Fedora packaged hlip 3.10.9. When I print something with some kind of image in it, the 'colors' are inverted (dark areas comes out light, light areas come out dark). This caused some issues with an airline boarding pass...

Revision history for this message
Ronnie Schmitt (ba1320) said :
#5

I think, maybe the driver for the 8500a 910 is still in the Beta-Phase (which I can understand, because the printer just hit the market). I tried HPLIP under Arch Linux, PCLinuxOS and Mandriva (all three up-to-date versions) on three different computers. My experience so far:

Arch Linux: The inverted colors problem and HPLIP has some troubles auto-recognizing the printer, so you have to configure that manually (-> CUPS). Another problem ist, that it doesn't print right in duplex-mode, on the backside of the paper is just gibberish.

PCLinuxOS: After installing Printerdrake, everything installs just fine. It also uses the actual HPLIP-Version and the designated driver for the 8500a 910. Colors are right, but duplex-printing gives me mirror-writing on the backside of the paper.

Mandriva: Everything installs without any problems. But there isn't any driver for the 8500a integrated (yet), because of an older version of HPLIP (3.9.2, I think), so it uses a driver for the 8500 909. And guess what? Colors are right and even duplex-printing is working like a charm.

When I've got the time, I will try installing an older version of HPLIP and report back.

Revision history for this message
Ronnie Schmitt (ba1320) said :
#6

For my main installation on arch linux I finally solved the issue myself:

I had to install an extra-package called hpoj, did # ptal-init setup, started the daemon and restarted cups. ptal-init daemon has to be started every time at boot up before cups. No problems anymore, Duplex printing and color printing are working fine now.

Revision history for this message
cwchia (cwchia) said :
#7

I similar problem with my Deskjet 1050 attached via usb to PCLinuxOS 2010. The setting up of the HPLIP etc are just normal, everything looks fine including scanning.

the big problem is with the printer printing out wrong colours. I tried using Printerdrake (the printer management package that comes with Mandriva/PCLinuxOS) and select the standard test page, the Black (K) and white (W) colours on the colour wheel is wrong and generally these 2 section just shows an irregular shade of gray to white with a dash of red somewhere in the middle.

However the Photo test page using Printerdrake seems to work fine.

I also tried on the test page using HPLIP tools, and similar problem showns on the colour wheel as well as the Gray Ramp. The Colour Wheel is all wrong (yes all wrong, compare to the test page using printerdrake, only 2 sections are wrong, i.e. the black and white). The Gray Ramp is also wrong and with a similar dash of red shown in the standard test page described earlier.

The printer is working correctly under Windows and photocopying using the hardware button also works correctly.

please look into this problem.

Revision history for this message
GeorgeB (solar.george-deactivatedaccount) said :
#8

For anyone still having this problem, try making sure that you are using the hpijs version of the driver not the hpcups one (which seems to be marked "Recommended" on my system).

Revision history for this message
goutam kodu (goutam-hplip) said :
#9

Hi,

Please check the ghostscript(gs) version that is installed in your system. The same you can find using
$gs --version command , if gs version is 9.00 then please install the latest ghostscript version. And apply the below patch on HPCupsFilter.cpp file in the HPLIP source directory and do make and make install.

Index: HPCupsFilter.cpp
===================================================================
--- HPCupsFilter.cpp (revision 14595)
+++ HPCupsFilter.cpp (working copy)
@@ -699,10 +699,18 @@
             if (b != 0 && b != 0xFF) {

 #ifdef __linux
- rgb[0] -= (255 - b);
- rgb[1] -= (255 - b);
- rgb[2] -= (255 - b);
-
+ // rgb[0] -= (255 - b);
+ // rgb[1] -= (255 - b);
+ // rgb[2] -= (255 - b);
+ int cr,cg,cb;
+ cr = rgb[0] - (int)(255 - b);
+ rgb[0] = cr >= 0 ? cr : 0;
+
+ cg = rgb[1] - (int)(255 - b);
+ rgb[1] = cg >= 0 ? cg : 0;
+
+ cb = rgb[2] - (int)(255 - b);
+ rgb[2] = cb >= 0 ? cb : 0;
 #else // This alternate path is for Mac....

                 rgb[0] &= b;
@@ -710,8 +718,10 @@
                 rgb[2] &= b;
 #endif
             }
            else
                kVal |= (b == 0) ? pixel_value[k] : 0;
             rgb += 3;
             if (k == 7) {
                 *black++ = kVal;

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please let us know on the same.

