Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

RatFace · Post by **RatFace** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:54 pm

Hi, guys. RatFace again. I don't trouble you guys for much so everytime I show up its because I have a problem. This time it is a 'Printing' issue, which seems to be a universal problem with Linux. Does anyone know why that is?

About ten minutes ago I hit the 'Print' button on my machine and my printer starting making the standard 'start up' noise and after about thirty seconds printed out a plain sheet of paper except for a 1/4 inch wide color bar of across the top of the page. I then went into the Linux 'Control Center' and the 'Printing' part, clicked on 'Printer' and clicked on the 'See what's printing' block and saw the document I was trying to print, and over to the right side is said "Holding until 1:03:17" and it was about 12:55 when this happened. This has happened to me many, many times, and I always get upset and frustrated and want to throw things. I cuss at Linux, and at myself, and every 'developer' on this whole Linux 'experiment', and I usually end up coming here and making a fool of myself by ranting and raving. I'm getting sick of apologizing to a bunch of strangers. Now I don't expect anyone to understand my plight so I don't really expect any kind of 'help' I can use, I haven't searched for other cases of this, this time, because I have done that so many times I've forgotten. Okay.

Now, what I have after this little episode is the first print-out page with the color bar; several minutes after that I get another blank page, but this time it has a single line of gibberish across the top with some 'hearts' and a couple of 'USC' looking things and other codes or some such; well, she waits another couple of minutes then prints another blank page with the color bar; another couple of minutes and another blank page with gibberish. Then, low and behold, the printer starts making noise, but this time it begins printing my original document. I glance at my watch, and, sure, its about 1:03, or so. The printer finishes, the copy is perfect, and I should be happy. But I'm NOT. confused is placing a 'HOLD' on my print jobs? I'd never ever ever ever even HEARD of such a process before I started 'experimenting' with Linux. There is an awful lot of Linux stuff I like a lot, but this level of frustration is way, way beyond the point that I will ever learn to live with, and if I don't get some concrete answer, soon, I'm going to have to go back to the dreaded Windows Man, probably Windows 7. I've heard that is pretty good.

I can't help but beat on this some more. WHO decides that my Printing Jobs should be 'HELD' for any reason whatever? And toward what end? Who decides 'How Long' one of my printing jobs should be held? It usually varies from about five to maybe eight minutes. What 'unusual' has to happen inside my computer, or printer, before it decides to print? Yes. These are really DUMB questions, I know, and I deserve to be chastised, which I surely will, buy 'honestly, friends' I don't know what else to do! I have never, ever, ever had any such nonsense out of any of my former Windows versions, which lead me to ask someone: What do they know that WE don't know? Yes, my rig. The printer is an HP Photosmart C4250, my computer is and HP Pavilion 563w, and I'm running Linux Mint 10 Helena.

There. I'm now going to drive up to the BP station and get a pack of Red and White Marlboros, the ones I've been trying to quit for the past two weeks. Now I'm going to click 'Submit' and try to steel myself for the standard onslaught of impersonal derision and ridicule I've come to expect, so, go ahead. Fire Away!!

slider · Post by **slider** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:52 pm

@RatFace

These are really DUMB questions, I know, and I deserve to be chastised

I usually end up coming here and making a fool of myself by ranting and raving. I'm getting sick of apologizing to a bunch of strangers. Now I don't expect anyone to understand my plight so I don't really expect any kind of 'help' I can use

Please read the large forum rules bar at the top of the page.

You do not deserve to be chastised ever for asking questions about help. Most of us who have been at this forum for a long while frown upon any user who is a helper here that conducts themselves in an unprofessional way when helping users that come here for help. With that in mind please remember that this is a Linux Mint help forum and not your personal blog, so heavy ranting usually goes straight out the window. In spite of what you might believe, we do, very much understand the frustration of having broken or misbehaving software. We have all been through it before and will go through it again in the future.

Anomalies happen in real life and in the digital world. No one really knows why for sure, at least in every case. Some general causes can be updates to software anywhere on the system that may be connected to the app even in some background way, voltage spikes causing a change in interrupt clock speed, hard resets, etc, etc. This type of event is NORMALLY not associated with developer errors, unless a user is using some sort of pre-alpha type software.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lets start simple. Try uninstalling your printer from your system completely, then going through the steps over again and reinstalling it. In some cases that I have worked on this is a fix, but not on all.

