Topic: SME56/LPRng

[Steve Bush]

I am having a problem with printing that may be related to the version of LPRng (LPRng-3.8.9-4) on SME56.  At times a users print job isn't removed from the printqueue after printing.  Windows 98 consistently fails, while WinXP only occassionally fails.  I have applied the latest Samba version on Charlie's contrib site and it didn't improve things.  I also updated the JetDirect card firmware to the lastest version.

The log file in the spool directory shows the following error:
2003-02-04-14:10:21.683 saserver laserjet4: Update_status: no identifier for 'hf
A257'

A quick search on the net reveal several threads on the subject with no real solution.  I would like to try the latest version of LPRng, but I'm not sure which version of the rpm to install on SME56.
Should I try LPRng-3.8.15-4.i386 RawHide 1.0 for i386?

I will also report this to bugs once I have more information.

Thanks for any help

Steve

[Ray Mitchell]

Steve
I also had a similar problem with 2 printers on sme v5.6 server, the queues would not empty in Windows print manager and I kept getting error messages saying the port could not be found. I could print the first job but subsequent jobs would not print. My printers are HP LaserJet 4000 and HP LaserJet 5P, connected directly to ports LPT1 and LPT2 on the server. The printer ports were also captured as we print using DOS programs sometimes.

The server is identical to that previously used to run 5.1.2 except for the addition of 2 drives in RAID1, and I did not have any problem printing to printers in that setup.

I added a test 5.6 server with only 1 printer connected and I could actually print to that but again the Windows print manager queue still showed the jobs as listed for printing although they had already printed. Subsequent print jobs were able to print but the queue listing just got bigger.

I had to connect the 2 printeres to another Win XP server and Win 98SE workstation to allow users to print to them, and they print quite OK this way.

Something seems not right here with the 5.6 server and printing.

I have reported this to bugs_AT_e-smith.com to see if they have any answers.

Anybody else experiencing these issues ??

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Greg Weg]

Hi,

I've experienced exactly the same problem.

The SME box controls one HPLJ1200. You may print nice test pages from all PCs (10) on the LAN (WXP). However - all regular jobs still appeared in the jobs as listed for printing although they had already printed. Also, when printing - you cannot send a new job.

I haven't found a solution yet - but still looking.

Best
Greg

[Ray Mitchell]

Dear All
I have done a bit more testing. My original server is a P133 with 32MbRAM, I know its less than suggested, but it seemed to work initially, and then this printing problem showed up after a day or two.

This machine has problems when I print to both printers, and gives port unavailable errors and leaves print jobs in the queue. I can only print 2 jobs before the error messages start and then I cannot print anything, unless I empty the print queues on a Windows95/98 workstation.
I also added some spare pieces of RAM I had making it 48Mb but still had the same problems.

My test server is a P166 with 80Mb RAM and I only had it set up to print to one printer, I noticed that it would print OK as many print jobs as I wanted to, except that two print jobs were still left in the print queue all the time, even though they had been printed.
I connected a second parallel port card and second printer to the test server and both printers worked OK, with as many print jobs as I could send, except I still saw 2 print jobs in each printers queue, even though these had been printed.
I swapped network cards and also swapped parallel port cards, but still had the problem on the original server. I could not swap RAM as it is different size and shape, and some is buffered some is not.

I also put a different hard drive into the original server that had e-smith v4.1.2 on it, and both printers printed OK without any jobs remaining in the printer queues with only 32Mb RAM (same as for 5.1.2).

I also tried a P600 with 256Mb RAM & 5.1Gb HDD with the second parallel port card in it with a fresh instal of v5.6.
I could print to both printers OK, but still saw 2 print jobs in the printer queues even after they had been printed.

Conclusions
I would say that the RAM in my original server is not enough, thats what Mitel are saying anyway, but I have found a printing problem that partially disappears with 80Mb instead of 32 MB or 48Mb
The test server consistently prints with 80Mb RAM, so I must conclude more RAM is part of the answer.

BUT on all three of the servers I tried I still had the problem of print jobs staying in the queue and not being flushed, so it seems that there is something wrong with v5.6 or the kernel and/or rpms it uses. Unfortunately my knowledhge of these things is insufficient to be able to diagnose further.

Anybody have any comparisons of their systems configurations, or any comments/suggestions as to why the jobs are staying in the print queue.

