If Printing Services Stops - ...Just Reinstall... [UPDATE] Don't Do This

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RubyStone
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If Printing Services Stops - ...Just Reinstall... [UPDATE] Don't Do This

Post by RubyStone »

See My Post Below for Reference

I have discovered a repeatable issue with CUPS/Printing. IF you go into the advanced settings - after opening the printer options - and make any chance in logs/history then you will brake the printing server/service. Just don't do it unless/until the the Mint/Cinnamon team can fix this. On two different systems this happens every time and is repeatable.

Hope this helps someone.
----------------------------
Hi Everyone,

Sharing my experience - just in case someone has a fix - about printing.

With Mint Cinnamon 19.2 and hp M251nw via WiFi. All other computers print to this printer so no issues with it or its IP, etc.

I went into properties and selected don't save history - don't know why, I just did - and it broke CUPS forever.
Message," Printing service not available. Start the service on this computer or connect to another server."

Looked around, restarted, reinstalled, re-every-thing-under-the-sun. NOTHING.

If this happens, rather than spending about an hour looking for a solution, just back up the system and reinstall. Faster and easier.

Dear amazing Mint Developers, please disable the way that tend to break things like this so us simple folk don't get stuck in this cycle.

Have an amazing day.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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catweazel
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by catweazel »

RubyStone wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:43 am If this happens, rather than spending about an hour looking for a solution, just back up the system and reinstall. Faster and easier.
That's very poor advice, and you didn't even attempt to ask here for assistance.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
RubyStone
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by RubyStone »

Sorry. Wasn't meant to be strong advice. I was just sharing my experiences.
I did come to the forums. I was searching around for about an hour. I also looked into the Ubuntu forums.
Luckily I had my trusty laptop handy to get the printing finished. That said, Someone should look and see if making the changes I mentioned is some kind of bug.

Take care all.
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Pierre
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by Pierre »

sure - that's fine.
8)
sometimes - - it's just plain quicker, to goto an re-installation.

you can get some good advice, on this forum, but sometimes, it's easier to just re-install, again.
:)
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
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Moem
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by Moem »

RubyStone wrote: Sat Oct 12, 2019 2:14 am I did come to the forums. I was searching around for about an hour.
It might have been quicker to post a question. It's not a read-only medium. :wink:
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If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
RubyStone
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by RubyStone »

Post my question but it looks like there are no replies. Oh well.

This is actually the second time that this happened on different systems. Same symptoms no obvious solution available.

Lets face it, printing is kind of a major issue that I can't spend all this time trying to diagnose and fix.

Sadly, because I'm not really happy with the 18.x Mint Cinnamon (or Mate), I have decided to try a different Linux. It seems that Ubuntu has a fork of Mate. The trial of their Beta seems nice so I will give the stable version a try - Maybe I can customize that to work for me.

I will probably wait until I am satisfied so hopefully, if there is a resolution to the Mint printing issue I won't need to change.

If it happens, no hard feelings.
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absque fenestris
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by absque fenestris »

This isn't just Mint.... 25 years of Mac and in between some Windows and Linux variants have taught me to distrust all possible printers and their drivers to the highest degree.
I don't know if it's bad will or inability - but these things never work as I would like them to.
The same printer, on the same cable, unchanged on the same table, reports its invisibility after a restart... completely independent of the system. I gave it up. Scanner the same...
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - No Fix - Just Reinstall

Post by brian_p »

RubyStone wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:07 pm
Sadly, because I'm not really happy with the 18.x Mint Cinnamon (or Mate), I have decided to try a different Linux. It seems that Ubuntu has a fork of Mate. The trial of their Beta seems nice so I will give the stable version a try - Maybe I can customize that to work for me.
You are happy to change to another distribution but not to upgrade your Mint. Suppose you were told that 19.x has vast improvements in the printing system and setting up your device for printing is a snap?
--
Brian.
RubyStone
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - ...Just Reinstall... [UPDATE] Don't Do This

Post by RubyStone »

Changing is not something that I would want to do... Only if necessary. That being said: 1) I explained in the original post that I AM using 19.2; 2) I found the reason for the issue and, because it is easily avoidable, I won't need to switch but will need to reinstall to fix the issue.
Bill_35
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - ...Just Reinstall... [UPDATE] Don't Do This

Post by Bill_35 »

Folks - newbie here ... not seeing a solution except the suggestion to reinstall.
My problem is correctly described above - my /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file is empty except for the one configuration change I made that does show in the file ("PreserveJobHistory No"). Mine is a new installation of Linux Mint 19.2, and I was attempting to install my first and only printer, a Canon MX922. Before I did any printer test, I switched the "Preserve Job History" to "No", and apparently wiped clear the entire configuration file. None of the forums I have visited have offered any solution, other than confirmation that the CUPS service is NOT running. Using a browser to try http://localhost:631/ produces only "unable to connect" - probably because I know the CUPS service is not working.
Since I do not have any backup of the configuration file, nor any other source from which to copy the file, it seems the only practical solution (only solution, actually) is to either wipe the entire LinuxMint 19.2 install and start totally from scratch, OR to either uninstall CUPS then reinstall CUPS ... or if possible, overwrite CUPS with a reinstall. I don't see anyone anywhere posting how the configuration file might be written to replace what the print installer overwrote.
So opinions aside, am I wrong in my deduction that a re-install of some sort is my only recourse? It could have been completed HOURS AGO without trying hundreds of other solutions.

I'm open to suggestions. Thanks!

PS - If someone knows how to reach out to the developers, it would be a really good idea to let them know that changing any of the options wipes the configuration file clean, rather than just updating the specific instruction involved. Thanks again.

------
PARTIAL SOLUTION. Since mine was a new installation of Linux Mint 19.2 and I had no data to worry about, I gave up on playing with CUPS, re-loaded the iso onto a flash drive and sha-verified, and re-installed the whole thing. Viola! I plugged in the USB cable to the Canon MX-922 printer, Mint recognized it, and I could print via USB cable. I have since backed up the entire "working" installation.
At some point when I'm really bored, I'll try to add wifi wireless printing to my installation. The printer works fine via wifi from several other source laptops running everything from Win7 to Win10 to Macbook.
Thanks to all for your help, and I'd add the advice to anyone with a new install - back up your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file BEFORE you make ANY changes to installation printer defaults.
- Bill_NJ
[running Linux Mint 19.3 cinnamon amd64 on HP ENVY x360-15-u483cl laptop with Intel i7]
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Re: If Printing Services Stops - ...Just Reinstall... [UPDATE] Don't Do This

Post by sodouglas »

Never been on boards. So many rules very confusing. I have the problem described at the bottom of this post No fix is included. Does anybody know of one, or how to find one? If this is the wrong way to go about this request I apologize.
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