In a web browser you can enter:

Code: Select all

127.0.0.1:631

Which should take you to your CUPS page where you can read logs, manage printers or jobs, etc. This may be easier for you instead of me giving you CLI options. I do not mean this in a condescending way at all OK.

If you still have problems after starting a print job, please go to the CUPS page above > navigate to admin > navigate to the error log and post it here.

Please be patient while either I or someone else helps you.

Thank you for trying and using Linux Mint.

Kind Regards,
S

RatFace · Post by **RatFace** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:21 am

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sincere response. I've gone to that page and nearly swooned at the idea that I may have found the 'bible' that I've been needing for so long. I'd also like to apologize for the blurt that I've inflicted on you and the rest of the Mint community. I believe you when you say you've been there, too. I will certainly digest that info and hopefully learn the things which will help me become less the impertinent Nooby that I am. Thank you very much.

angelmir · Post by **angelmir** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 3:02 pm

Dear friends, I got Linux Mint Quiana 17 and an HP3516 network printer. I already uninstalled it and installed it again 3 times. Every single time after I reinstall the printer, it works fine and prints everything I send to it without problems. The thing is, after 2 or 3 days without using it, I try to print something and CUPS starts holding my jobs without explanation. It requests a login with username and password, I enter my mint login (it's the only one my Linux Mint has, and, of course, I have ADMIN/ROOT rights.). I request the jobs to be released, but they are not actually released. I don't really feel confortable with the idea of reinstalling my printer every time I spend a few days without using it! I hope someone can help me!

EDIT BY MODERATOR: please start a new thread, - rather than refreshing an old one.

Spearmint2 · Post by **Spearmint2** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 11:35 pm

Give your printer a static IP address in the router.

About ten minutes ago I hit the 'Print' button on my machine and my printer starting making the standard 'start up' noise and after about thirty seconds printed out a plain sheet of paper except for a 1/4 inch wide color bar of across the top of the page. I then went into the Linux 'Control Center' and the 'Printing' part, clicked on 'Printer' and clicked on the 'See what's printing' block and saw the document I was trying to print, and over to the right side is said "Holding until 1:03:17" and it was about 12:55 when this happened. ,,,,,,Now, what I have after this little episode is the first print-out page with the color bar; several minutes after that I get another blank page, but this time it has a single line of gibberish across the top with some 'hearts' and a couple of 'USC' looking things and other codes or some such; well, she waits another couple of minutes then prints another blank page with the color bar; another couple of minutes and another blank page with gibberish. Then, low and behold, the printer starts making noise, but this time it begins printing my original document. I glance at my watch, and, sure, its about 1:03, or so. The printer finishes, the copy is perfect, and I should be happy. But I'm NOT.

Without a static IP, the printer has to negotiate handshake for a DHCP assignment of an IP address. Does this happen AFTER the first job has printed if you immediately send it a second print job? I don't mean a second one that was in queue already.

nomko · Post by **nomko** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:38 am

@ ratface:
(what a name...

)

The printer is an HP Photosmart C4250, my computer is and HP Pavilion 563w, and I'm running Linux Mint 10 Helena.

Which version of the HPLIP driver are you using? Some issues with HP printers can easily be solved by just updating the HPLIP driver. The website for the HPLIP driver is here: http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/index.html. I doubt if they still support Mint 10 since this version is obsolete, but my experience is, when you download the latest driver, that it does install although it checks which version of Mint you're running.

nomko · Post by **nomko** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:39 am

angelmir wrote:Dear friends, I got Linux Mint Quiana 17 and an HP3516 network printer. I already uninstalled it and installed it again 3 times. Every single time after I reinstall the printer, it works fine and prints everything I send to it without problems. The thing is, after 2 or 3 days without using it, I try to print something and CUPS starts holding my jobs without explanation. It requests a login with username and password, I enter my mint login (it's the only one my Linux Mint has, and, of course, I have ADMIN/ROOT rights.). I request the jobs to be released, but they are not actually released. I don't really feel confortable with the idea of reinstalling my printer every time I spend a few days without using it! I hope someone can help me!

