About Troubleshooting Printing Problems

Sometimes after setting up a printer, you find that nothing prints. Or, you may get a little further: something prints, but it is not what you expect--the output is incorrect or illegible. Then when you get past these problems, other problems may occur, like:

• LP commands hanging
• Printers becoming idle
• Users getting conflicting messages

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Note - Although many of the suggestions in this chapter are relevant to parallel printers, they are geared toward the more common serial printers.

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Troubleshooting No Output (Nothing Prints)

When nothing prints, there are three basic areas to check:

• The printer hardware
• The network
• The LP print service

If you get a banner page, but nothing else, this is a special case of incorrect output. See "Troubleshooting Incorrect Output" on page 174.

Check the Hardware

The hardware is the first area to check. As obvious as it sounds, you should make sure the printer is plugged in and turned on. In addition, you should refer to the manufacturer's documentation for information about hardware settings. Some computers use hardware switches that change the characteristics of a printer port.

The printer hardware includes the printer, the cable that connects it to the computer, and the ports into which the cable plugs in at each end. As a general approach, you should work your way from the printer to the computer. Check the printer. Check where the cable connects to the printer. Check the cable. Check where the cable connects to the computer.

Check the Network

Problems are more common with remote jobs--those going from a print client to a print server. You should make sure that network access between the print server and print clients is enabled.

If the network is running the Network Information Service Plus (NIS+), see Name Services Administration Guide for instructions to enable access between systems. If the network is not running the Network Information Service (NIS) or NIS+, before you set up print servers and print clients, include the Internet address and system name for each client system in the /etc/hosts file on the print server. Also, the Internet address and system name for the print server must be included in the /etc/hosts file of each print client system.

Check the LP Print Service

For printing to work, the LP scheduler must be running on both the print server and print client. If it is not running, you need to start it using the /usr/lib/lp/lpsched command. If you have trouble starting the scheduler, see "How to Start or Stop the Print Service Scheduler" on page 120.

In addition to the scheduler running, a printer must be enabled and accepting requests before it will produce any output. If the LP print service is not accepting requests for a printer, the submitted jobs (print requests) are rejected. Usually, in that instance, the user receives a warning message when a job is submitted. If the LP print service is not enabled for a printer, jobs remain queued on the system until the printer is enabled.

In general, you should analyze a printing problem as follows:

• Follow the path of the print request step-by-step.
• Examine the status of the LP print service at each step.

  · Is the configuration correct?

  · Is the printer accepting requests?

  · Is the printer enabled to process requests?

• If the request is hanging on transmission, examine the lpNet log (/var/lp/logs/lpNet).
• If the request is hanging locally, examine the lpsched log (/var/lp/logs/lpsched).
• If the request is hanging locally, have notification of the printer device errors (faults) mailed to you, and re-enable the printer.

The procedures in the section "Instructions for Troubleshooting Printing Problems" on page 178 use this strategy to help you troubleshoot various problems with the LP print service.

If basic troubleshooting of the LP print service does not solve the problem, you need to follow the troubleshooting steps for the specific client-server case that applies:

• SunOS 5.x print client using a SunOS 4.1 print server (for instructions, see page 190)
• SunOS 5.x print client using a SunOS 5.x print server (for instructions, see page 185)
• SunOS 4.1 print client using a SunOS 5.x print server (for instructions, see page 194)

Troubleshooting Incorrect Output

If the printer and the print service software are not configured correctly, the printer may print, but it may provide output that is not what you expect.

Check the Printer Type and File Content Type

If you used the wrong printer type when you set up the printer with the LP print service, inappropriate printer control characters can be sent to the printer. The results are unpredictable: nothing may print, output may be illegible, or output may be printed in the wrong character set or font.

If you specified an incorrect file content type on the SunOS 5.x print client or SunOS 5.x print server, the banner page may print, but that is all. The file content types specified for a printer indicate the types of files the printer can print directly without filtering. When a user sends a file to the printer, the file is sent directly to the printer without any attempt to filter it. The problem occurs if the printer cannot handle the file content type.

When setting up print clients, you increase the chance for a mistake because the file content types must be correct on both the print server and the print client. As recommended, if the print client is set up with any as the file content type, files are sent directly to the server and the need for filtering is determined on the server. Consequently, the file content types have to be specified correctly only on the server.

You can specify a file content on the print client to off-load filtering from the server to the client, but the content type must be supported on the print server.

Check the stty Settings

Many formatting problems can result when the default stty (standard terminal) settings do not match the settings required by the printer. The following sections describe what happens when some of the settings are incorrect.

Wrong Baud Settings When the baud setting of the computer does not match the baud setting of the printer, usually you get some output, but it does not look like what you submitted for printing. Random characters are displayed, with an unusual mixture of special characters and undesirable spacing. The default for the LP print service is 9600 baud.

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Note - If a printer is connected by a parallel port, the baud setting is irrelevant.

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Wrong Parity Setting Some printers use a parity bit to ensure that data received for printing has not been garbled during transmission. The parity bit setting for the computer and the printer must match. If they do not match, some characters either will not be printed at all, or they will be replaced by other characters. The output will look approximately correct, with the word spacing all right and many letters in their correct place. The LP print service does not set the parity bit by default.

