HPLIP

hplip version 2.8.2 hp 3550 printer prints blank pages

Asked by Khan Md Ashraf

I have HPLIP software version 2.8.2 and Device Manager Software version 11.0 installed on Mandriva Linux Release 2008.1 (Official) for X86_64 running kernel version 2.6.24.7
The problem is that the printer is detected and setup without trouble, but only prints absolutely blank pages.
I have checked the printer in Windows and it prints without trouble and also has functioned without trouble with an earlier version of HPLIP software.
I have also checked both via the HP Device Manager Utility as well as the CUPS interface, in both I have the same problem
relevant output of /var/log/cups/error_log on trying a test print from http://localhost:631/printers/HP_Deskjet_3550
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Adding start banner page "none".
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Adding job file of type application/postscript.
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Adding end banner page "none".
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Queued on "HP_Deskjet_3550" by "root".
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops (PID 15698)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip (PID 15699)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:05 +0530] [Job 8] Started backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/hp (PID 15700)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:07 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=15728)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:18 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=15779)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:29 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=15858)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:41 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16078)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:45:53 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16152)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:46:04 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16238)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:46:16 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16315)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:46:27 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16400)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:46:38 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16486)
I [18/Aug/2008:07:46:41 +0530] [Job 8] Completed successfully.
I [18/Aug/2008:07:46:49 +0530] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=16513)

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Khan Md Ashraf
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Khan Md Ashraf (ehorizon-tech-gmail) said : 		#1

and here is the output of hp-check
[root@localhost ~]# hp-check

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 2.8.2)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 13.0

Copyright (c) 2001-7 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...
warning: Invalid ppd_dir value: None

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

Basic system information:
Linux localhost 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb #1 SMP Mon Jul 28 15:54:51 EDT 2008 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+ GNU/Linux

Distribution:
mandriva 2008.1

HPOJ running?
No, HPOJ is not running (OK).

Checking Python version...
OK, version 2.5.2 installed

Checking PyQt version...
OK, version 3.17 installed.

Checking SIP version...
OK, Version 4.7.3 installed

Checking for CUPS...
Status: scheduler is running
error: Version: (Not available. CUPS may not be installed or not running.)

------------------------------------
| 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-ddk - CUPS driver development kit...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: cups-devel- Common Unix Printing System development files...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED/COMPILE TIME ONLY dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

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...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

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...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

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)...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

Checking for dependency: ppdev - Parallel port support kernel module....
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PyQt - Qt interface for Python...
OK, found.

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

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

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library development files...
error: NOT FOUND! This is a REQUIRED/COMPILE TIME ONLY dependency. Please make sure that this dependency is installed before installing or running HPLIP.

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 2.8.2 currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.

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

[hpssd]
# Note: hpssd does not support dynamic ports
# Port 2207 is the IANA assigned port for hpssd
port=2207

[hplip]
version=2.8.2

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-2.8.2
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
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
internal-tag=2.8.2.10

-------------------------------
| DISCOVERED PARALLEL DEVICES |
 -------------------------------

No devices found.

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

  Device URI Model
  ---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
  hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76 HP deskjet 3500

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

HP_Deskjet_3550
---------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Deskjet_3550.ppd
PPD Description: HP DeskJet 3550 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HP_Deskjet_3550 is idle. enabled since Monday 18 August 2008 07:46:41 AM IST
Communication status: Good

HPDesJet3550
------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HPDesJet3550.ppd
PPD Description: HP DeskJet 3550 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HPDesJet3550 is idle. enabled since Monday 18 August 2008 07:42:04 AM IST
Communication status: Good

HPLasJet1000
------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/hp_LaserJet_1000?serial=0
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HPLasJet1000.ppd
PPD Description: HP LaserJet 1000 Foomatic/foo2zjs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HPLasJet1000 is idle. enabled since Tuesday 10 June 2008 07:17:10 AM IST
error: Required plug-in status: Not installed
error: Unable to communicate with device (code=12): hp:/usb/hp_LaserJet_1000?serial=0
error: Device not found

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

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

Checking output of 'scanimage -L'...

No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).

---------------------
| 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.

-----------------
| USB I/O SETUP |
 -----------------

Checking for permissions of USB attached printers...

HP Device 0x7304 at 002:010:
    Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76
    Device node: /dev/bus/usb/002/010
    Mode: 0660
getfacl: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names
# file: dev/bus/usb/002/010
# owner: ashraf
# group: lp
user::rw-
group::rw-
other::---

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

error: 9 errors and/or warnings.

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

Revision history for this message
Khan Md Ashraf (ehorizon-tech-gmail) said : 		#2

and here is the out put of hp-check -r
[root@localhost ~]# hp-check -r

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 2.8.2)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 13.0

Copyright (c) 2001-7 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...
warning: Invalid ppd_dir value: None

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

Basic system information:
Linux localhost 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb #1 SMP Mon Jul 28 15:54:51 EDT 2008 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+ GNU/Linux

Distribution:
mandriva 2008.1

HPOJ running?
No, HPOJ is not running (OK).

