Network Printing troubleshooting

To find out why printing doesn't work first enable debugging informations:

Select "System" -> "Administration" -> "Printing" in the main menu of your desktop. The printer setup tool will open. Select "Settings" in ther "Server" menu. Then check the checkbox "Save debugging information for troubleshooting" and click "Apply". (As I'm German and just guessing what's in in English it may be a bit different).

Then try to print and then post the contents of /var/log/cups/error_log

Pardon naive Linux user ignorance. How do I display /var/log/cups/error_log ?

Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications → Accessories → Terminal and

- to view the end of log type:

tail /var/log/cups/error_log

- to view all log content type:

less /var/log/cups/error_log

or

gedit /var/log/cups/error_log

or use the Places menu and browse on your filesystem and open the error_log file double clicking on it

Hth

Yet another puzzlement. /var/log/cups/error_log not found by the search command , even though I had tried and failed to print from browser window. There should have been a failure logged. Perhaps I am missing a setup or config of cups/error_log????

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

I'm not certain why the command produced a log this time, but here it is

claude@claude-laptop:~$ sudo tail /var/log/cups/error_log
[sudo] password for claude:
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] Report: printers=1
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] Report: printers-implicit=0
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] Report: stringpool-string-count=369
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] Report: stringpool-alloc-bytes=8320
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] Report: stringpool-total-bytes=7376
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] cupsdReadClient: 8 POST / HTTP/1.1
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] cupsdAuthorize: No authentication data provided.
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] Get-Jobs ipp://localhost/jobs/
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] cupsdProcessIPPRequest: 8 status_code=0 (successful-ok)
D [18/Dec/2008:17:22:24 -0800] cupsdCloseClient: 8
claude@claude-laptop:~$

I see the line about No authentication data provided. So setup a second driver as a new printer with the PC location, but was still greeted by error, unable to connect to share and reloaded error log . No difference. On my PC I have not required any authentication to use the printer. From MAC OS X, there is no probHelp welcome.

The line "cupsdProcessIPPRequest: 8 status_code=0 (successful-ok)" suggests that the missing authentication data aren't a problem. But the lines are not about processing a print job so we need a bit more.

Please execute the following commands on the command line:

   sudo /etc/init.d/cups stop
   sudo sh -c 'echo > /var/log/cups/error_log'
   sudo /etc/init.d/cups start

then print something that is known to fail and post the whole /var/log/cups/error_log

The three given commands stop the printing server (first command), empty the error log (second command) and start the printing server again (third command).

Maybe use the Ubuntu Pastebin (http://paste.ubuntu.com/) to post the logfile.

It still did not print webpages. Here is the log
BTW, choosing the Places menu and browse on your filesystem and open the error_log file double clicking on it displayed a multitude of error logs - error_log
                                          error_log.1.gz
                                          error_log.2.gz
                                          error_log.3.gz
                                          error_log.4.gz
                                          error_log.5.gz
                                          error_log.6.gz
                                          error_log.7.gz
                                          error_log.0

I suspected the first file was the desired one, the others perhaps compressed archives??? and when I right clicked the first, and was offered option to copy it, did so, but when pasting into this message, only the name ot the log appeared. Just to make certain you did indeed receive the log, I reverted to terminal log request and pasted it below.

As for Ubuntu Pastebin (http://paste.ubuntu.com/) to post the logfile, the name of this site leaves me uncertain whether the pasting occurs in my thread, and I was reluctant to present you with a need to search for it. So here it is!

Thanks again

I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Listening to 127.0.0.1:631 (IPv4)
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Listening to /var/run/cups/cups.sock (Domain)
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Loaded configuration file "/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Using default TempDir of /var/spool/cups/tmp...
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Using policy "default" as the default!
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Full reload is required.
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Loaded MIME database from "/usr/share/cups/mime" and "/etc/cups": 38 types, 66 filters...
D [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Loading printer Stylus-CX5400...
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Loading job cache file "/var/cache/cups/job.cache"...
D [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] [Job 26] Loading from cache...
D [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] [Job 27] Loading from cache...
D [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] [Job 28] Loading from cache...
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Full reload complete.
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Cleaning out old temporary files in "/var/spool/cups/tmp"...
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Listening to 127.0.0.1:631 on fd 3...
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Listening to /var/run/cups/cups.sock on fd 4...
I [26/Dec/2008:16:47:49 -0800] Resuming new connection processing...
:

Here is latest cups error_log

claude@claude-desktop:~$ tail /var/log/cups/error_log
I [28/May/2009:01:34:44 -0700] Resuming new connection processing...
D [28/May/2009:01:34:44 -0700] Discarding unused server-restarted event...
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: clients=0
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: jobs=10
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: jobs-active=0
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: printers=2
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: printers-implicit=0
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: stringpool-string-count=632
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: stringpool-alloc-bytes=9160
D [28/May/2009:01:34:45 -0700] Report: stringpool-total-bytes=11744
claude@claude-desktop:~$

Does this clarify the problem?

Claude