Wrong Tab Settings If tabs are set, but the printer expects no tabs, the printed output may contain the complete contents of the file, but the text may be jammed against the right margin. Also, if the tab settings for the printer are incorrect, the text may not have a left margin, it may run together, it may be concentrated to a portion of the page, or it may be incorrectly double-spaced. The default is for tabs to be set every eight spaces.

Wrong Return Setting If the output is double-spaced, but it should be single-spaced, either the tab settings for the printer are incorrect or the printer is adding a line feed after each Return. The LP print service adds a Return before each line feed, so the combination causes two line feeds.

If the print zigzags down the page, the stty option onlcr that sends a Return before every line feed is not set. The stty=onlcr option is set by default, but you may have cleared it while trying to solve other printing problems.

Troubleshooting Hung LP Print Service Commands

If you type any of the lp commands (lpsystem, lpadmin, lpstat, lpshut), and nothing happens (no error message, status information, or prompt is displayed), chances are something is wrong with the LP scheduler. Such a problem can usually be resolved by stopping and restarting the LP scheduler.

Troubleshooting Idle (Hung) Printers

You may find a printer that is idle, even though it has print requests queued to it. A printer may seem idle when it should not be for one of the following reasons:

• The current print request is being filtered.
• The printer has a fault.
• Networking problems may be interrupting the printing process.

Check the Print Filters

Slow print filters run in the background to avoid tying up the printer. A print request that requires filtering will not print until it has been filtered.

Check Printer Faults

When the LP print service detects a fault, printing resumes automatically, but not immediately. The LP print service waits about five minutes before trying again, and continues trying until a request is printed successfully. You can force a retry immediately by enabling the printer.

Check Network Problems

When printing files over a network, you may encounter the following types of problems:

• Requests sent to print servers may back up in the client system (local) queue.
• Requests sent to print servers may back up in the print server (remote) queue.

Jobs Backed Up in the Local Queue Jobs earmarked for a print server may back up in the client system queue for the following reasons:

• The print server is down.
• The printer is disabled on the print server.
• The network between the print client and print server is down.
• Underlying SunOS 5.x network software was not set up properly.

While you are tracking down the source of the problem, you should stop new requests from being added to the queue.

Jobs Backed Up in the Remote Queue If jobs back up in the print server queue, the printer has probably been disabled. When a printer is accepting requests, but not processing them, the requests are queued to print. Unless there is a further problem, once the printer is enabled, the print requests in the queue should print.

Troubleshooting Conflicting Status Messages

A user may enter a print request and be notified that the client system has accepted it, then receive mail from the print server that the job has been rejected. These conflicting messages may occur for the following reasons:

• The print client may be accepting requests, while the print server is rejecting requests.
• The definition of the printer on the print client might not match the definition of that printer on the print server. More specifically, the definitions of the print job components, like filters, character sets, print wheels, or forms are not the same on the client and server systems.

You should check that identical definitions of these job components are registered on both the print clients and print servers so that local users can access printers on the print servers.

Instructions for Troubleshooting Printing Problems

This section contains instructions that explain:

• How to troubleshoot no output
• How to troubleshoot incorrect output
• How to unhang the LP commands
• How to troubleshoot an idle (hung) printer
• How to resolve conflicting status messages

· How to Troubleshoot No Output

This task includes the following troubleshooting procedures to try when you submit a print request to a printer and nothing prints:

• Check the hardware (page 179)
• Check the network (page 180)
• Check the LP print service basics (page 181)
• Check printing from SunOS 5.x print client to SunOS 5.x print server (page 185)
• Check printing from SunOS 5.x print client to SunOS 4.1 print server (page 190)
• Check printing from SunOS 4.1 print client to SunOS 5.x print server (page 194)

Try the procedures in the listed order, before going to the specific print client/server case that applies. However, if the banner page prints, but nothing else does, turn to the instructions under "How to Troubleshoot Incorrect Output" on page 199.

To check the hardware: 1. Check that the printer is plugged in and turned on.

2. Check that the cable is connected to the port on the printer and to the port on the system or server.

3. Check that the cable is the correct cable and that it is not defective.

   Refer to the manufacturer's documentation. If the printer is connected to a serial port, make sure that the cable supports hardware flow control. A NULL Modem adapter supports this.

Table 7-1

Host		Printer
Mini-Din-8	25-Pin D-sub	25-Pin D-sub
-	1 (FG)	1(FG)
3(TD)	2(TD)	3(RD)
5(RD)	3(RD)	2(TD)

Table 7-1

Host		Printer
Mini-Din-8	25-Pin D-sub	25-Pin D-sub
6(RTS)	4(RTS)	5(CTS)
2(CTS)	5(CTS)	4(RTS)
4(SG)	7(SG)	7(SG)
7(DCD)	6(DSR), 8(DCD)	20(DTR)
1(DTR)	20(DTR)	6(DSR), 8(DCD)

4. Check that any hardware switches for the ports are set properly.

5. Check that the printer is operational.

   Use the printer's self-test feature, if the printer has one. Check the printer documentation for information about printer self-testing.

6. Check that the baud settings for the computer and the printer are correct.

   If the baud settings are not the same for both the computer and the printer, sometimes nothing will print, but more often you get incorrect output. For instructions, see "How to Troubleshoot Incorrect Output" on page 199.

To check the network: 1. On a print client, type ping server-name and press Return. On the print server, type ping client-name and press Return.

