[comp.sys.sgi] Networked Printer Problems

benedict@chaos.utexas.edu (Thomas Benedict) (12/05/90)

We've had some trouble with our printers ever since the upgrade to
Irix 3.3.1.  We have a server (Iris 4D/80) with an Apple Laserwriter
attatched to it.  Also on our network are three workstations (4D/25, I
think...) that use the Laserwriter as a networked printer.  This was
all hunky dory until the upgrade.  Ever since that time two of the
three still recognize it, but the third won't.  Now it gets weird...

I checked the workstation out, and it appeared the spooler wasn't
running.  I restarted it and got no error messages.  Fine.  Check it
again.  Not running.

I tried printing something and got a couple of error messages.  I
looked them up in the manuals and mostly came up with "Try this
command later."  Aieeee!

Then I got smart.  Remove all the printers and reload them anew.  So I
tried to delete the printer.  Error message... "Try this command
later."  No dice.

I moved all of the printer software off to a safe place and loaded a
set I KNEW worked from one of the other workstations over onto this
one.  Same story, no luck.

What's really got me puzzled is that what with all of the changes from
3.2 to 3.3.1, the laser printer support was not among them.  Does
anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or what might cause this?  I'm at a
loss of what to do at this point.

Tom Benedict
benedict@chaos

wiltse@sgi.com (Wiltse Carpenter) (12/12/90)

In article <BENEDICT.90Dec5084648@chaos.utexas.edu> benedict@chaos.utexas.edu (Thomas Benedict) writes:
>We've had some trouble with our printers ever since the upgrade to
>Irix 3.3.1. ...  Ever since that time two of the
>three still recognize it, but the third won't.  Now it gets weird...

Assuming you are not using the BSD lp spooling system:

Routine error message from the lp spooler are logged in /usr/spool/lp/log;
fatal messages are also sent to /usr/adm/SYSLOG.  Look in those places for
any obvious problems.

>
>Then I got smart.  Remove all the printers and reload them anew.  So I
>tried to delete the printer.  Error message... "Try this command
>later."  No dice.

I can't find any error message like this anywhere.  What exactly does the
message say?

>...  Does
>anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or what might cause this?

Here are the things I would investigate:

1. Is there something wrong with the permissions in /usr/spool/lp?  If you
   run /usr/lib/lpshut and then /usr/lib/lpsched, many things will be
   corrected automatically.  However, you can check to make sure that
   everything is owned by user ``lp'' or compare it with your known good
   system.

2. Is there is a rogue lock file left in /usr/spool/lp?  Shut the scheduler
   down with /usr/lib/lpshut and then check for files of the form *LOCK
   and remove any that are found.

3. Is there is a problem with connecting to the remote host?  The network
   printing scheme used on SGI machines uses rsh(1) to connect to the
   remote machine.  It is usually necessary to run addclient(1) on the
   machine with the printer before it will accept connections from clients.

	-Wiltse Carpenter