mixty

Hi there.

We've set up a Canon MP988 network printer (connected to router) in the
printer server (running Windows Server) of a company¡CWe can see its status
is ready, which I suppose should mean the driver has been properly installed
and everything is OK, even its management web page can be accessed fine.
However, it gives error when printing.

What could be the cause?

Sorry for sounding newbie-ish, but I would really like to know the ports the
network printer uses for sharing, as I want to telnet to the port to see if
there's anything (e.g. strict firewall rules) that is blocking the
communication between the network printer and the Windows server.

If that path is not blocked, then maybe we need to send the printer to
repair; if the path is blocked, then it should be firewall, correct?

"How Network Printing Works"
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...prntt_how_fxbi

I checked this Technet article for the ports I need but I really lack this
knowledge. Is this what should be tested? Port 9100 for "Standard TCP/IP
port monitor" (RAW)"

I don't think it is about SMB / RPC ports as the network printer is a
Windows OS. Am I wrong in saying so?

Thanks and sorry for my ignorance.

mixty

robert l. \(ms-mvp\)

Even the printer is ready, you may need to install the latest printer
driver. Can you ping the printer IP address?

--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

mixty

Sorry for typo: I don't think it is about SMB / RPC ports as the Canon
network printer is *not* a Windows OS. Am I wrong in saying so?

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mixty

Thanks. I also tried new drivers. The printer IP address can be pinged and
the web management page can be visited.

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lanwench [mvp - exchange]

I'm confused as to your mentioning "connected to router" or where your
firewall would enter into this at all. What firewall are you talking about?
Can you ping the prinnter's IP address?

Let me describe a typical setup of this kind:
You have A network-capable printer connected to your LAN (meaning, an
Ethernet switch or hub, not a router).
The printer's network card is assigned a non-changing IP address on the
LAN - either a static or a DHCP reservation.
The Windows print server is configured with a standard TCP/IP port that
specifies that IP address
The printer is configured as a local printer on the print server, using the
latest supported drivers.
The printer is shared from the Windows server so that workstations can print
to it.

Does that sound right?

If you're having problems with printing gibberish, then it's most likely a
driver problem.

mixty

Thanks so much for your clear description. I will ensure we won't do any of
those mistakes.

After a sleepless night of research, and thanks (really!) to everybody's
help here and elsewhere, I want to post my refined questions before I go to
work.

Let me state again that it is a network printer directly connected to a
Windows Server (not shared to client PC yet since we're at testing stage, so
I think it is not related to RPC/SMB ports)

I've found some ways to troubleshoot network printing issues. Please correct
me if there's something else we should do.

1) [Firewall issue] If the driver's fine, maybe the communication between
Windows and the network printer is blocked. I was looking for the listening
port for TCP/IP network printers to telnet/netcat to. It should be 515
(network printer should use LPD/LPR implementation), yet I'm confused HP
JetDirect and others seem to use 9100 or others as listening port (informed
by a web page below).
http://members.cruzio.com/~jeffl/sco...intservers.htm

PS: I wish to have a way to reproduce this problem and test it at home but
could not... there's no such thing as virtual IP printer. I only found a
Virtual Printer at best.

3) [Do a lowest-level test print] I'd like a method (maybe command) to print
directly to the printer by IP rather than first setting it up. Something
like "dir > IP_192.168.0.123" would go to printer directly at the lowest
possible level to eliminate any other causes.

Then I found that it can't be done without first sharing the printer (that
means passing though RPC/SMB, not lowest-level):

a) Remapping printer to LPTx by "net use LPTx \\host\share" and printing
with "copy abc.ps LPTx /b".
b) print /d:IP_192.168.1.123 c:\abc.txt (no response, unless again first
sharing it - print /d:\\192.168.1.133\Canon1 c:\temp.txt)

Later I found some more ways that works without sharing:

i) 'Enable printer pooling' for both LPTx and IP_192.168.1.123 ports. Then
printing to LPTx by the copy command would go to the IP port.

ii) LPR command seem to do it the lowest level as the name suggests?
LPR -S 192.168.1.133 -P "Canon MP988" -o c:\abc.ps

iii) Or, simply setting up the printer by Standard TCP/IP and do a "Print
Test Page" in the printer properties would be low level enough?

(by 'works' I mean it gives response, errors are still there tho)

3) [Confirm driver is working by examining the raw output] First print to
file using "Keep printed documents" or "FILE:" port with the Canon driver,
then use PCLReader / PostScript viewer (GSView) to view the raw printout to
check if it is the driver that makes bad printouts that causes the error.

However, during the test of both programs using another working Canon
printer, both PCLReader and PS viewer (GSView) can't decode the file but
show weid codes. I went on and checked a .pcl file printed by a HP printer.
It works tho. What could be the issue here? Isn't the Canon using either PCL
or PS?

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lanwench [mvp - exchange]

Directly connected? When you write it that way, I read it as a *local*
printer, not a network one, If you're using an Ethernet cable and the
printer is connected to your switch / LAN, then it's a network printer.


Do you have the Windows Firewall enabled on your dual-NIC server? If not,
this is not an issue. If so, well, I'd disable it, because I just don't see the point.


Why not just see if you have problems with the printer first?


Share the printer. What are you worried about? It won't hurt anything.


Don't do that. There should be no reason to use LPT1.

You don't need LPT.


You're making this far too complicated, I think. It's just a printer.

1) Install the printer driver in Windows via a standard TCP/IP port using
the printer's non-changing LAN IP address.
2) Print a test page from Windows
3) If the test page works, share the printer
4) Install the printer on a workstation (using the wizard or merely going to
\\server\ and finding / right-clicking on the shared printer, and choosing
Connect.
5) Print a test page on the workstation.

mixty

Oh I'm so sorry. By directly connected, I meant directly connected to
company's switch/router. ridiculous me. (otherwise I wouldn't have been here
in windows.server.networking, because I'd like to know in what way
networking plays a role here, and the ports for troubleshooting)
Sorry for puzzling you. English is not my first language so I might miss
some key words once in a while. My bad.

I wish I could add more details here but I got lost of the case. Anyway,
thank you.
And I appreciate your comments, as I wanted an affirmation of what I learned
about network printer troubleshooting (though disaffirmation most of the
time!), so that I could apply it confidently next time in similar cases.

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lanwench [mvp - exchange]

Not at all - don't worry about it. I just wanted to be clear.


All I ever do is send a print job over & see if it works right :-)

mixty

Thanks again. Just to report the results. The culprit we found is Windows
Firewall (of Windows Server 2003).
After allowing port 9100 (TCP) through, the error is gone.

Windows Firewall should not block outgoing connections, so it must be
incoming connection that it has blocked.
But I wonder why there's incoming connection, shouldn't it be just outgoing
as the server is provided on the TCP/IP network printer?
it seems to need the port open both on the Windows side and the network
printer side, bidirectionally, in order to work.

And I think was wrong saying it should be port 515, because that is for the
legacy LPR/LPD no longer used, though may be supported by the network
printer; for RAW (Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor), port 9100 is used by
default.

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