This command helps you check that the network link between the print server and the print client is set up correctly.

# ping neptune neptune is alive # ping jupiter jupiter not available

If the message tells you the system is alive, you know you can reach it, so the network is all right. It also tells you that either a naming service or the local /etc/hosts file has translated the host (system) name you entered into an IP address; otherwise, you would have to enter the IP address.

If you get a not available message, try to answer the following questions: How is NIS or NIS+ set up at your site? Do you need to take additional steps so that print servers and print clients can communicate with one another? If your site is not running NIS or NIS+, have you entered the IP address for the print server in each print client's /etc/hosts file, and entered all print client IP addresses in the /etc/hosts file of the print server?

2. Check that the port monitor is configured correctly on the print server.

   See "How to Set Up a SunOS 5.x Print Server" on page 288.

3. Check that the network listen services are registered with the port monitor on the print server.

   See "How to Set Up a SunOS 5.x Print Server" on page 288.

To check the basic functions of the LP print service: 1. On both the print server and print client, make sure that the LP print service is running.

a. Type lpstat -r and press Return. This command shows if the LP scheduler is running.

# lpstat -r scheduler is running

b. If the scheduler is not running, become root or lp, type

/usr/lib/lp/lpsched and press Return. If you have trouble starting the scheduler, see "How to Unhang the LP Commands" on page 204.

2. On both the print server and print client, make sure that the printer is accepting requests.

a. Type lpstat -a and press Return. This command verifies that the LP system is accepting requests for each printer configured for the system.

# lpstat -a red accepting requests since Wed Mar 13 20:37:07 PST 1994 luna not accepting requests since Wed Apr 17 19:10:55 PDT 1994 unknown reason

b. If the printer is not accepting requests, become root or lp, type accept printer-name and press Return. The printer you specify now accepts requests.

3. On both the print server and print client, make sure the printer is enabled to print requests.

   a. Type lpstat -p printer-name and press Return. Information about printer status is displayed. You can omit the printer name to obtain information about all printers set up for the system. The example shows a printer that is disabled.

# lpstat -p luna printer luna disabled since Wed Apr 17 19:13:33 PDT 1994. available. unknown reason

b. If the printer is disabled, become root or lp, type enable printer-name and press Return.

The printer you specify is enabled.

# enable luna printer "luna" now enabled.

4. On the print server, make sure that the printer is connected to the correct serial port.

a. Type lpstat -t and press Return. This command tells you the port to which the printer is connected. The message device for printer-name shows the port address. Is the cable connected to the port to which the LP print service thinks it is connected? If the port is correct, skip to step 5. In the example, the printer is connected to /dev/term/a.

# lpstat -t scheduler is running system default destination: luna device for luna: /dev/term/a

b. Become root or lp.

c. Type chown lp device-filename and press Return. This command assigns the special user lp as the owner of the device file. d. Type chmod 600 device-filename and press Return.

This command allows only lp (or root) to access the printer port device file.

5. On both the print server and print client, make sure that the printer is configured properly.

   a. Type lpstat -p printer-name -l and press Return. The example shows a PostScript printer that is configured properly, and that is available to process print requests. If the printer type and file content type are correct, skip to step 6.

# lpstat -p luna -l printer luna is idle. enabled since Wed Feb 4 20:17:21 PST 1970. available. Content types: postscript Printer types: PS

b. If the printer type or file content type is incorrect, type lpadmin -p printer-name -T printer-type -I file-content-type and press Return.

On the print client, try setting the print type to unknown and the content type to any.

6. On the print server, make sure that the printer is not waiting because of a printer fault.

   a. Type lpadmin -p printer-name -F continue and press Return. You have instructed the LP print service to continue if it is waiting because of a fault.

   b. Type enable printer-name and press Return. This command forces an immediate retry.

   c. (Optional) Type lpadmin -p printer-name -A 'write root' and press Return.

   You have instructed the LP print service to set a default policy of writing root--sending the printer fault message to the terminal on which root is logged in--if the printer fails. This may help you to get quick notification of faults as you try to fix the problem.

7. Make sure that the printer is not set up incorrectly as a login terminal.

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Note - It is easy to mistakenly set up a printer as a login terminal.

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a. Type ps -ef and press Return. Look for the printer port entry. In the example, port /dev/term/a is incorrectly set as a login terminal. You can tell by the "passwd\n## information at the end of the line. If the port is set correctly, skip the last steps in this procedure.

# ps -ef root 169 167 0 Apr 04 ? 0:08 /usr/lib/saf/listen tcp root 939 1 0 19:30:47 ? 0:02 /usr/lib/lpsched root 944 939 0 19:30:47 ? 0:00 lpNet root 859 858 0 19:18:54 term/a 0:01 /bin/sh -c /etc/lp/interfaces/luna \ luna-294 rocket!smith "passwd\n## #

b. Type cancel request-id and press Return.

# cancel luna-294

c. Type lpadmin -p printer-name -h and press Return. The printer port is set to be a non-login device.

d. Type ps -ef and press Return.

Verify that the printer port is no longer a login device.

If you do not find the source of the printing problem in the basic LP print service functions, continue to one of the following procedures for the specific client/server case that applies.

To check printing from SunOS 5.x client to SunOS 5.x print server: 1. Check the basic functions of the LP print service on the print server if you haven't checked these already.

