# [SOLVED] Install my printer just fine in Ubuntu but can't get it to print



## HTC (May 12, 2020)

I have an Epson Ecotank L355 printer and, using Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS, i can install my printer just fine as it gets recognized, with everything appearing to be in order ... and when i attempt to print a test page it appears successful ... but nothing happens ...

Tried repeatedly to un-install / re-install but i just can't get it to work.

Any help is appreciated.

EDIT

The printer is hooked up via USB.


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## Vayra86 (May 12, 2020)

Does the printer have a wireless access point? If so, double check what Printer device you are sending documents over. It may well end up on the wrong queue and never print.

Next step would be inspection of ink and paper tray, if the software and PC sends correctly the printer might fail on something mechanically or there is an error message on it... hopefully.


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## thebluebumblebee (May 12, 2020)

Have you tried a different USB port?


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## blobster21 (May 12, 2020)

Hi, did you try to play with the settings, and decrease the printing resolution to 600dpi ?


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

thebluebumblebee said:


> Have you tried a different USB port?


Yes, and i get the same result: says active job, then it disappears as if it's done, except it's not.


Vayra86 said:


> Does the printer have a wireless access point? If so, *double check what Printer device you are sending documents over.* It may well end up on the wrong queue and never print.
> 
> Next step would be inspection of ink and paper tray, *if the software and PC sends correctly the printer might fail on something mechanically or there is an error message on it*... hopefully.


How do i do this?

No errors: it's as if it finishes the job, except it didn't start it 


blobster21 said:


> Hi, did you try to play with the settings, and decrease the printing resolution to 600dpi ?


The highest is 360x216.


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## Vayra86 (May 12, 2020)

HTC said:


> Yes, and i get the same result: says active job, then it disappears as if it's done, except it's not.
> 
> How do i do this?
> 
> ...



Depends on each printer but usually if it has a wireless protocol it also has a separate device in Devices and Printers for it. Check what device is set as default.

It might also be sending over a PDF writer of some sort.


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

Vayra86 said:


> Depends on each printer but usually if it has a wireless protocol it also has a separate device in Devices and Printers for it. Check what device is set as default.
> 
> It might also be sending over a PDF writer of some sort.



   

  
Spot any problems?


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## Vayra86 (May 12, 2020)

No, seems to be on the USB port.

Should it report ink/toner levels? If its does, the printer might not communicate properly, as they do not show.

Can you clean the print heads with that button there?


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

Vayra86 said:


> No, seems to be on the USB port.
> 
> Should it report ink/toner levels? If its does, the printer might not communicate properly, as they do not show.


Doesn't report: not supported


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## thebluebumblebee (May 12, 2020)

???Generic ESC/P Dot matrix printer?????


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

thebluebumblebee said:


> ???Generic ESC/P Dot matrix printer?????


I noticed that too, but the installation got the driver from Epson: can't select the exact model, since it's not listed.


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## Aquinus (May 12, 2020)

Printers and Ubuntu are a little bit of a pain in the ass. It really depends on the vendor and how much effort they put into making their drivers not garbage. I have an HP LaserJet MFP, mainly because I print and scan a lot of documents (and I hate ink drying out.) Out of the box, it prints fine when using it as a network attached printer and not via USB. Out of the box, I'm missing a boatload of features, like the ability to scan documents. Most of the time to get things to work, I need software from the vendor and you need to follow instructions to the letter. It seems to be really easy to screw up installing printer drivers which seems ass backwards to me.

I just checked the vendor's site for your EcoTank printer you have and it doesn't appear that they even support Linux, however I would try downloading the x86_64 .deb driver from here and try re-adding the printer to see where that gets you: https://www.openprinting.org/printer/Epson/Epson-L355_Series

I personally like to stick with HP when using Linux because their driver support isn't half bad, but printers on Linux just kind of suck... but that's because printers... well... just kind of suck.


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## thebluebumblebee (May 12, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> but printers on Linux just kind of suck... but that's because printers... well... just kind of suck.


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## Aquinus (May 12, 2020)

thebluebumblebee said:


>


Seriously though, I've never fought with a device more than printers. They're kind of like Hei Hei in Moana.


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> Printers and Ubuntu are a little bit of a pain in the ass. It really depends on the vendor and how much effort they put into making their drivers not garbage. I have an HP LaserJet MFP, mainly because I print and scan a lot of documents (and I hate ink drying out.) Out of the box, it prints fine when using it as a network attached printer and not via USB. Out of the box, I'm missing a boatload of features, like the ability to scan documents. Most of the time to get things to work, I need software from the vendor and you need to follow instructions to the letter. It seems to be really easy to screw up installing printer drivers which seems ass backwards to me.
> 
> I just checked the vendor's site for your EcoTank printer you have and it doesn't appear that they even support Linux, however I would try downloading the x86_64 .deb driver from here and try re-adding the printer to see where that gets you: https://www.openprinting.org/printer/Epson/Epson-L355_Series
> 
> I personally like to stick with HP when using Linux because their driver support isn't half bad, but printers on Linux just kind of suck... but that's because printers... well... just kind of suck.



