HP 870Cxi / Printer not connected

[Paulo R. Dallan]

Stefan wrote:

> Hello

Hi Stefan,

I have an hp840c, very similar to yours, had the same problem as you
(actually, mine were a little worse), but could solve then! Gonna try to
help you out of it! :)

<snip>
 
> parport0: PC-style at 0x3bc (0x7bc) [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
> parport0: Printer, HEWLETT-PACKARD DESKJET 870C
> parport_pc: Via 686A parallel port: io=0x3BC

Ok, it is there, but doesn't mean cups will find it straight ahead! :)
 
> I configured the printer via the web-interface and the name of the printer
> also appears in the device selection - another indication that
> hardware-wise everything seems to be in order. But if I try to print even
> only a test page the following error message appears in the webinterface.

Not necessarily. As strange as it sounds, for my hp to work, I have to see
*3* *parallel* *ports*, *with* *epson*, *cannon* and *hp*, and then choose
*hp*. Weird, isn't it?

> "Printer not connected; will retry in 30 seconds..."
> Device URI: parallel:/dev/unknown-parallel0

Ha-ha. Had the same problem. Below I described what I did.
 
<snip>

> How can I fix this problem ?

<snip>

Ok, I did the following (suggest you do the same):

First, to be sure the parallel modules are loaded (note they can be already
compiled into the kernel):

modprobe lp

Second, give everyone access to the printer:

chmod 777 /dev/lp<number>
(of course, <number> is your device, in my case, 0 (zero));

Third: restart cups; in my system (Slack 10.0) I do as below; in yours it
could be different:
/etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart

Fourth: Go to the browser (localhost:631), delete the current printer (if
exists) and install a new one. Print test page, and also print from the
command line some file (lpr-cups <filename.txt> or lp-cups <filename.txt>).

Tell us if it works, ok? And BTW, do you have X installed (if not, you may
experience some difficulties).

Regards!

Paulo