topic Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer in Operating System - HP-UX

Cannot add or delete a given printer

Reinhardt — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:44:30 GMT

I have a couple of printers that are giving me problems.

If I try to delete them (with sam or removequeue), it says that they don't exist and if I try to add them (using sam or addqueue) it says that the already exist.

I've tried deleting some these printers' files from the various directories inside /etc/lp, but no luck.

Is there a way to manually wipe out all traces of a printer so I can add it again from scratch?

Thanks.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

OldSchool — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:37:36 GMT

did you also remove the request directory?

/var/spool/lp/request/

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

OldSchool — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:38:54 GMT

also, did you do and lpshut & lpsched after removal?

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Reinhardt — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:01:58 GMT

Thanks. That got me halfway there.

I should have mentioned it in the original post, but one of the problem printers was a laserjet and the other was a remote printer (Oce/Canon).

Removing the request directory removed all traces of the laserjet and I was able to re-add it successfully.

But it didn't help in removing the remote printer (it's an Oce/Canon). I confirmed that I removed the file from all directories under /etc/lp and /var/spool/lp/request, but it still shows up in sam, but doesn't let me delete it or re-add it.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Court Campbell — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:31:00 GMT

I have a feeling Bill Hassell can answer this.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Court Campbell — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:32:59 GMT

my best guess is that the printer is still referenced in /var/spool/lp/pstatus. It's a binary file. try usings strings on the file and see what you get.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Reinhardt — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:37:58 GMT

It's in /var/spool/lp/pstatus 3 times, twice by itself and once with our domain name.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

OldSchool — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:48:14 GMT

an admitted long-shot, but try

find . -name "**"

from both /var/spool/lp and /etc/lp

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Reinhardt — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:10:37 GMT

Unfortunately, nothing was found with the find command. I'm assuming at this point that it has something to do with the pstat file.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Court Campbell — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:16:48 GMT

what happens if you try

# lpadmin -x

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Reinhardt — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:36:16 GMT

I get this error from lpadmin -x:

lpadmin: destination "" non-existent

When I try to add it via sam, I get:

The name "canon3974b5" is already being used by an existing printer or print class. You must choose another name for the new printer.

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Court Campbell — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:59:00 GMT

I think your kind of hosed. My suggestion would be to go under /etc/lp and find files associated with another remote printer. for each file assiociated with that printer copy it and name it canon3974b5. then try

# lpadmin -xcanon3974b5

Re: Cannot add or delete a given printer

Reinhardt — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:24:31 GMT

That was the answer. Thanks!