For instructions, see page 189. Make sure the printer works locally before trying to figure out why nothing prints when a request is made from a print client.

2. Check the basic functions of the LP print service on the print client.

   You should have done this already. For instructions, go back to the previous section. On the print client, the LP scheduler has to be running, and the printer has to be enabled and accepting requests before any request from the client will print.

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Note - For most of the following steps, you must be logged in as root or lp.

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3. Make sure that the print server is accessible.

   a. On the print client, type ping print-server-name and press Return. An "are you there?" request is sent to the system you specify.

# ping neptune neptune is alive # ping jupiter jupiter not available

If you receive the message system not available, you have a network problem.

4. On the print client, make sure the print server is identified as type s5.

a. Type lpsystem -l and press Return. The example shows a print server, neptune, that is properly identified as type s5 (SunOS 5.x).

# lpsystem -l System: neptune Type: s5 Connection timeout: never Retry failed connections: after 10 minutes Comment: none #

b. If the print server is incorrectly identified, type lpsystem -t S5 print-server-name and press Return.

# lpsystem -t S5 neptune

5. On the print client, check the print queue.

   a. Type cd /var/spool/lp/requests/system-name and press Return. A record of print requests still in the queue is kept in this directory. For more information about the content of the request logs, see the section "Log Files" on page 313.

   b. Type ls -l and press Return.

   A list of the print jobs is displayed.

c. For the print job you want to check, type lpstat -o request-id and press Return.

The example shows a job that is queued successfully.

# cd /var/spool/lp/requests/neptune # ls -l total 12 -rw-rw---- 1 lp lp 43 May 22 19:44 11-0 # lpstat -o luna-11 luna-11 root 364 May 22 19:59 #

If the job is not queued successfully, the client/server connection may be faulty.

6. Make sure that the client/server connection is not faulty.

   a. On the print client, type tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet and press Return.

   This command shows you if lpNet can connect to the print server. The example shows the log for a job that could not connect to the print server.

# tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet 05/21/94 19:36 p 1780 <none> Starting. 05/21/94 19:36 p 1780 <none> Starting lpNetParent. 05/21/94 19:36 p 1780 <none> Initialized & Polling. 05/21/94 19:36 c 1781 neptune Starting. 05/21/94 19:36 p 1780 <none> Started child for neptune, pid = 1781 ***05/21/94 19:36 c 1781 neptune Could not connect to remote child. 05/21/94 19:36 c 1781 neptune Normal process termination. #

b. If the connection is not being made, on the print server, type lpstat -t and press Return.

This command will show you if the print server is operating properly. A connection cannot be made otherwise.

The example shows a print server up and running.

# lpstat -t scheduler is running system default destination: luna device for luna: /dev/term/a luna accepting requests since Thu May 23 20:56:26 PDT 1994 printer red is idle. enabled since Sun May 19 17:12:24 PDT 1994. available. printer luna now printing luna-314. enabled since Fri May 24 16:10:39 PDT 1994. available. luna-129 root 488 May 23 20:43 filtered #

c. If the print server is not operating properly, go back to step 1, otherwise go to step d.

d. On the print server, type tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet and press Return.

Examine the lpNet log to see if the print server is connecting to the client. If there is no entry, lpNet is not transmitting correctly. The example shows the log for a job that connected to the print server.

# tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet 08/10/94 15:17 p 708 <none> Normal process termination. 08/10/94 15:17 p 3802 <none> Starting. 08/10/94 15:17 p 3802 <none> Starting lpNetParent. 08/10/94 15:17 p 3802 <none> Initialized & Polling. 08/10/94 15:17 p 3802 <none> Started child for saturn, pid = 3804 08/10/94 15:17 c 3804 saturn lpd starting (active) 08/10/94 15:17 c 3804 saturn lpd connected to saturn 08/10/94 15:17 c 3804 saturn lpd disconnecting from saturn 08/10/94 15:17 c 3804 saturn lpd connected to saturn 08/10/94 15:17 c 3804 saturn lpd disconnecting from saturn

7. On the print server, make sure that the print client is correctly specified as an s5 system.

a. Type lpsystem -l and press Return. The example shows a print client, neptune, configured correctly.

# lpsystem -l System: neptune Type: s5 Connection timeout: never Retry failed connections: after 10 minutes Comment: none

b. If the print client configuration is incorrect, type lpsystem -t s5 client-system-name and press Return.

# lpsystem -t s5 neptune

8. On the print server, make sure that the port monitor and network listen service are set up properly.

   a. Type sacadm -l and press Return. The example shows a print server configured correctly.

# sacadm -l PMTAG PMTYPE FLGS RCNT STATUS COMMAND tcp listen - 9999 ENABLED /usr/lib/saf/listen tcp # #

b. Type pmadm -l and press Return.

The example shows a print server configured for all three types of services.

# pmadm -l PMTAG PMTYPE SVCTAG FLGS ID <PMSPECIFIC> tcp listen lp - root - - p - /var/spool/lp/fifos/listenS5 # tcp listen lpd - root \x000202038194143a0000000000000000 - p - /var/spool/lp/fifos/listenBSD # tcp listen 0 - root \x00020ACE8194143a0000000000000000 - c - /usr/lib/saf/nlps_server #

If either step 7 or step 8 shows a problem, see "How to Set Up a SunOS 5.x Print Server" on page 288 for instructions on setting up the port monitor and network listen services.

