Guide to Printers and Printing

Local Printer Checklist

Check the following items if you are having problems with your local printer:

Verify that the qdaemon is running. Make sure there are no forked processes running from the qdaemon.
Make sure the system date is correct. The qdaemon automatically rebuilds the qconfig.bin file when the qconfig file changes. If the date on the qconfig file is earlier than the date on the qconfig.bin file, the qconfig file is not digested, even if it was just modified.
If the dates on the qconfig.bin file and the qconfig file are correct, and changes to the qconfig file are correct, the /etc/qconfig file is no longer linked to the /usr/lpd/qconfig file.
Check that the /tmp directory is not full. The /tmp directory may be full if you receive a message such as No Virtual Printers Defined.
If no other user except root can print, check the permissions of the /tmp directory. Also, check the permissions of the print commands being used (including enq).
Check for obsolete queue names in the /var/spool/lpd/qdir file. A problem with the installation of a new /etc/qconfig file occurs when a queue is removed from the new /etc/qconfig file and a print request is made using the obsolete queue name. The qdaemon logs an error message. You must determine if the message refers to an old queue. If so, the problem will exist until you remove the obsolete queue entries from the /var/spool/lpd/qdir file.
If operator-attention messages requested by print commands are not being received, make sure the socket is connected and the host name can be pinged.
Operator-attention messages from print commands are routed through the writesrv command of the TCP/IP subsystem. If messages are not being received, check to see if the writesrv command is running by entering the command:
```
lssrc -s writesrv
```
If the writesrv command is not running, start it with the following command:
```
startsrc -s writesrv
```
Finally, make sure that writesrv is listed in the output of one of the following commands:
```
netstat -a | pg
```
OR
```
netstat -a | grep writesrv
```