I've been to that site earlier today: when i press the link "how to install" after that .deb link, i get "This topic does not exist yet" ... which is most helpful ...

I never installed stuff via deb files so dunno how to proceed after downloading both the .rpm and the .deb files.


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## Aquinus (May 12, 2020)

HTC said:


> I never installed stuff via deb files so dunno how to proceed after downloading both the .rpm and the .deb files.


I can help you there, installing `.deb` files is very easy, however not typically recommended. If you're downloading files to your `/home/username/Downloads` directory, you should be able to run this after downloading it:

```
sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/epson-inkjet-printer-201207w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
```

I actually install `.deb` files on a regular basis since I tend to run mainline kernels to get the latest GPU enhancements.


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> I can help you there, installing `.deb` files is very easy, however not typically recommended. If you're downloading files to your `/home/username/Downloads` directory, you should be able to run this after downloading it:
> 
> ```
> sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/epson-inkjet-printer-201207w_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb
> ...




Not cooperating ... 

Tried installing "lsb" and got this:



EDIT

I use "UKUU" to install the newest kernels.


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## Aquinus (May 12, 2020)

HTC said:


> View attachment 154946
> 
> Not cooperating ...
> 
> ...


Do as it suggests. The installed .deb file is probably in a half-baked state.

```
sudo apt --fix-broken install lsb
```

This is why using dpkg sucks. Managing dependencies is a pain in the ass.


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> Do as it suggests. The installed .deb file is probably in a half-baked state.
> 
> ```
> sudo apt --fix-broken install lsb
> ...


With the package name, it didn't work. Without the package name, it's installing "something" ...





Did it work?

In the Devices / Printer i see no apparent changes.


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## Aquinus (May 12, 2020)

HTC said:


> With the package name, it didn't work. Without the package name, it's installing "something" ...


What does it say it's going to do? I've seen weird behavior in the past where it thinks uninstalling everything is a good idea.



HTC said:


> Did it work?
> 
> In the Devices / Printer i see no apparent changes.


Looks like it. Remove the printer in the interface and re-add it. Let Ubuntu try to auto-detect and see if it comes up with a different driver.

Edit: You might have to manually select the driver that was installed, but it's best to not hunt around for it if you don't have to.


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## HTC (May 12, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> What does it say it's going to do? I've seen weird behavior in the past where it thinks uninstalling everything is a good idea.
> 
> 
> Looks like it. Remove the printer in the interface and re-add it. Let Ubuntu try to auto-detect and see if it comes up with a different driver.




It added this.

SUCCESS 

Attempting to print now: @ least the job no longer disappears, but it's taking a heck of a long time to print.

EDIT

Printing right now: YES!!!!!!

Thank you!

It's ALIVE ...


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## HTC (May 13, 2020)

Something's not right: when i print a document, it gets held after printing about 1/3 of the page, like so:





When i try to resume, it starts over instead but gets held again after printing about 1/3 of the page, and if i try to resume again, it does the exact same thing.

Any ideas?


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## Aquinus (May 13, 2020)

I have never experienced that before. Does anything fun or exciting happen in `/var/log/syslog` when you're printing?

Before you start printing, run something like `tail -f /var/log/syslog` and then watch the output when you go to print.


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## HTC (May 13, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> I have never experienced that before. Does anything fun or exciting happen in `/var/log/syslog` when you're printing?
> 
> Before you start printing, run something like `tail -f /var/log/syslog` and then watch the output when you go to print.



Got held, same as before 





Anything "fun" in that pic?

EDIT

I entered the command in the terminal BEFORE starting to print.


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## Vayra86 (May 13, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> but that's because printers... well... just kind of suck.



QFT!


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## HTC (May 13, 2020)

Here's what the terminal reports:




The 1st time after doing what you asked with the terminal when i tried to print the document, it got held for several minutes and the restarted printing again on it's own but got held again: took quite a while but it eventually finished the page but, upon examination, it printed the start of the document each time after the hold up. If i knew how to use the scanner under Ubuntu, i'd post the document (simple scan doesn't work: that was the 1st thing i tried).
I've since attempted to print it again but i'm having the same results


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## Aquinus (May 13, 2020)

HTC said:


> Got held, same as before
> 
> View attachment 155073
> 
> ...