To check printing from SunOS 5.x client to SunOS 4.1 print server: 1. Check the basic functions of the LP print service on the print client if you have not checked these already.

For instructions, see "To check the basic functions of the LP print service:" on page 181.

2. Make sure the print server is accessible.

   a. On the print client, type ping print-server-name and press Return. An "are you there?" request is sent to the system you specify.

# ping neptune neptune is alive # ping jupiter jupiter not available

If you receive the message system not available, you have a network problem.

3. Make sure the lpd daemon on the print server is running.

   a. On the print server, type ps -ax | grep lpd and press Return. If the lpd daemon is running, a line is displayed, as shown in the example. If it is not running, no process information is shown.

% ps -ax | grep lpd 126 ? IW 0:00 /usr/lib/lpd 200 p1 S 0:00 grep lpd %

b. If lpd is not running on the print server, become root on the print server, type /usr/lib/lpd & and press Return.

4. Make sure the remote lpd daemon is configured properly.

a. On the print server, become root, and type /usr/etc/lpc and press Return.

The lpc> prompt is displayed.

b. Type status and press Return.

Status information is displayed. In the following example, the daemon is not running and needs to be restarted.

# /usr/etc/lpc lpc> status red: queuing is enabled printing is enabled no entries no daemon present lpc>

c. If no daemon is present, at the lpc> prompt, type restart and press Return.

The daemon is restarted.

d. Type status and press Return.

Verify that the lpd daemon has started.

e. Type quit and press Return. You are returned to the shell prompt.

5. Make sure the print client has access to the print server.

   a. Check if there is an /etc/hosts.lpd file on the 4.1 print server. On a 4.1 print server, if this file exists, it is used to determine whether an incoming print request can be accepted. If the file does not exist, all print client systems have access, so skip steps b and c.

   b. If the file exists, see if the print client is listed in the file.

   Requests from client systems not listed in the file are not transferred to the print server.

   c. If the client is not listed, add the print client to the file.

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Note - If you get this far without pinpointing the problem, the SunOS 4.1 system is probably set up and working properly.

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6. Make sure that the connection to the remote lpd print daemon from the print client is made correctly.

   a. On the print client, become root, and type ps -ef | grep lp and press Return.

   The lpNet and lpsched daemons should be running, as shown in the example.

# ps -ef | grep lp root 162 154 51 Jan 07 ? 0:01 lpNet root 154 1 80 Jan 07 ? 0:02 /usr/lib/lpsched

If the lpNet daemon is running, skip to step 6.

b. Type lpshut and press Return.

The LP print service is stopped.

c. Type /usr/lib/lp/lpsched and press Return. The LP print service is restarted, including the lpNet daemon.

7. Make sure that the remote print server is identified correctly as a SunOS 4.1 system.

   a. On the print client, become root, type lpsystem -l and press Return. The example shows a SunOS 4.1 print server, jupiter, that is specified correctly, as shown by Type being set to bsd.

# lpsystem -l System: jupiter Type: bsd Connection timeout: never Retry failed connections: after 10 minutes Comment: none

b. If the print server is incorrectly identified, type lpsystem -t bsd print-server-name and press Return.

8. Make sure that the print client is not having trouble connecting to the print server.

a. On the print client, type tail -100 /var/lp/logs/lpNet and press Return.

By examining the lpNet log, you can tell if the print client (for example, jupiter) is reaching the print server. Normally, the contents will be similar to the following:

# tail -100 /var/lp/logs/lpNet 04/18/94 09:40 p 1097 <none> Starting. 04/18/94 09:40 p 1097 <none> Starting lpNetParent. 04/18/94 09:40 p 1097 <none> Initialized & Polling. 04/17/94 19:32 c 965 jupiter lpd connected to jupiter 04/17/94 19:32 c 965 jupiter lpd disconnecting from jupiter #

If the results appear normal, skip the last steps in this procedure. If there is a problem, you will see retries to the BSD system, as shown below.

# tail -100 /var/lp/logs/lpNet 05/23/94 14:39 c 120 jupiter lpd retrying connection to jupiter 05/23/94 14:51 c 120 jupiter lpd retrying connection to jupiter 05/23/94 15:02 c 120 jupiter lpd retrying connection to jupiter #

b. On the print client, type lpsystem -l print-server-name and press Return.

This command shows you the retry and time-out parameters currently set.

c. Type lpsystem -T {n,0,N} -R {n,0,N} print-server-name and press Return.

The -T option specifies the length of time a network connection can be idle before it is dropped. Choose either n (never time out), 0 (drop immediately), or enter a number (wait N minutes, then drop connection). The default is n. The -R option specifies the length of time to wait before trying to re-establish a connection. Choose either n (don't retry until

there is more work), or 0 (try to reconnect immediately), or enter a number (wait N minutes before trying to reconnect). The default is wait 10 minutes before trying to reconnect.

# lpsystem -T n -R 0 saturn "saturn" has been modified.

To check printing from SunOS 4.1 client to SunOS 5.x print server:

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Note - You should be logged in as root or lp on the system specified in these steps.

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1. Check the basic functions of the LP print service on the print server if you have not checked these already.

   For instructions, go back to "To check the basic functions of the LP print service:" on page 181. Make sure that the printer works locally before trying to figure out why nothing prints when a request is made from a print client.