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[MadPat]

i've the same problems

everthing was working fine on my v5.5 box. i've upgraded to v5.6 and i've als the que problem.
my server i a PIII-667 with 128 Mb ram so that could not be the problem.
i've it on both win98 and XP machines.

in the printermanament in the server-panel i can not remove them.

[Robert]

I have a similar issue and one thing that might give a clue to someone who has more time than what I had to check into this: some of these printing problems seem to happen only to certain kind of print jobs and specific printers.
Example:
SME Server 5.6 with Samsung ML-1210 on usb0 and Canon S520 on usb1
Anything prints from a Windows 95 workstation on either printer
Anything prints from a Windows Xp Pro workstation to the Canon printer
From the Xp workstation, any one-page document prints, and so does any Notepad or Word document. Multi-page ACT! 2000 docments just won't print on the Samsung printer from the Xp workstation, but will print on the Canon, on the same SME Server (?!).

Doesn't resolve anything but might give a clue to someone more experienced - I am not a Linux expert and I am out of ideas.

[Greg]

Hi Ray,
Thanks for your nice detailed report.
I must say that your suggestions does not solve my problems.
Still the same as mentioned previously.
I use a P4 (1800), 512 RAM and 2x120 (Hardware RAID1).
I have reinstalled the system without success.
Currently I try the newest SAMBA, but until now just with problems...
I'll keep trying.
Let you know if anything helps in my setting...

Greg

[Steve Bush]

Has anyone applied the latest version of the LPRng app that can be found at:
http://www.lprng.com/downloads.html
The latest version is:
LPRng-3.8.20-1.i386.rpm

I installed it on my home SME56 server using rpm -Uvh without any problems, I then restarted the lpd service.
I will test to see if it causes any printing problems tonight.

[Baronne Mouton]

I have the same problems... the damn thing just got stuck... I managed to remove the queue and went on to install the print queue admin panel contrib and also upgraded the LPRng - but guess what! still the same... I get an error in the print queue thing saying raw@192.168.0.5 : connection refused

Anyone heard of the resolution to this problem yet?

regards

Baronne

[Lars Stea]

I have had exactly the same problem. I don't know if it's just a coincidense, but when I cleared the files in /var/cache/samba and restarted one of the JetDirects it dissapeared. I've also heard that the timeout value of the JetDirects need to be changed.

-Lars

[MadPat]

i'm using A HP deskjet 720C with 2 clients attached on my SME at the parallel port 1.

1x Windows ME
1x Windows XP.

my experience is that the qeue isn not empty after printing.

[Jo Chew]

I have a similar problem. Running 5.6 of course... I have a kyocera printer, which can print double-sided (very nifty!). The problem being, i belive the Windows printer driver needs to query the printer in able to determine wether it has the double-sided printing capability.

Upon going to printers in the control panel. When i click on the printer, on the right it has "Access denied, unable to connect". Now when i go to properties, it says the printer is incapable of double-sided printing. Which i believe is because W2k cant query the printer.

Other than that, it prints fine!! except i cant print double-sided

I would be VERY keen on finding out how to fix this. I have tried changing permissions with samba etc, but still, exact same problem.

Jo

[Martin Birch]

Well I do know that the e-smith server we download is without any support and warranty. But when so many people have printing problems with the 5.6 version, then why doesn't Mitel reconize this as an offical bug and help the community to find a solution? Anyone found a solution or heard from Mitel?

My Setup:
- SME 5.6
- HP LaserJet 4000 TN  (192.168.10.30)
- PIII 600 MHz
- 64 MB ram
- Software RAID

P.S. Could the problem be the que name? Some copiers are very strickt regarding the que name.

Best regards
Martin

[Luis Francisco Ludovico]

I can obtain solution for "access denied" making a custom "11printerAdmin" that include all user in the "printer admin" seccion of smb.conf





{
# These listed users are printer admins, and can make
# changes to printer settings on the server.
}


{

my %accounts;
tie %accounts, 'esmith::config', '/home/e-smith/accounts';

my $key;
my $value;
$OUT .= "printer admin = admin";

while (($key,$value) = each %accounts)
{
my ($type, %properties) = split (/\|/, $value, -1);
if ($type eq 'user')

{
$OUT .= " " . $key;
}

}

}

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