Checking Python version...
OK, version 2.5.2 installed

Checking PyQt version...
OK, version 3.17 installed.

Checking SIP version...
OK, Version 4.7.3 installed

Checking for CUPS...
Status: scheduler is running
error: Version: (Not available. CUPS may not be installed or not running.)

------------------------
| RUNTIME DEPENDENCIES |
 ------------------------

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

Checking for dependency: cups-ddk - CUPS driver development kit...
OK, found.

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

Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

Checking for dependency: ppdev - Parallel port support kernel module....
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: PyQt - Qt interface for Python...
OK, found.

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

Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
OK, found.

Checking for dependency: SANE - Scanning library...
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 2.8.2 currently installed in '/usr/share/hplip'.

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

[hpssd]
# Note: hpssd does not support dynamic ports
# Port 2207 is the IANA assigned port for hpssd
port=2207

[hplip]
version=2.8.2

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-2.8.2
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
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
internal-tag=2.8.2.10

-------------------------------
| DISCOVERED PARALLEL DEVICES |
 -------------------------------

No devices found.

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

  Device URI Model
  ---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
  hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76 HP deskjet 3500

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

HP_Deskjet_3550
---------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Deskjet_3550.ppd
PPD Description: HP DeskJet 3550 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HP_Deskjet_3550 is idle. enabled since Monday 18 August 2008 07:38:27 AM IST
Communication status: Good

HPDesJet3550
------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HPDesJet3550.ppd
PPD Description: HP DeskJet 3550 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HPDesJet3550 is idle. enabled since Monday 18 August 2008 07:27:57 AM IST
Communication status: Good

HPLasJet1000
------------
Type: Printer
Installed in HPLIP?: Yes, using the hp: CUPS backend.
Device URI: hp:/usb/hp_LaserJet_1000?serial=0
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HPLasJet1000.ppd
PPD Description: HP LaserJet 1000 Foomatic/foo2zjs (recommended)
Printer status: printer HPLasJet1000 is idle. enabled since Tuesday 10 June 2008 07:17:10 AM IST
error: Required plug-in status: Not installed
error: Unable to communicate with device (code=12): hp:/usb/hp_LaserJet_1000?serial=0
error: Device not found

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

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

Checking output of 'scanimage -L'...

No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).

---------------------
| 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.

-----------------
| USB I/O SETUP |
 -----------------

Checking for permissions of USB attached printers...

HP Device 0x7304 at 002:010:
    Device URI: hp:/usb/deskjet_3500?serial=TH3CC1344Y76
    Device node: /dev/bus/usb/002/010
    Mode: 0660
getfacl: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names
# file: dev/bus/usb/002/010
# owner: ashraf
# group: lp
user::rw-
group::rw-
other::---

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

error: 5 errors and/or warnings.

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

Revision history for this message
Khan Md Ashraf (ehorizon-tech-gmail) said : 		#3

I solved the problem! To cut a long story short, I actually am setting up this printer on the following distribution Kubuntu 8.04. Since my initial attempts to make it work on this distribution failed, I tried it out (as above) on the Mandriva 2008.1 distro I have installed on another machine. I was at my wits end as to why the printer was printing blank pages. I even updated HPLIP to the lates version 2.8.7 to no avail. By the way in Kubuntu 8.04 make sure that the python-qt3 (if not already installed, usually is!) as well as the dbus-X11 (not installed by default with the live CD install) dependency are installed as otherwise it complains of 'error: Unable to connect to dbus session bus. Exiting".

It still would only print blank pages despite the upgrade of HPLIP to the current version 2.8.7. That set me thinking and I checked the 'Print Setting' tab on the HP Device Manager utility. I found that the default setting was for 'Normal (Color Cartridge)'. Well it transpires that the printer I was using had an empty colour cartridge! HP Colour cartridges are expensive!! Since the setting was as above and the colour cartridge was empty I was 'GETTING BLANK PAGES'!! Once I set the print setting to 'Normal Grayscale (Black Cartridge)' it started printing.

I fail to understand why the HPLIP utility should default to 'Normal (Color Cartridge)'. It should default to using both the cartridges.
I think it would save a lot of people grief, since otherwise the HPLIP utility is very user friendly.

Revision history for this message
Khan Md Ashraf (ehorizon-tech-gmail) said : 		#4

I am yet to figure how to set this system wide, cause I found that I have to set it in the 'printer setting' of each of the applications I print from.

Revision history for this message
lupv (lupv) said : 		#5

With Gnome desktop, you can do it from the System menu:
System > Administration > Printing > Click on printer under "Local Printers" > Printer Options > Printout Mode > Draft/Normal Grayscale (Black cartridge)

That set the grayscale printing system wide for me.