HP 5200 TN NDPS printer problem on Novell 6

[ssampier]

I am the "computer guy" for a small educational center. I have a little problem with an HP printer on Novell Netware 6. I have 3 network printers on a Novell 6 network. Up until this morning, the network and all printers were working without problem.

When I arrived this morning I logged into my user account without problem. I was helping a new employee with getting his computer, including creating a user for him in nwadmin, etc. However, when we tried to print, it failed. I also noticed it would no longer let him login any longer. Another employee also tried at the same time and couldn't login either. I checked the Novell Netware server, no problems I could see. I shut down it gracefully and start it backup again.

On restart, users could login again. However, one printer still would not print. On the Windows XP pc, the driver indicates "user intervention required". On the Novell server, the HP Gateway indicate the printer Needs Attention and there is a I/O error (Input/Output error).

I checked the printer, no error messages. I turned it off and back on again. Still same problem. I continue troubleshooting by unplugging the power cable, unplugging the network cable (CAT5), swapping the cable; same results. I even checked the system settings; the IP, netmask, and DNS are correct.

All other printers work fine. I decided after this troubleshooting it must be a software issue. In nwadmin I deleted the printer agent. I added it back. Same issue.

To further troubleshoot, I tried to by-pass Novell and setup the printer driver in Windows XP using the IP address and drivers. That did work, I was able to print just fine.

How can I troubleshoot this? I am happy to provide any information you need, just be a little patient with a Novell newbie. I took a Novell 5.1 class years ago and didn't need it again until I took this job about 2 years ago.

Again, I rarely ever have to touch Novell in my job. It just works and works well. This problem has me stumped.

 

[goombawaho]

Two things:

You should be using ConsoleOne now instead of Nwadmin

The HP Gateway was basically de-supported quite a while ago and so you might try the regular Novell NDPS gateway. I know it sounds stupid (worked yesterday/won't work today), but what are you going to do except try something.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...p?locBasepartNum=ja-22784-1&lang=English+(US)

 

[ssampier]

My previous experience with ConsoleOne was negative. Netware Administrator was stable and reliable. If things have changed places I will give ConsoleOne a try.

I vaguely recall trying to migrate from the HP Gateway about 6 months ago. Obviously it didn't work. I will try the instructions again (when no one is in the office). Nothing is worse when a worker cannot do their job

 

[LawnBoy]

I use NWAdmin on NW6.5, no reason not to.


--
The stagehand's axiom: "Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never roll what you can leave.

 

[goombawaho]

There are things that you cannot do in NWAdmin that you can do in ConsoleOne, but I'm not gonna bust out the list. but, you do need to get out of the stone age. Just sayin'....... ConsoleOne came out in 1998!!!!!!!

Actually, and especially if you're on 6.5, you should start getting used to iManager and the current crop of tools that are web-based interfaces that can do all kinds of neat things via a browser. It's fun, informative and helps you do cool things on your servers.

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=102274&seqNum=6

Look on Novell or Google for instructions on doing a local install (to your C drive) of ConsoleOne and then it runs much faster.

 

[LawnBoy]

One thing I can't do in C1 is to create an NDPS printer. You have to be running iPrint for that. It seems kinda silly for the OP to go through all those changes just to troubleshoot one printer.


--
The stagehand's axiom: "Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never roll what you can leave.

 

[ssampier]

I did install ConsoleOne on my Windows XP desktop. As noted I could not install an NDPS printer.

iManager, iPrint, how many different tools do we need? Is OES 2 just as scatter-brained? I look forward to managing things with Linux since I am getting better at managing our Red Hat servers.

For now, I just have the users print directly to the printer (by-passing Novell).

 

[LawnBoy]

I don't use any of the iStuff. NWAdmin, C1, and a remote session to the console are the only tools I need or use for 6.5.

Is there an OS made that isn't plagued by too many mgmt tools?


--
The stagehand's axiom: "Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never roll what you can leave.

 

[goombawaho]

Maybe Marv can straighten you guys out. Or maybe I'm just stupid, using the recommended and current tools an OS vendor has supplied for managing their software.

But, if it works for you and you haven't encountered a problem that you can't handle (like managing groupwise in NWADMIN), then go for it.

 

[goombawaho]

Ooops, posted that last post before I was done - back to the original problem. Have you looked for any applicable patches, that either mention NDPS printing explicitly or OS patches that you have NOT installed.

I'm hoping you're up to the current (for your product) OS patch. Then look carefully at all updates since that major patch for anything that may be applicable to your system, even if it's not explicitly NDPS/printing-related.

You just never know and full patching is a great way to be at a baseline where you can then begin further troubleshooting.

 

[terry712]

use imanager for it
use a novell gateway rather than hp

not a big imanage fan but for printers it is the one that works when xp is involved

groupwise - c1 (nwadmin can knacker the dbases)

 

[goombawaho]

^^^^^^ Agreed, but patching first couldn't hurt. If you don't want to patch, then start as terry712 said.

The OP probably doesn't have GW or he couldn't still be using NWADMIN.

 

[marvhuffaker]

Ok we're all friends here, lets keep this civil for the new guy.