2. Make sure that the print client is accessible.

   a. On the SunOS 5.x print server, type ping print-client-name and press Return.

# ping rocket rocket is alive

If you receive the message system not available, you have a network problem.

3. On the print client, type lpr -P printer-name filename and press Return. This command shows if the print client is working. The example shows that the print client is not working correctly.

# lpr -P luna /etc/fstab lpr: cannot access luna #

4. Make sure the lpd daemon is running on the print client.

a. Type ps -ax | grep lpd and press Return. This command shows if the lpd daemon is running on the print client. The example shows that the daemon is running.

% ps -ax | grep lpd 118 ? IW 0:02 /usr/lib/lpd %

b. On the print client, become root, type /usr/lib/lpd & and press Return.

5. On the print client, make sure there is a printcap entry identifying the print server.

   a. Type lpr -P printer-name filename and press Return. The example shows that the /etc/printcap file does not have an entry for the specified printer.

% lpr -P mercury /etc/fstab lpr: mercury: unknown printer %

b. If there is no entry, edit the /etc/printcap file and add the following information:

printer-name|print-server-name:\
:lp=:rm=print-server-name:rp=printer-name:br#9600:rw:\
:lf=/var/spool/lpd/printer-name/log:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer-name:

The example shows an entry for printer luna connected to print server neptune.

luna|neptune:\ :lp=:rm=neptune:rp=luna:br#9600:rw:\ :lf=/var/spool/lpd/luna/log:\ :sd=/var/spool/lpd/luna:

c. Create a spooling directory (/var/spool/lpd/printer-name) for the printer.

6. Make sure that the print client lpd is not in a wait state by forcing a retry. If the print server is up and responding, the print client lpd may be in a wait state before attempting a retry.

   a. As root on the print client, type lpc and press Return. The lpc> prompt is displayed.

   b. Type restart printer-name and press Return.

   c. Type quit and press Return. The shell prompt is redisplayed.

# lpc lpc> restart luna luna: no daemon to abort luna: daemon started #quit terra%

7. Check the connection to the print server.

   a. On the print client, become root, type more /var/spool/lpd/printer-name/log and press Return.

   Frequently, no information is displayed.

   b. Type more /var/spool/lpd/printer-name/status and press Return.

# more /var/spool/lpd/luna/status waiting for neptune to come up #

c. If the connection is all right, on the print server, type lpstat -t and press Return.

This command shows you if the print server is operating properly. The example shows a print server that is up and running. If the print server is not running, go back to step 1 before continuing.

# lpstat -t scheduler is running system default destination: luna device for luna: /dev/term/a luna accepting requests since Thu May 23 20:56:26 PDT 1994 printer uranus is idle. enabled since Sun May 19 17:12:24 PDT 1994. available. printer luna now printing luna-314. enabled since Fri May 24 16:10:39 PDT 1994. available. luna-129 root 488 May 23 20:43 filtered #

d. On the print server, type tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet and press Return.

Examine the messages to see if the connection is being made from the print client to the lpNet process on the print server. The example shows a print client that is transmitting correctly.

# tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet # tail /var/lp/logs/lpNet 05/24/94 16:26 c 3651 rocket lpd exiting, status=0 05/24/94 16:33 c 3727 rocket lpd starting (passive) 05/24/94 16:33 c 3727 rocket rocket requests recvjob luna 05/24/94 16:33 c 3727 rocket lpd exiting, status=0 05/24/94 16:43 c 3835 rocket lpd starting (passive) 05/24/94 16:43 c 3835 rocket rocket requests recvjob luna 05/24/94 16:43 c 3835 rocket lpd exiting, status=0 #

If there is no entry, lpNet is not transmitting correctly. If the connection is being made, it implies the problem is on the print client, and you should check the basic functions of the LP print service on the print client before continuing.

8. On the print server, make sure the print client is a BSD system.

   a. Type lpsystem -l and press Return. The example shows a print client, rocket, that is configured correctly.

# lpsystem -l System: rocket Type: bsd Connection timeout: never Retry failed connections: after 10 minutes Comment: none #

b. If the print client is not specified correctly, type lpsystem -t bsd print-client-name and press Return.

9. On the print server, make sure that the port monitor and network listen service are set up properly.

   a. Type sacadm -l and press Return. The example shows a print server that is configured correctly.

# sacadm -l PMTAG PMTYPE FLGS RCNT STATUS COMMAND tcp listen - 9999 ENABLED /usr/lib/saf/listen tcp # #

b. Type pmadm -l and press Return.

The example shows a server that is configured for all three services.

# pmadm -l PMTAG PMTYPE SVCTAG FLGS ID <PMSPECIFIC> tcp listen lp - root - - p - /var/spool/lp/fifos/listenS5 # tcp listen lpd - root \x000202038194143a0000000000000000 - p - /var/spool/lp/fifos/listenBSD # tcp listen 0 - root \x00020ACE8194143a0000000000000000 - c - /usr/lib/saf/nlps_server #

If either step 9a or step 9b shows a problem, see "How to Set Up a SunOS 4.1 Local Printer" on page 288 for instructions on how to set up the port monitor and network listen services.

