topic Re: label printer gets disabled immediately after being enabled in Operating System - HP-UX

label printer gets disabled immediately after being enabled

Paul143 — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:21:44 GMT

OS: HP-UX B.11.11 (Wildebeast)

Printer: Intermec PF8t (labels)

Immediately after an 'enable', printer is briefly enabled then becomes disabled with no intervening print job. Jobs remain in queue. Attempted again after jobs cleared from queue, same result.

Printer was added to the spooler as a network printer. Spooler was restarted. Other printers are functioning.

Printer successfully executes test print cycle. Printer is pingable.

Verified configuration is the same for other functioning printers of the same model in HP Web JetAdmin and via telnet.

'lpstat -p' gives 'reason unknown' and fence priority of 0.

Any advice is appreciated.

Re: label printer gets disabled immediately after being enabled

Bill Hassell — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 01:56:44 GMT

Use hpnpf to print a small job and specify a log file like this:

# hpnpf -x 12.34.56 -l /tmp/hpnpf.log -N /etc/issue
then
# cat /tmp/hpnpf.log

hpnpf is the program that actually sends a print job to the printer. -x specifies the IP address of the printer. -N adds the CR after any LF (newline character in Unix). For a working printer, you'll see something like this in the log:

OpenLog: logging started (/tmp/hpnpf.log)
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] Process: entered
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] OpenSocket: entered
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] OpenSocket: using 16K send buffer
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] MakeConnection: 10.11.10.245, port 9100
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] DoNonBlocking: non-blocking on
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166]   Connection has been set up
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] connected
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] Process: sending file /etc/issue
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] SendFile: entered
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166]   SendFile: 559 bytes read from host
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166]   SendFile: 559 bytes written to socket
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166]   SendFile: 0 bytes read from host
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166]   SendFile: end, return succ
21:48:30 hpnpf[8166] DoNonBlocking: non-blocking off
21:48:31 hpnpf[8166] Process: read EOF on socket
21:48:31 hpnpf[8166] StopLog: logging stopped

If there is a problem with the printer, you'll see the issue documented in the log. lp has no diagnostic ability at all. If the file prints OK, then there is something wrong with the the lp print queue setup and the easiest fix is to simply delete it and re-add the printer. If you are using SAM or SMH, save yourself a *lot* of time and use addqueue and removequeue to add and remove network (JetDirect style) printers.

Re: label printer gets disabled immediately after being enabled

Paul143 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 19:34:07 GMT

I did as you suggested, and the log showed success. In fact, the printer is now enabled. However, nothing printed. Everything seems to work on the HP side, so I believe it is a communication issue between the JetDirect box and the printer. Thanks for the reply.

Re: label printer gets disabled immediately after being enabled

Bill Hassell — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 20:12:17 GMT

Try the hpnpf test on another workng printer. This will verify that plain old ASCII will work OK with this type of printer. If it works, check to see if there is a test print button on your jetDirect box. That will verify the connection between the box and the printer.