Thanks,
Goutam Kodu

Revision history for this message
cwchia (cwchia) said :
#10

I have tried uninstalled the printer and change it to use hpijs. No luck.

However I do noticed one thing, the test page generated using cups via localhost:631 turns out ok, in that the colour wheel is perfect, however the test page using hplip gui is not.

My gs is 9.02 so there is no apparent problem here too.

As for changing the file suggested by Goutam, I am totally lost, can someone give me some hint? I am using the prepackaged hplip that shipped with my distro PCLinuxOS.

Thanks.

Revision history for this message
goutam kodu (goutam-hplip) said :
#11

Hi cwchia,

That patch was only if the distro was shipped with gs 9.00. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=107261,say that ghostscript caused the problem. As your distro is shipped with gs 9.02 that should be fine.

Please can you check which version of hplip is installed in your system using hp-check -t command.

If the hplip version installed in your system is lesser that 3.11.3a (which is the latest). Then download the latest hplip-3.11.3a from http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/gethplip.html and install it using the instructions provided at http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/manual/distros/pclinuxos.html

Let us know if the print test page still has inverted colors on the latest hplip-3.11.3a. And also post us the output of "hp-check -t" command.

Thanks & Regards,
Goutam Kodu

Revision history for this message
cwchia (cwchia) said :
#12

Hi Goutam

My hplip is 3.11.a

Do you want me to post the entire output of hp-check?

BTW I am NOT using OfficeJet 8500A as the original poster did. My printer i Deskjet 1050. Is there going to be any difference?

Scanning on the other hand works perfectly.

Thanks.

cwchia

Revision history for this message
goutam kodu (goutam-hplip) said :
#13

Hi cwchia

If you are observing wrong color printing in your printer. Please download the latest hplip-3.11.3a tar file from http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/gethplip.html and install it using the instructions provided at http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/manual/distros/pclinuxos.html

There will not be any difference in your printing or scanning. After extracting the hplip-3.11.3a tar file you will have source files in the folder hplip-3.11.3a.

Please apply the patch that was mentioned before on HPCupsFilter.cpp. The same you can find in prnt/hpcups directory of hplip source folder.

After the patch change run "make" and su -c"make install".

Let us know if the wrong color printing still persists.

Thanks,
Goutam Kodu

Revision history for this message
cwchia (cwchia) said :
#14

Hi Goutam,

Noted your instructions to reinstall the latest vanilla hplip. I will uninstall the hplip that is shipped with PCLinuxOS and re-install from source.

I have experience with make and make install so that is not much of problem there, but can you enlighten me how to apply the patch? Do I need to copy the file HPCupsFilter.cpp into any folder before the make process or how?

Will look into it next week as I have no internet access over this weekend.

Thanks!

Regards,

cwchia

Revision history for this message
goutam kodu (goutam-hplip) said :
#15

Hi,

Latest hplip-3.11.5 is released now. You can find the same at http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/gethplip.html. It contains the patch for the inverted color problem (wrong colors). Please upgrade the Ghostscript version to the latest and install hplip-3.11.5 using the instructions provided at http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/manual/distros/pclinuxos.html.

Let us know if you are still facing the issue.

Thanks for using HPLIP.
Thanks & Regards,
Goutam Kodu

Revision history for this message
cwchia (cwchia) said :
#16

Thanks Goutam. I will wait for my distro to include the latest HPLIP and report back here as I do not want to mess up my system (just in case) ;)

Thanks.