· How to Troubleshoot Incorrect Output

1. Become root or lp.

2. Make sure that the printer type is correct.

   An incorrect printer type may cause incorrect output. For example, if you specify printer type PS and the pages print in reverse order, try printer type PSR. (These type names must be in upper case.) Also, an incorrect printer type may cause missing text, illegible text, or text with the wrong font. To determine the printer type, examine the terminfo database (see "Directory Structure of the terminfo Database" on page 84).

   a. On the print server and print client, type lpstat -p printer-name -l and press Return.

   This command lists the characteristics of the printer.

mars% lpstat -p luna -l printer luna is idle. enabled since Wed Jan 2 18:20:22 PST 1994. available. Content types: simple,postscript Printer types: PS Description: Users allowed: (all) Forms allowed: (none) Banner not required Character sets: (none) Default pitch: Default page size: mars%

b. Consult the printer manufacturer's documentation to determine the printer model.

c. If the printer type is not correct, change it with the Printer Manager's Modify Printer option, or type lpadmin -p printer-name -T printer-type and press Return.

On the print client, the printer type should be unknown. On the print server, the printer type must match a terminfo entry that is defined to support the model of printer you have. If there is no terminfo entry for the type of printer you have, see "How to Adjust the terminfo Database for an Unsupported Printer" on page 345.

3. If the banner page prints, but there is no output for the body of the document, check the file content types.

   File content types specified for a printer indicate the types of files the printer can print directly without filtering. An incorrect file content type causes filtering to be bypassed when in fact it may be needed.

   a. Note the information on file content type that was supplied in the previous step by the lpstat command.

   On the print client, the file content type should be any, unless you have good reason to specify one or more explicit content types. If a content is specified on the client, filtering is done on the print client, rather than the print server. In addition, content types on the client must match the content types specified on the print server, which in turn must reflect the capabilities of the printer.

   b. Consult your printer manufacturer's documentation to determine which types of files the printer can directly print.

   The names you use to refer to these types of files do not have to match the names used by the manufacturer. But the names you use must agree with the names used by the filters known to the LP print service.

   c. If the file content type is not correct, change it with the Printer Manager's Modify Printer option, or

   type lpadmin -p printer-name -I file-content-type(s) and press Return. Run this command on either the print client, or print server, or both, as needed. Try -I any on the print client, and -I "" on the print server. The latter specifies a null file content type list, which means an attempt should be made to filter all files, because the printer can directly print only files that exactly match its printer type. This combination is a good first choice when files are not printing. If it works, you may want to try specifying explicit content types on the print server to reduce unnecessary filtering. For a local PostScript printer, you should use

postscript, or postscript,simple-- if in fact, the printer supports these types. Be aware that PS and PSR are not file content types; they are printer types.

If you omit -I, the file content list defaults to simple. If you use the -I option and want to specify file content types in addition to simple, simple must be included in the list.

When specifying multiple file content types, separate the names with commas. Or you can separate names with spaces and enclose the list in quotation marks. If you specify any as the file content type, no filtering will be done and only file types that can be printed directly by the printer should be sent to it.

4. Check that the print request does not bypass filtering needed to download fonts.

   If a user submits a print request to a PostScript printer with the command lp -T PS, no filtering is done. Try submitting the request with the command lp -T postscript to force filtering, which may result in the downloading of non-resident fonts needed by the document.

5. Make sure the stty settings for the printer port are correct.

   a. Read the printer documentation to determine the correct stty settings for the printer port.

---

Note - If a printer is connected by a parallel port, the baud setting is irrelevant.

---

b. To examine the current settings, type stty -a < device-name and press Return.

This command shows the current stty settings for the printer port.

mars# stty -a < /dev/term/a speed 9600 baud; rows = 0; columns = 0; ypixels = 0; xpixels = 0; eucw 1:0:0:0, scrw 1:0:0:0 intr = ^c; quit = ^|; erase = ^?; kill = ^u; eof = ^d; eol = <undef>; eol2 = <undef>; swtch = <undef>; start = ^q; stop = ^s; susp = ^z; dsusp = ^y; rprnt = ^r; flush = ^o; werase = ^w; lnext = ^v; parenb -parodd cs7 -cstopb -hupcl cread -clocal -loblk -parext -ignbrk brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl -iuclc ixon -ixany -ixoff imaxbel isig icanon -xcase echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -tostop echoctl -echoprt echoke -defecho -flusho -pendin iexten opost -olcuc onlcr -ocrnl -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel tab3 mars#

Table 7-2 shows the default stty options used by the LP print service's standard printer interface program.

Table 7-2 stty

Option	Meaning
9600	Set baud rate to 9600
cs8	Set 8-bit bytes
-cstopb	Send one stop bit per byte
-parity	Do not generate parity
ixon	Enable XON/XOFF (also known as START/STOP or DC1/DC3)
opost	Do "output post-processing" using the settings listed below
-olcuc	Do not map lowercase to uppercase
onlcr	Change line feed to carriage return/line feed
-ocrnl	Do not change carriage returns into line feeds
-onocr	Output carriage returns even at column 0

Table 7-2 stty

Option	Meaning
n10	No delay after line feeds
cr0	No delay after carriage returns
tab0	No delay after tabs
bs0	No delay after backspaces
vt0	No delay after vertical tabs
ff0	No delay after form feeds

c. To change the stty settings, type lpadmin -p printer-name -o "stty=options" and press Return. Use Table 7-3 to choose stty options to correct various problems affecting print output.