See my reply on the post of ratface.

angelmir · Post by **angelmir** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:32 pm

nomko wrote:
angelmir wrote:Dear friends, I got Linux Mint Quiana 17 and an HP3516 network printer. I already uninstalled it and installed it again 3 times. Every single time after I reinstall the printer, it works fine and prints everything I send to it without problems. The thing is, after 2 or 3 days without using it, I try to print something and CUPS starts holding my jobs without explanation. It requests a login with username and password, I enter my mint login (it's the only one my Linux Mint has, and, of course, I have ADMIN/ROOT rights.). I request the jobs to be released, but they are not actually released. I don't really feel confortable with the idea of reinstalling my printer every time I spend a few days without using it! I hope someone can help me!
See my reply on the post of ratface.

Hi, Nomko! I am using the latest version of hplip!

1337ingDisorder · Post by **1337ingDisorder** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 11:05 pm

slider wrote: In a web browser you can enter:
Code: Select all
127.0.0.1:631
Which should take you to your CUPS page where you can read logs, manage printers or jobs, etc.

If you still have problems after starting a print job, please go to the CUPS page above > navigate to admin > navigate to the error log and post it here.

I'm hijacking this thread as RatFace's issue seems to be solved but I'm having the same issue with an apparently different cause.

Following slider's instructions quoted above, here are the error messages I'm receiving:

Code: Select all

W [19/Dec/2014:18:44:47 -0800] CreateProfile failed: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile.Internal:failed to register object: An object is already exported for the interface org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile at /org/freedesktop/ColorManager/profiles/Officejet_6500_E709a_Gray__
W [19/Dec/2014:18:44:47 -0800] CreateProfile failed: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile.Internal:failed to register object: An object is already exported for the interface org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile at /org/freedesktop/ColorManager/profiles/Officejet_6500_E709a_RGB__
W [19/Dec/2014:18:44:47 -0800] CreateDevice failed: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Device.Internal:failed to register object: An object is already exported for the interface org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Device at /org/freedesktop/ColorManager/devices/cups_Officejet_6500_E709a
W [19/Dec/2014:18:48:19 -0800] CreateProfile failed: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile.Internal:failed to register object: An object is already exported for the interface org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile at /org/freedesktop/ColorManager/profiles/Officejet_6500_E709a_Gray__
W [19/Dec/2014:18:48:19 -0800] CreateProfile failed: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile.Internal:failed to register object: An object is already exported for the interface org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Profile at /org/freedesktop/ColorManager/profiles/Officejet_6500_E709a_RGB__
W [19/Dec/2014:18:48:19 -0800] CreateDevice failed: org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Device.Internal:failed to register object: An object is already exported for the interface org.freedesktop.ColorManager.Device at /org/freedesktop/ColorManager/devices/cups_Officejet_6500_E709a
E [19/Dec/2014:18:55:01 -0800] [Job 1] Stopping unresponsive job.

Any help or insight as to how this might be solved would be greatly appreciated!

1337ingDisorder · Post by **1337ingDisorder** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 11:20 pm

Supplementary info (in case it helps):

Mint version: Linux Mint 17 x64 / MATE

Printer: HP Officejet 6500

HPLIP version: 3.14.10

hp-check output:

Code: Select all

$ hp-check
Saving output in log file: /home/dasuze/hp-check.log

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.14.10)
Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 15.1

Copyright (c) 2001-13 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

Note: hp-check can be run in three modes:
1. Compile-time check mode (-c or --compile): Use this mode before compiling the
HPLIP supplied tarball (.tar.gz or .run) to determine if the proper dependencies
are installed to successfully compile HPLIP.                                    
2. Run-time check mode (-r or --run): Use this mode to determine if a distro    
supplied package (.deb, .rpm, etc) or an already built HPLIP supplied tarball   
has the proper dependencies installed to successfully run.                      
3. Both compile- and run-time check mode (-b or --both) (Default): This mode    
will check both of the above cases (both compile- and run-time dependencies).   

