How to troubleshot a printer failure?

Question

After a fresh Ubuntu 12.04 install, the Samsung Laser Monochromatic Printer (ML-1860) fails to print intermittently: sometimes it prints and sometimes it says that it is printed but it is actually not.

If I ask to print 6 copies, it prints around 2 copies (if so).

If I unplug the USB and replug it prints at least the first job sent. The same if I turn it off and on. But if I run sudo service cups stop && sleep 1 && sudo service cups start the problem persists.

I don't know if it is related to the bug #973270 because my print is connected at usb not at ipp.

Looks like Bas-Roufs has had the same problem after he fixed his installation problem as he said in a deleted answer.

The content of /var/log/cups/error.log is:

W [16/May/2012:20:49:53 -0300] failed to CreateProfile: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.AlreadyExists:profile id 'Samsung-ML-1860-Series-Gray..' already exists
W [16/May/2012:20:49:53 -0300] failed to CreateDevice: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.AlreadyExists:device id 'cups-Samsung-ML-1860-Series' already exists
W [16/May/2012:20:49:53 -0300] failed to CreateProfile: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.AlreadyExists:profile id 'Samsung-ML-1860-Series-Gray..' already exists
W [16/May/2012:20:49:53 -0300] failed to CreateDevice: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.AlreadyExists:device id 'cups-Samsung-ML-1860-Series' already exists
W [16/May/2012:20:49:53 -0300] failed to CreateProfile: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.AlreadyExists:profile id 'Samsung-ML-1860-Series-Gray..' already exists
W [16/May/2012:20:49:53 -0300] failed to CreateDevice: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.AlreadyExists:device id 'cups-Samsung-ML-1860-Series' already exists

I have followed the wiki DebuggingPrintingProblems and made a bug report (#1003422).

The result of tail -f /var/log/syslog is:

May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: URI contains USB serial number
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: URI match: usb://Samsung/ML-1860%20Series?serial=Z5M7BDAB501185X.
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: device devpath is /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.1
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: Device already handled
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: Consider also queues with "/usb/lp0" or "/usblp0" in their URIs as matching
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: URI of print queue: mfp:/dev/mfp4, normalized: mfp dev mfp4
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: URI of detected printer: usb://Samsung/ML-1860%20Series?serial=Z5M7BDAB501185X., normalized: samsung ml 1860 series serial z5m7bdab501185x
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: URI of print queue: usb://Samsung/ML-1860%20Series?serial=Z5M7BDAB501185X., normalized: samsung ml 1860 series serial z5m7bdab501185x
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: URI of detected printer: usb://Samsung/ML-1860%20Series?serial=Z5M7BDAB501185X., normalized: samsung ml 1860 series serial z5m7bdab501185x
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: Queue ipp://localhost:631/printers/ML-1860-Series has matching device URI
May 23 10:00:26 desguai3 udev-configure-printer: Re-enabled printer ipp://localhost:631/printers/ML-1860-Series

At Ubuntu forum there is a thread about it too.

So how can I troubleshot this failure? Where else to look for information or possibles fixes?

Solution 1

This problem have been solved by update of cups packages available enabling "Proposed Updates" as discussed at Launchpad at bug #973270.

Solution 2

Try this, First: I am using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install printer-driver-gutenprint openprinting-ppds libgutenprint2 cups-driver-gutenprint

Delete your printer and create a new printer the same as you did last time but this time add the third option/driver = (Gutenprint), NOT the PS & PXL with one (recommended) DO NOT INSTALL THESE, you want the one called Gutenprint V5

Now you should print fine, some printers have trouble rendering Postscript format!

Hope this helps!!!

Comments

[desgua]

Thank you again, but unfortunately selecting the Gutenprint driver didn't work i.imgur.com/aMmDC.png

[desgua]

There seems to be another update at Proposed. I will be able to test it in the next Wednesday: bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/973270