====== Printing troubleshooter ======

==== Incorrect or changed header/banner sheets from the printers? ====

At times you'll notice that the printer header sheets (these are called "banner pages" in CUPS parlance)
randomly change to a new format.  Usually important information like **who printed the job** and other things disappear from the banner page.

The cause for this is **most likely** a software update on the CUPS server, cups.cs.wpi.edu.  You can repair the banner sheets by logging into cups.cs.wpi.edu and going to the directory /usr/share/cups/banners.  You'll find, most likely, that the file /usr/share/cups/banners/standard has been changed and is no longer the same as the file /usr/share/cups/banners/standard-WPICS-CURRENT.

Rename the existing file "standard" to some other filename:

<code>
mv standard standard-original-YYYYMMDD
</code>

and then copy the WPICS standard page so that it gets used instead:

<code>
cp standard-WPICS-CURRENT standard
</code>

This should cure the banner-sheet problem.
===== Conditions needed for printing to function =====

For printing to work, a few things need to be true.

  * For UNIX printing to work, the CUPS server must be running on [[lpd.cs.wpi.edu]].  This can be checked by connecting your web-browser to https://lpd.cs.wpi.edu:631/ .  If you get no response to your connection, the CUPS server is down and needs to be restarted.
  * In the old days, you needed to be on the CS Domain, but this may not be the case anymore as we don't use samba-sharing of printers, we connect directly using LPD.  This should change at some point if possible.
  * And of course the basics: network, nameservice, etc etc are a bonus if you want to get anything accomplished.

===== From a Windows PC =====

  [John probably is better at writing this troubleshooting section]

==== On the CS Domain ====

  * Are the printers added?  Check to see if they're there at all!  If not, use quick add printer script from [[samba_print_queues#printer_adding_procedure|here]].

Does samba adding of printers FUNCTION anymore? --mvoorhis 22 March 2012

==== Windows PC Not on the CS Domain ====

See [[non_domain_win_printer_access|printer adding technique]] for non-domain machines.

This works for both XP and Vista machines, allegedly.

===== From a UNIX machine =====

  * are printers setup?  Look at /etc/printcap, which will exist with either CUPS or LPD.  If this file is empty or your printer isn't in this file, that explains your printing problem.  See [[unix_printer_access|the page for adding printers to unix machines.]]
  * is a printer daemon (LPD, CUPS) running?  run "ps auxw" and look for root-owned process called "lpd" or "cupsd" in the output.  If neither one is there, you are not running a printer daemon and this may be your problem.  The daemon can be started usually by running "/etc/init.d/lpd start" or "/etc/init.d/cups start" or something similar.  Sometimes instead of "/etc/init.d" the directory containing start-scripts is "/etc/rc.d".

===== From the print server itself =====

If Nagios is telling you that the CUPS server is unresponsive, the CUPS web-interface won't work.  You'll need to SSH into the print server and restart the cups daemon by hand.  Restart everything:

==== RESTARTING EVERYTHING ====

If it looks like lpd and samba are running but things are still hokey, try restarting everything.

on lpd.cs.wpi.edu:

    sudo service cups stop
    sudo service cups start

    sudo service smbd stop
    sudo service nmbd stop
    sudo service nmbd start
    sudo service smbd start