How to Check Printer Configurations

Check to make sure the printer type and file content type are configured properly on the print server and on each print client. Type lpstat -p printer-name -l and press Return. In the following example, a remote printer is configured properly and is available to process print requests:

castle% lpstat -p seachild -l
printer seachild is idle. enabled since Sep 26 12:24 1997. available.
     Remote Name: seachild
     Remote Server: seachild
     Content types: PS
     Printer types: PS
castle%

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.

How to Check for Printer Faults on the Print Server

Print jobs may be waiting in the queue because of a printer fault on the print server. Use the following steps to make sure that the printer is not waiting because of a printer fault:

1.  On the print server, become superuser.

2.  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.

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

4.  (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 sending the printer fault message to the terminal on which root is logged in if the printer fails. This policy may help you to get quick notification of faults as you try to fix the problem.

It is easy to set up a printer port as a login terminal by mistake. To check that the printer port is not incorrectly set up as a login terminal, 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.

pine% ps -ef
 root  169  167 Ø Apr Ø4 ?        ØØ8 /usr/lib/saf/listen tcp
  root  939   1  Ø 19:3Ø:47 ?      ØØ2 /usr/lib/lpsched
  root  859  858  Ø 19:18:54 term/a ØØ1 /bin/sh -c /etc/lp/interfaces/
pinecone pinecone-294 pine!winsor "passwd"n##
pine%

If the port is set up as a login port, follow these steps to disable the login:

1.  Become superuser.

2.  Type cancel request-id and press Return. The request ID is shown in the output of the ps -ef command. In the following example, request-id pinecone-294 is cancelled:

pine% su
# cancel pinecone-294
request "pinecone-294" cancelled
#

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

4.  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, use one of the following procedures for the specific client or server case that applies.

How to Check Printing from a Solaris 2.x Client to a Solaris 2.x Print Server

Before you follow the steps in this section, you should already have checked the basic functions of the LP print service on both the print server and the print client. Make sure that the printer works locally before trying to diagnose problems with a print client.

On the print client, type ping print-server-name and press Return. This command checks to make sure that the systems are connected and available on the network.

oak% ping pine
pine is alive
oak% ping elm
elm not available
oak%

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