Home > Troubleshooting > Installation

# Parallel Printing Troubleshooting

Did you install using the automatic installer?

If you installed using the automatic installer and not select custom install then your system was not configure to use the parallel port. Please un-install hplip.

In the source directory:

    su (or sudo then the command below)
    make uninstall
    rm -rf /usr/share/hplip
    ./install.py

Then choose custom and complete the install procedure making sure that parallel port is selected to be supported.

Is the ppdev module loaded?

Run:

    lsmod | grep ppdev

You should see something like:

    ppdev                  10500  0
    parport                39496  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc

If you do not see the above--run:

    modprobe ppdev

and then re-run the above command. and try configuring the printer again.

If you want to have the ppdev module loaded on boot add it to your /etc/modules file. Although this may be different depending on your linux distro.

What is your parallel port configured as in your BIOS?

Go into your system BIOS (follow your system documentation) and check that your parallel port is configure for ECP mode.

If you are still having problems.

Run:

    /usr/lib/cups/backend/hp

This command displays the devices that HPLIP detects.

If your printer does not show up there may be some other system problem and/or HPLIP problem.

Make sure HPLIP is running and try hp-setup again. You may want to consider posting your problem to the HPLIP-Help mailing list.

Page last updated: Wed May 2 13:09:44 2007; HPLIP Version: 2.7.9