First off.. ssampier, why are you complaining about OES2 when you're still in the stone age on NetWare 6? OES2 is irrelevant to your current problem. Another thing, iPrint is NOT a management tool, so your comparison is a little off. Now that I got that off my chest, lets get this problem solved. Since you are new, you need to understand some fundamentals.

First of all, ConsoleOne never has and never will be able to manage printers. For printers, you use either NWADMIN or iManager. However, iManager SUCKS on NetWare 6.0 and it's kinda like trying to use Chopsticks to eat soup. Plus it sounds like you are using only NDPS, not iPrint (this is based on info you provided). With that, NWADMIN is probably all you need.

Let me get on my soapbox for a sec.. A lot of people get butthurt about the different management tools that Novell has. But they don't understand the history. NWADMIN is a legacy tool for a Legacy OS. NetWare 6 is Legacy. You can use NWADMIN to manage printers, but it does not have the full functionality of iManager. There are SEVERE limitations in NWADMIN that you have to just accept if you continue to use it (like XP support), but you can get printers to work with basic functionality. Also, your iManager is probably version 2.02, which does not have the same functionality as does iManager 2.5/2.6/2.7 that you find in later versions of NetWare and now OES2. (Note that NetWare 6.0 is essentially 4 generations back - NW 6.0, NW6.5, OES1, OES2). Although there are a few reasons why I still use NWADMIN for some things, I don't use it for printing, and only use it when its easier than iManager. ConsoleOne is another story, but not relevant here.

So I would recommend using NWADMIN only because you ARE using NDPS and NetWare 6 and it will just be easier to go along with what you've already got.

There are a couple things here that need to be explained.

1) When you delete an NDPS printer in NWADMIN, it does not delete the agent from the NDPS manager. So you probably didn't actually recreate the printer, you probably created another one. You need to go to the NDPS Manager on the server and review the list there, look at the status, etc. If you need to remove a printer, remove it from the server screen and it will also delete the NDS object from the tree. Then you can start with a clean printer agent.

2) HP NDPS gateway sucks. It crashes a lot, is very unstable, and this is a real dilemma cause I LOVED the HP gateway back in the day for it's functionality. But the reality is that you can't use it anymore if you want a stable server. You NEED to convert ALL your printer agents to the Novell NDPS Gateway (Or referred to as the Novell SNMP gateway). This is a 20 second process if you download and use the Novell Conversion tool found here:

http://support.novell.com/docs/Readmes/InfoDocument/patchbuilder/readme_5006642.html.

Make sure you unload the NDPS manager and reload the NDPS manager after you do the conversion. I've never had a problem with it, and you can run it multiple times if you don't think you got it right. If you do it right, after you reload the NDPS manager, you wont' see the HP Gateway Agent screen anymore.

3) Note that Novell tends to use NDPS and iPrint as if they are the same thing. They are not. They both use the same NDPS agent backend, but the iPrint adds some additional modules, and the both have different delivery mechanisms to the client. NDPS delivery integrates with the Novell client; iPrint delivery has its own separate agent. iPrint is the only supported printing platform on OES2.

4) When your server is not talking to your printer, but you know the printer is active and working, you need to troubleshoot the configuration. Maybe it can't ping the printer, maybe it can ping but it can't talk to the printer. If you continue to use the HP Gateway, you should be able to look at the printer list and see the status of communication (That's what I like about the HP Gateway) I recall a <===> if it's talking, or < /\ > (??)if it's not.

5)You can also look at system logs to see if any errors occurred while loading the NDPS agent. Each printer that loads will invoke an automatic load from the console. So you need to check SYS:SYSTEM\SYS$LOG.ERR for any printer related errors.

6)Also, for the record, a lot of people go down the route of "Just go Direct IP, It's easier".. Well, for 1 or 2 systems, yes, much easier. For 30 or 500, hell no. You will spend the rest of your life managing printers. Get this problem solved on the Novell box and kill the direct IP printing.

If you see any errors or status messages, you can also search the Novell knowledge base at support.novell.com. It's actually very good.

Or you can report the errors back here and maybe we'll be able to better point you in the right direction. Also, stop deleting printers, this isn't Microsoft and you shouldn't have to do that to fix things.

7)Also you should go to HP website and download the HP Download Manager. Search for it in drivers downloads. You can use it to find your printers and update your firmware. This will help ensure that your printers have the latest code and work correctly with NDPS.

8)Make sure on your printer, LPR is enabled if the option exists (usually does).

9) Remember that just cause you can ping printer from workstation, doesn't mean you can from the server. Get on the server console and do some pings from there.

10) And if you're angry at some of the things I said, lighten up cause I'm just messing with you.

PS - Lawnboy, While I share your enthusiasm for NWADMIN, I have learned that iManager gives you far superior Windows XP printer management, and now with iPrint Client Management, you can deploy your printers automatically by container or group just like you can with NDPS and NWADMIN. And using IPRINT, you get away from those nasty Windows Driver Warnings that are terrible with NDPS.


Marvin Huffaker, MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting, Inc.
A Novell Platinum Partner

http://www.redjuju.com