Printing issue - need power cycle the printer between each print job

[Johnson Zhu]

The issue with the printer is, we have to power cycle the printer between each print job. Talking with the printer tech support, they believe that when a print job is sent the application opens a port and sends the data but doesn't close the port. Since the port is left open the next print job is waiting on the previous opened port to close. Power cycling the printer closes the open port and the next print job prints.

We do not have this issue with the same printer and HP-JetDirect on the other queue.

But the two printer queues were created in different time, I suspected something incorrect with the configuration files under /etc/lp/interface/Print1 and /etc/lp/interface/model.orig/Print1

Btw, system is HPUX 11.11 with JetDirect E.10.34 installed.

Please help. Many thanks.

[Bill Hassell]

You probably forgot to turn off the (awful) True-EOJ and job recovery options. These are very unstable with some printers. Most of the HP techs know very little about HPPI for Unix and there is almost nothing published concerning compatibility with HP-UX for any printer.

The correct command to add a printer is:

addqueue -q Print1 -h 12.34.56.78 -r off -t off -b off

(hppi is very cumbersome)

To fix the print queues, use modifyqueue:

modifyqueue -q Print1 -r off -t off
modifyqueue -q Print2 -r off -t off

(you can turn off the banner page with -b off)

FYI, all /etc/lp/interface scripts for JetDirect printers are identical except for the IP address stored internally. You can also compare the two printer scripts in model.orig to see the differences.

[Johnson Zhu]

Thanks Bill. I did not forget to turn off True-EOJ and job recovery options. As you mentioned I use "addqueue -q Print1 -h 12.34.56.78 -r off -t off -b off" to add the queue.

After I compared the two printers setting in model.orig, found:

Print2 (problem printer): #@(#) $Header: /users/hpnp/odyssey/repository/sh/net_lj5x.psh,v 1.2 2002/05/06 21:45:21 hpnp Exp $

Print1: #@(#) $Header: /users/hpnp/odyssey/repository/sh/net_lj5x.psh,v 1.93 1999/07/30 16:02:05 hpnp Exp $

Base on the files, both printer queues use ( 11) HP LaserJet 5Si net_lj5x), but the file structure looks different. I donot understand the reason why they are different.

[Bill Hassell]

> Base on the files, both printer queues use ( 11) HP LaserJet 5Si net_lj5x), but the file structure looks different. I donot understand the reason why they are different.

The printer files should be identical. One is an ancient 1999 version and the other 2002. When you use addqueue, the script identifies the printer and picked the current net_lj5x script. The model script resides in /opt/hpnpl/sh and 2002 is the latest version. You can change the script anytime the printer is not active. I would cd to the model.orig directory and copy the working printer's script over the problem printer's script. NOTE: the working script might be the older version. Now since the two queues are the same printer, I suspect customization is present in one or both scripts. Be sure to find the differences so the replacement can be properly customized.

If this doesn't change the behavior, then the network script in the interface directory may be the problem. Since it is the same printer, just copy the working version. These scripts are (normally) never modified so a plain copy should be fine.