Yeah actually, do you see that line that says "usblp0: removed" and the line right before says that device is a USB Bidirectional printer. I guess it's possible that the USB connection is getting interrupted while the device is operating. Does the printer have a wireless printing mode? If it does, I suggest trying it out. I've had far fewer issues with wireless printing than running over USB. It sounds like the USB connection is unstable.


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## HTC (May 13, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> Yeah actually, do you see that line that says "usblp0: removed" and the line right before says that device is a USB Bidirectional printer. I guess it's possible that the USB connection is getting interrupted while the device is operating. Does the printer have a wireless printing mode? If it does, I suggest trying it out. I've had far fewer issues with wireless printing than running over USB.


It does yes, but i dunno how to install it that way.


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## Aquinus (May 13, 2020)

HTC said:


> It does yes, but i dunno how to install it that way.


With printers that don't have a UI, there is typically a process for connecting it to the WiFi. Hopefully it doesn't require an initially wired connection (it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that.) WPS is the easiest and fastest way to do it if you have a router and printer that support it. I tend to do this with my own devices.


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## HTC (May 13, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> With printers that don't have a UI, there is typically a process for connecting it to the WiFi. Hopefully it doesn't require an initially wired connection (it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that.) WPS is the easiest and fastest way to do it if you have a router and printer that support it. I tend to do this with my own devices.


New problem:





My sister's PC used MY WI-FI just fine ... but i can't use it ... no idea why 

No Wi-fi entry under "network".


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## Aquinus (May 13, 2020)

HTC said:


> New problem:
> 
> View attachment 155078
> 
> ...


If you're using a wired connection on the computer, you don't need to set up WiFi there, you need to set it up on the printer. You don't need to use WiFi to do wireless printing, you just need the printer to be connected to the network, much like you attach a NAS to the network to gain access to things like Samba or NFS shares.

There may be a driver for the Intel WiFi adapter on the board in your specs that you need to install, but that's unrelated IMHO.


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## HTC (May 14, 2020)

Aquinus said:


> *If you're using a wired connection on the computer*, you don't need to set up WiFi there, you need to set it up on the printer. You don't need to use WiFi to do wireless printing, *you just need the printer to be connected to the network, much like you attach a NAS to the network *to gain access to things like Samba or NFS shares.
> 
> There may be a driver for the Intel WiFi adapter on the board in your specs that you need to install, but that's unrelated IMHO.


My connection is wired, yes.

I think i figured out why i don't have wi-fi on my PC despite my board supporting it: due to having wired connection, i never bothered to install the antennas that came with the board ... 

Unfortunately, dunno how to do that


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## Aquinus (May 14, 2020)

HTC said:


> My connection is wired, yes.
> 
> I think i figured out why i don't have wi-fi on my PC despite my board supporting it: due to having wired connection, i never bothered to install the antennas that came with the board ...
> 
> Unfortunately, dunno how to do that


I'd find the documentation that came with the printer to help you setup the WiFi on the printer. *You don't need to fiddle with the WiFi on the tower.* As I said, only the printer needs to connect to WiFi if the tower is already on the network.

I don't want to digress, but if the WiFi device not showing up (which you shouldn't worry about since it doesn't appear that you need it,) there is a probably an additional driver you need to install for that. It'd probably show up in "Additional Drivers" in the "Software & Updates" control panel. I thought Intel WiFi was supported OOTB, but apparently not.


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## HTC (May 22, 2020)

Figured out what the problem was: it was the USB cable ...

As soon as i tried another cable, the printer printed normally, but i couldn't report this earlier because ... i lost my NET since early Sunday ...

The problem is now solved.


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## jimbo69 (Feb 15, 2021)

I'm on Lubuntu 20.04 with an HP 3632 DeskJet printer, I had the same problems as those below.

Similarly, I went around the virtual world trying to find a fix, today I:

1. uninstalled hplip - previously installed from the HP web site.
2. reinstalled hplip from the Ubuntu repository 
3. uninstalled cups                                       
4. reinstalled cups

All good!, my printer and scanner now work as expected.


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## kapqa (Mar 22, 2022)

Had also problem with Ubuntu 20.04 and Ecotank Printer 4750 -

the Ubuntu 20.04 System would "autoinstall" drivers , but not function.

my solutoin:

1. sudo apt purge ippusbxd (stops the system from auto"magicaly" selfinstall printer drivers)
2. go to https://epson.com/Support/wa00821 (Linux support for Epson Products) and download the packages for ET-4750
2b. > install those packages, let "sudo apt -f install " autoinstall missing packages
3 after reboot, the printer would be visible correctly as "USB Printer" and under "Network" in the Additional Print Settings and would actually print after being added as USB Printer.


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