Table 7-3 stty

stty Values	Result	Possible Problem From Incorrect Setting
110, 300, 600, 1200, 1800, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400	Sets baud rate to the specified value (enter only one baud rate)	Random characters and special characters may be printed and spacing may be inconsistent
oddp evenp -parity	Sets odd parity Sets even parity Sets no parity	Missing or incorrect characters appear randomly
-tabs	Sets no tabs	Text is jammed against right margin
tabs	Sets tabs every eight spaces	Text has no left margin, is run together, or is jammed together
-onlcr	Sets no carriage return at the beginning of line(s)	Incorrect double spacing
onlcr	Sets carriage return at beginning of line(s)	The print zigzags down the page

You can change more than one option setting by including the options in single quotation marks and separating them by spaces. For example, suppose the printer requires you to enable odd parity and set a 7-bit

character size. You would type a command like the following:

#lpadmin -p neptune -o "stty='parenb parodd cs7'"

The stty option parenb enables parity checking/generation, parodd sets odd parity generation, and cs7 sets the character size to 7 bits.

6. Type lp -d printer-name filename and press Return. Verify that the document prints correctly.

· How to Unhang the LP Commands

1. Become root or lp.

2. Type lpshut and press Return.

   If this command hangs, press Control-c and proceed to the next step. If this command succeeds, skip to step 4.

3. Type ps -el | grep lp and press Return.

   Use the process ID numbers (PID) from the first column in place of the pid variables in the next step.

# ps -el | grep lp 103 ? 0:00 lpNet 134 term/a 0:01 lpsched#

4. Type kill -15 pid1 pid2... and press Return. This should stop the LP print service processes. If that is not the case, as a last resort go to step 5.

# kill -15 103 134

5. Type kill -9 pid1 pid2... and press Return.

   All the lp processes are terminated.

6. Type rm /usr/spool/lp/SCHEDLOCK and press Return. You have removed the SCHEDLOCK file so that you can restart the LP print service.

7. Type /usr/lib/lp/lpsched and press Return. The LP print service is restarted. If you can't start the scheduler, turn to "How to Start or Stop the Print Service Scheduler" on page 120.

· How to Troubleshoot an Idle (Hung) Printer

This task includes a number of procedures to use when a printer appears idle but it should not be. It makes sense to try the procedures in order, but the order is not mandatory.

To check that the printer is ready to print: 1. Type lpstat -p printer-name and press Return. The information displayed shows you if the printer is idle or active, enabled or disabled, or available or not accepting print requests. If everything looks all right, continue with other procedures in this section. If you cannot run the lpstat command, see "How to Unhang the LP Commands" on page 204.

2. If the printer is not available (not accepting requests), type accept printer-name and press Return.

   The printer begins to accept requests into its print queue.

3. If the printer is disabled, type enable printer-name and press Return. This command re-enables the printer so that it will act on the requests in its queue.

To check for print filtering: * Type lpstat -o printer-name and press Return. See if the first waiting request is being filtered. If the output looks like the following example, the file is being filtered; the printer is not hung, it just is taking a while to process the request.

terra% lpstat -o luna luna-10 fred 1261 Mar 12 17:34 being filtered luna-11 iggy 1261 Mar 12 17:36 on terra luna-12 jack 1261 Mar 12 17:39 on terra terra%

To resume printing after a printer fault: 1. Look for a message about a printer fault and try to correct the fault if there is one.

Depending on how printer fault alerts have been specified, messages may be sent to root by email or written to a terminal on which you (root) are logged in.

2. Type enable printer-name and press Return. If a request was blocked by a printer fault, this command will force a retry. If this command does not work, continue with other procedures in this section.

To send jobs to a remote printer when they back up in the local queue: 1. On the print client, type reject printer-name and press Return. This command stops further queuing of print requests from the print client to the print server.

2. Check that the print server and the network between the print client and the print server is up by typing ping print-server-name and press Return.

3. Type more /var/lp/logs/lpNet and press Return. The information displayed may help you pinpoint what is preventing the transmission of print requests from the print client to the print server.

4. After you fix the problem, on the print client, type accept printer-name and press Return.

   This command allows new jobs to be queued.

5. If necessary, on the print client, type enable printer-name and press Return.

   This command enables the printer you specify.

To free jobs from a print client that back up in the print server queue: 1. On the print server, type reject printer-name and press Return. This command stops further queuing of print requests from any print client to the print server.

2. Type more /var/lp/logs/lpsched and press Return. The information displayed may help you pinpoint what is preventing the print requests from the print client to the print server from being printed.

3. After you fix the problem, on the print server, type accept printer-name and press Return.

   This allows new jobs to be queued.

4. If necessary, on the print server, type enable printer-name and press Return.

· How to Resolve Conflicting Status Messages

1. Type lpstat -p printer-name and press Return. Check that the printer connected to the print server is enabled and is accepting requests. Users will see conflicting status messages when the print client is accepting requests, but the print server is rejecting requests.

2. On the print server, type lpstat -p -l printer-name and press Return. This checks that the definition of the printer on the print client matches the definition of the printer on the print server. Look at the definitions of the print job components, like print filters, character sets, print wheels, and forms, to be sure they are the same on both the client and server systems so that local users can access printers on print server systems.