Check types:                                                                    
a. EXTERNALDEP - External Dependencies                                          
b. GENERALDEP - General Dependencies (required both at compile and run time)    
c. COMPILEDEP - Compile time Dependencies                                       
d. [All are run-time checks]                                                    
PYEXT SCANCONF QUEUES PERMISSION                                                

Status Types:
    OK
    MISSING       - Missing Dependency or Permission or Plug-in
    INCOMPAT      - Incompatible dependency-version or Plugin-version

warning: linuxmint-17.1 version is not supported. Using linuxmint-17 versions dependencies to verify and install...

---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

 Kernel: 3.13.0-37-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 22 21:28:38 UTC 2014 GNU/Linux
 Host: dasuze
 Proc: 3.13.0-37-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 22 21:28:38 UTC 2014 GNU/Linux
 Distribution: linuxmint 17.1
 Bitness: 64 bit


-----------------------
| HPLIP CONFIGURATION |
-----------------------

HPLIP-Version: HPLIP 3.14.10
HPLIP-Home: /usr/share/hplip
warning: HPLIP-Installation: Auto installation is not supported for linuxmint distro  17.1 version 

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf.  Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.14.10

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.14.10
html=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.14.10
icon=/usr/share/applications
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/share/cups/drv/hp
bin=/usr/bin

# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
libusb01-build=no
pp-build=no
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
hpijs-install=no
foomatic-drv-install=no
foomatic-ppd-install=no
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=yes
cups-ppd-install=no
internal-tag=3.14.10
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt4
qt3=no
qt4=yes
policy-kit=no
lite-build=no
udev_sysfs_rules=no
hpcups-only-build=no
hpijs-only-build=no


Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
Plugins are not installed. Could not access file: No such file or directory

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[upgrade]
notify_upgrade = false
last_upgraded_time = 1419043376
pending_upgrade_time = 0
latest_available_version = 3.14.10

[installation]
date_time = 14-12-19 19:21:08
version = 3.14.10


 <Package-name>        <Package-Desc>      <Required/Optional> <Min-Version> <Installed-Version> <Status>   <Comment>

--------------------------
|  External Dependencies |
--------------------------

 policykit            Admin-Policy-framework    OPTIONAL        -               0.105           OK         -
 gs                   Ghostscript               REQUIRED        7.05            9.10            OK         -
 network              Network-wget              OPTIONAL        -               1.15            OK         -
 scanimage            Shell-Scanning            OPTIONAL        1.0             1.0.23          OK         -
 avahi-utils          avahi-utils               OPTIONAL        -               0.6.31          OK         -
 dbus                 DBus                      REQUIRED        -               1.6.18          OK         -
 cups                 CUPS                      REQUIRED        1.1             1.7.2           OK         'CUPS Scheduler is running'
 xsane                SANE-GUI                  OPTIONAL        0.9             0.998           OK         -

-------------------------
|  General Dependencies |
-------------------------

 reportlab            Python-PDF-Lib            OPTIONAL        2.0             3.0             OK         -
 libcrypto            OpenSSL-Crypto-Lib        REQUIRED        -               1.0.1           OK         -
 pil                  Python-Image-Lib          OPTIONAL        -               1.1.7           OK         -
 pyqt4-dbus           PyQt4-DBUS                REQUIRED        4.0             4.10.4          OK         -
 libjpeg              JPEG-Lib                  REQUIRED        -               -               OK         -
 libpthread           POSIX-Threads-Lib         REQUIRED        -               2.19            OK         -
 python-dbus          Python-DBUS               REQUIRED        0.80.0          1.2.0           OK         -
 python-devel         Python-SDK                REQUIRED        2.2             2.7.6           OK         -
 pyqt4                Python-Qt4                REQUIRED        4.0             4.10.4          OK         -
 cups-devel           CUPS-SDK                  REQUIRED        -               1.7.2           OK         -
 sane-devel           SANE-SDK                  REQUIRED        -               1.0.23          OK         -
 libusb               USB-Lib                   REQUIRED        -               1.0             OK         -
 sane                 Scan-Lib                  REQUIRED        -               1.0.23          OK         -
 cups-image           CUPS-Image-Lib            REQUIRED        -               1.7.2           OK         -
 libnetsnmp-devel     SNMP-Networking-SDK       REQUIRED        5.0.9           5.7.2           OK         -
 python-xml           Python-XML-Lib            REQUIRED        -               2.1.0           OK         -
 python-notify        Desktop-notifications     OPTIONAL        -               -               OK         -

