Processing -The printer is unreachable at this time.

Billtour

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Suddenly, it appears to the software (multiple) that I have printed, but nothing prints. This message appears as the printer state in the printer properties when I do a test print - which does not actually print. Also, the queue shows the job processing forever. Any thoughts?
 


Hard to know what the problem is off hand. Assuming you are running printing with cups, these are things I would try:
- check /var/log/cups/error_log to see if there's any useful info.
- go to: http://localhost:631 in a browser then ->enter root->administration->manage printers -> maintenance-> cancel all jobs -> resume printer (or some path similar to that) and cancel all jobs.
- change the log level upwards in cupsd.conf (default is "warn", change to "debug" and see if more info is helpful when running.)
 
It would help if you told us what the make/model number of the printer is
 
The printer is an Epson Expression XP-4100 and has been working fine for months. The first sign of a problem was trying to print from a Windows program running under WINE. Now I can't print from native Linux Lite.
 
Try going into the print settings in windows, and disable the printer, then in Lite open the printer manager and make sure your printer is enabled and try to print a page from Lite,
the other thing you can try is disconnect the printer from both the computer and mains power over night to purge its memory
 
Generally for a printer to work on a Windows program under Wine you need to install - cups-pdf
Then from MS Word, do Print -> Select PDF as printer -> wait for the printing to complete.
 
Brickwizard: I had close to zero confidence that your suggestion to disconnect the printer for an overnight would work, but it appears that it did work. I have to write that one down. Thank you.
 
Brickwizard: I had close to zero confidence that your suggestion to disconnect the printer for an overnight would work, but it appears that it did work. I have to write that one down. Thank you.
I know it sounds silly, but often works, a modern printer is like a mini computer, feed it too much conflicting information and it will go into a loop it can't get out of, leaving it totally disconnected for at least 4 hrs [longer the better] is the same as switching off a computer and pulling the bios support battery, it discharges the capacitors so the processor forgets everything except it's hard coding. [its one of those engineers tricks your never told about]
 

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