Troubleshooting CUPS 

  1. check /var/log/cups/error_log, if nothing noticeable found

  2. increase /etc/cups/cupsd.conf LogLevel, from 'warning' to 'info' or 'debug'

  3. restart cups service 

    /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

  4. turn off and on the printer 

    $ tail -1 /var/log/messages
Nov 10 23:32:08 cxmr kernel: drivers/usb/class/usblp.c: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 3 if 1 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04B8 pid 0x080C

  5. print a label before starting a test: 

    echo "  LABEL $(date -Iseconds)" | tee -a /var/log/cups/error_log

  6. check communication / printer status first 

    $ tunelp -s /dev/usb/lp0
/dev/usb/lp0 status is 24, busy, ready, on-line

  7. print a test page and check status 

    lpc status; lpq -a

documented on: 2006.11.11

Troubleshooting in CUPS 

http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse91/suselinux-adminguide/html/ch05s05.html

By default, the configuration file /etc/cups/cupsd.conf contains the following section:

# LogLevel: controls the number of messages logged to the
# ErrorLog file and can be one of the following:
#
#     debug2    Log everything.
#     debug     Log almost everything.
#     info      Log all requests and state changes.
#     warn      Log errors and warnings.
#     error     Log only errors.
#     none      Log nothing.
#
LogLevel info

To detect errors in CUPS, set LogLevel debug and use rccups restart to have cupsd use the modified configuration file. Subsequently, /var/log/cups/error_log contains detailed messages that assist in detecting the cause of problems.

With the following command, print a label before starting to run the test:

echo "LABEL $(date)" | tee -a /var/log/cups/error_log

This label will be entered in /var/log/cups/error_log. This makes it easier to find the messages after the test.

CUPS printer won't even print test page 

I have a HP PSC 2355 printer/scanner. I'm using CUPS ` hpoj ` hpijs and the ptal backend in CUPS. I'm able to scan just fine with xsane, but I can't even get a test page to print. This is the first trouble I've ever had with this printer. When I try to print a test page, it shows in the queue, sits there for a few seconds (like it's being spooled) then disappears. Through all of this, the printer never even wakes up.

downtime

CUPS printer won't even print test page 

Do you have this file: /var/log/cups/error_log

If so show the last 20 lines or so…

kleeman

CUPS printer won't even print test page 

apparently hpijs wasn't installed.

installed foomatic-db-hpijs and so now it works.

thanks for you help.

downtime

CUPS printer won't even print test page 

Good one. BTW to increase the loglevel so you can get more informative messages in the logfile mentioned follow this guide; (see troubleshooting section) http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse91/suselinux-adminguide/html/ch05s05.html kleeman