I’ve been trying to set up new computers at work with Linux Mint 21 (LM21) (trying to get away from Windows). There are four that are of interest - all should be linked to a hp laserJet M15W printer via the router (wifi/ethernet). Two are Win10 and two are LM21. The printer suggests from early on that the toner is low - even though it most definitely is not. The problem is that, on the Win10 computers, the documents print, despite the low toner warning, but they don’t on the LM21 computers. All of them recognise the printer, all of them receive the warning, but the LM21 computers state that the printer cancelled the jobs. Is there a ‘switch’ that the LMs have that says to the printer “I know you’re low on toner, but print the boomin’ thing anyway!” This seems to be what the Win computers do. The other linked printer works fine.
Part of the reason for changing to Linux is the significant reduced cost. Someone else suggested getting other paid-for software. I don’t want to do this if at all possible. We are a small business with little spare cash.
Just to be up front, I have tried to discus this with HP, but to no avail.
Hi MattC, I don’t know the specific printer, but the chances of it cancelling the job because it’s low on toner and because it’s a Linux computer, seem slim to none. i.e. there’s likely another explanation. Typically if a printer has any sort of problem that prevents it from printing, the job will queue until the printer is ready.
Note; there are typically different ways to print to a HP printers and they don’t all work equally well on all platforms.
From memory I think there is a HP specific driver, a generic Postscript driver and a raw mode. Ignore Raw, but you might get some mileage by switching to the mode you’re not currently using. Typically I find Postscript works better with many applications, because the application is dealing with a generic language / format rather than with HP’s language / driver.
Also (!) not all applications speak postscript equally well. Chrome for example is a prime example of an application that ‘can’ print stuff very well (depending on the version) but sometimes fails. In this instance printing to a PDF file, then using a PDF viewer to actually send it to the printer solves the problem.
i.e. maybe worth switching whichever application you’re testing with just to make sure it’s not an application level problem.
For those in a similar situation, I managed to find the answer.
In the printer properties for this printer, in ‘Printer Options’, there is a setting (something like - (I’m not at work at the moment)): ‘Print Colour’. This was set to ‘RGB’. The printer is monochrome, so the printer was flat out refusing to print colour - naturally. Setting this to ‘monochrome’ solves the problem!