------------------------------
|  Compile Time Dependencies |
------------------------------

 gcc                  gcc-Compiler              REQUIRED        -               4.8.2           OK         -
 libtool              Build-tools               REQUIRED        -               2.4.2           OK         -
 make                 GNU-Build-tools           REQUIRED        3.0             3.81            OK         -

----------------------
|  Python Extentions |
----------------------

 cupsext              CUPS-Extension            REQUIRED        -               3.14.10         OK         -
 pcardext             PhotoCard-Extension       REQUIRED        -               3.14.10         OK         -
 hpmudext             IO-Extension              REQUIRED        -               3.14.10         OK         -

-----------------------
|  Scan Configuration |
-----------------------

 hpaio                HPLIP-SANE-Backend        REQUIRED        -               3.14.10         OK         'hpaio found in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf'
 scanext              Scan-SANE-Extension       REQUIRED        -               3.14.10         OK         -

------------------------------
| DISCOVERED SCANNER DEVICES |
------------------------------

device `hpaio:/usb/Officejet_6500_E709a?serial=TH035214GW05G3' is a Hewlett-Packard Officejet_6500_E709a all-in-one


--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

  Device URI                        Model                  
  --------------------------------  -----------------------
  hp:/usb/Officejet_6500_E709a?ser  HP Officejet 6500 E709a
  ial=TH035214GW05G3                                       

---------------------------------
| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
---------------------------------

 
Officejet-6500-E709a
--------------------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/usb/Officejet_6500_E709a?serial=TH035214GW05G3
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Officejet-6500-E709a.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet 6500 e709a, hpcups 3.14.10
Printer status: printer Officejet-6500-E709a is idle.  enabled since Fri 19 Dec 2014 06:Rendering completed
Communication status: Good

Officejet-6500-E709a-Fax
------------------------
Type: Fax
Device URI: hpfax:/usb/Officejet_6500_E709a?serial=TH035214GW05G3
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Officejet-6500-E709a-Fax.ppd
PPD Description: HP Fax hpcups
Printer status: printer Officejet-6500-E709a-Fax is idle.  enabled since Fri 19 Dec 2014 06:44:05 PM PST
Communication status: Good

Officejet_6500_E709a
--------------------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/usb/Officejet_6500_E709a?serial=TH035214GW05G3
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Officejet_6500_E709a.ppd
PPD Description: HP Officejet 6500 e709a, hpcups 3.14.10
Printer status: printer Officejet_6500_E709a is idle.  enabled since Fri 19 Dec 2014 06:Rendering completed
Communication status: Good


--------------
| PERMISSION |
--------------

USB             Officejet-6500-E709a           Required        -        -        OK       Node:'/dev/bus/usb/002/004' Perm:'  root  lp rw- rw- rw- rw- r--'
No errors or warnings.

Done.

1337ingDisorder · Post by **1337ingDisorder** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:38 am

UPDATE / SOLVED

I was receiving the aforementioned error on a new installation of Mint 17, having installed HPLIP before doing the basic updating with Update Manager.

After having run the initial updates with Update Manager the printer magically started working again. Huzzah!

Spearmint2 · Post by **Spearmint2** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:34 pm

1337ingDisorder wrote:UPDATE / SOLVED

I was receiving the aforementioned error on a new installation of Mint 17, having installed HPLIP before doing the basic updating with Update Manager.

After having run the initial updates with Update Manager the printer magically started working again. Huzzah!

I was going to suggest

Code: Select all

hp-doctor

glad it's working now though.

trackside · Post by **trackside** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:14 am

I've recently had this problem, and in my case everything was enabled.

So I looked back at what I'd been doing recently, and the only thing really was that I had been leaving my Linux box on "suspend", instead of shutting it down. When I restarted the machine, the queued job jobs burst into life before I had even entered my login password, and there have been no problems since.

So it appears there may be a small bug in the suspend feature. I'm using Cinamon 18, v3.0.7

Website · Post by **Moem** » Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:09 am

This is a topic that's years old. If it's still relevant, it's better to post a new topic and link to the old one. Closing this one up now.

Linux Mint Forums

Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

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Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?

Re: Why is my printer 'Holding' my printing jobs?