Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 60273
Brother HL-1650 printer will not eject last page in duplex mode
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:40:35 EDT
From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:0.9.5+) Gecko/20011116 Description of problem: If I enable duplex printing with the Brother HL-1650 printer, the printer will not eject the last page if there are an odd number of pages. For example, if I print a three page document, pages 1 and 2 will be on the first sheet of paper, and page 3 will not print. If I print another document immediately afterwards, page 3 of the first document and page 1 of the next document will print on the next sheet of paper. I've tried enabling 'Send FF' under the 'Driver Options' tab, but it does not fix the problem. If I try to print with 'Send EOT' enabled, I get a couple of lines of letters and numbers, then the printer starts spitting out blank pages. I've resorted to printing only one document at a time. I've created a one page PostScript document that consists of a couple of spaces. If the last page does not print, I print my blank document to force out the last page. I'm not sure if there should be another option to force a blank page on jobs with an odd number of pages, or if the 'Send FF' or 'Send EOT' options are broken. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Run 'printconf-gui' and set up a local printer using the Brother/HL-1650/Postscript driver. 2. Edit the new queue. 3. Under the 'Driver Options' tab, set 'Double-Sided Printing' to 'Long Edge (Standard)', and click 'OK' 4. Click 'Apply' to use the new settings. 5. Print a document with an odd number of pages (1, 3, 5, etc). Actual Results: I get all pages, except for the last page. For example, if I print a 5 page document, I get pages 1 through 4 on two sheets of paper, but I do not get page 5. Expected Results: I should get a third sheet of paper with only page 5 on it. Additional info: I've tried this with PostScript and PDF documents, and I've had the same problem with both document types. I'm not sure about other document types. As mentioned above, I've tried setting the 'Send FF' and 'Send EOT' options without success.
Sounds like 'send EOT' is broken.
Do you get the desired behaviour when printing to that (type of) printer from any other system?
My system is dual boot Windows 98 and RH 7.2. If I print from Win98, it ejects the last page every time. I don't know how the printer behaves with other versions of Linux, since I do not have room to install anything else on my laptop, and that is my only computer. If there is a newer version of the printer software available, I could install it and give it a try. I'm not exactly sure which packages I would need to upgrade though. If there is a patch that might fix the problem, I'm willing to try it.
Okay, I was hoping that it was a printer firmware problem. :-) It clearly isn't. We are just sending PostScript straight to the printer. Does Windows tell you anything useful about any encapsulation that it might be using? PJL for instance?
I can check the Windows settings this evening. You mentioned earlier that 'Send EOT' may be broken, since it causes the printer to spew garbage. Is EOT a standard signal that this printer should know about, or does each printer use its own mechanism to signal the end of a print job?
There is a large variety of ways of doing it. :-(
I checked the Windows driver settings, but I didn't find any useful information :( I looked on Brother's web site to see if they had any useful information. I came across this site: http://solutions.brother.com/Library/sol/printer/linux_install.html They mention some steps to take if the printer driver is not listed. I tried each of them (Using HP LaserJet 2, HP LaserJet 4, and Apple LaserWriter), but none of these printer drivers worked correctly. The page also states that "Brother are actively working with members of the Linux community to develop Brother specific device drivers for the Linux operating system." I could send them email asking if they have a fix for this problem.
I updated printconf to version 0.3.61 just after my last update, and it seems to work fine now. I turned of "Send EOT" and "Send FF", and it now ejects the last page, even if it only prints on one side.