Perplexing Printing Problem

[jorj]

Forgive the alliteration, I couldn't help myself. I am really baffled.
I am running Linux 3.0 with stable upgrades. I have two printers connected to my main box, an HP inkjet (932C) connected to a parallel port and a Samsung laser (ML-1710) connected to a USB port. The laser quit printing, for no apparent reason, that is I can't connect the failure to an upgrade of any kind. I tried many times to reconfigure it with CUPS, but I still couldn't get it to print. I downloaded the latest version of Samsungs driver and reconfigured the printer with that. If I send a test page to the printer it indicates that everything is working fine, but it just doesn't print. I thought I might have a printer failure so in an act of desperation, I put Windows XP on a small hard drive I have. Then I swapped hard drives, booted Windows, downloaded the Samsung drivers and the printer works just fine under Windows. That told me that the cabling connections and printer were O.K. I quit Windows (what a miserable ponderous OS!), swapped hard drives and started Linux again. I still can't get the printer to print with Linux.
This is the /var/log/cups/error_log for the HP inkjet when printing a test page:
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:35 -0800] Adding start banner page "none" to job 1381.
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:35 -0800] Adding end banner page "none" to job 1381.
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:35 -0800] Job 1381 queued on 'ml1710' by ''.
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:35 -0800] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops (PID 13060) for job 1381.
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:35 -0800] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip (PID 13061) for job 1381.
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:35 -0800] Started backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/mfp (PID 13062) for job 1381.
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:41 -0800] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=13070)
I [16/Feb/2007:21:27:48 -0800] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/jobs.cgi" (pid=13073)
I [16/Feb/2007:21:28:58 -0800] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=13131)
I [16/Feb/2007:21:29:01 -0800] Started "/usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=13132)

and this is same log for the laser when printing the tast page (which it doesn't):

I [16/Feb/2007:22:04:47 -0800] Adding start banner page "none" to job 1383.
I [16/Feb/2007:22:04:47 -0800] Adding end banner page "none" to job 1383.
I [16/Feb/2007:22:04:47 -0800] Job 1383 queued on 'ml1710' by 'root'.
I [16/Feb/2007:22:04:47 -0800] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops (PID 13659) for job 1383.
I [16/Feb/2007:22:04:47 -0800] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip (PID 13660) for job 1383.
I [16/Feb/2007:22:04:47 -0800] Started backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/mfp (PID 13661) for job 1383.

so it never gets to /usr/lib/cups/cgi-bin/printer/printers.cgi or ~jobs.cgi and I have no idea what's preventing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for being so wordy.
George

[Leon]

"I am running Linux 3.0 with stable upgrades."

Do you mean Libranet 3.0? Can you mount a USB memory stick?
What chipset does your system have? Did you recompile the kernel?

You have apparently lost USB; I have a similar problem with Libranet 3.0 with a recompiled kernel on an Intel motherboard. My theory is a USB compatibility issue with certain chipsets.

[jorj]

Yes, I meant Libranet 3.0. I can mount a USB stck and copy to it with no difficulty. And, no I have never recompiled the kernel. It is 2.6.11-ln.std .
tail -f /var/log/messages shows when I turn the laser printer OFF and ON that it is recognized.: When I power it off:

Feb 17 17:57:13 libranet kernel: usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 4
Feb 17 17:57:13 libranet kernel: drivers/usb/class/usblp.c: usblp0: removed

and when I power it back on:


Feb 17 17:57:51 libranet kernel: usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
Feb 17 17:57:51 libranet kernel: usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 6
Feb 17 17:57:52 libranet kernel: usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 7
Feb 17 17:57:52 libranet kernel: drivers/usb/class/usblp.c: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 7 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04E8 pid 0x323A
Feb 17 17:57:53 libranet usb.agent[13822]: usblp: already loaded

Thankls for the reply George

[uteck]

Sometimes I have a similar problem. I delete the printer from cups and unplug the printer from the computer. Then I plug the printer into the computer again, and reconfigure cups.