Just to be sure, I removed the printer configuration and added it again, using CUPS. When I asked for a test page to be printed CUPS reported in “state”: “unable to locate printer”.
I think that I will stop trying until I get the new cable. At least that will remove one possibility of error.
I will post any new findings in due course.
Thanks again.
Update:
I found another USB cable and replaced the old one.
The up side is that the scanner function now works, so this cable is clearly fine.
The down side is that printing is still stubbornly not happening.
CUPS reports state as “the printer is in use” and dmesg is quite happy:
[12309.153784] usb 5-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[12309.254906] usb 5-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=04f9, idProduct=035b, bcdDevice= 1.00
[12309.254911] usb 5-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[12309.254914] usb 5-1.3: Product: DCP-1610W
[12309.254917] usb 5-1.3: Manufacturer: Brother
[12309.254919] usb 5-1.3: SerialNumber: E74225H1N882595
[12309.259561] usblp 5-1.3:1.0: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 8 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04
F9 pid 0x035B
… but still no printout.
Ok, the output is consistent with what I would expect. Please show the current output from
lpstat -t
and
sudo lpinfo -v
Typical output for Brother printers:
**i3-4130:~ #** journalctl -b 0 _KERNEL_SUBSYSTEM=usb -g 2-10
-- Journal begins at Tue 2021-11-30 07:39:48 CET, ends at Sat 2021-12-11 08:22:53 CET. --
Dec 11 08:21:22 i3-4130 kernel: usb 2-10: new full-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
Dec 11 08:21:22 i3-4130 kernel: usb 2-10: New USB device found, idVendor=04f9, idProduct=0228, bcdDevice= 1.00
Dec 11 08:21:22 i3-4130 kernel: usb 2-10: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Dec 11 08:21:22 i3-4130 kernel: usb 2-10: Product: MFC-255CW
Dec 11 08:21:22 i3-4130 kernel: usb 2-10: Manufacturer: Brother
Dec 11 08:21:22 i3-4130 kernel: usb 2-10: SerialNumber: BROC0F213956
Dec 11 08:21:23 i3-4130 kernel: usblp 2-10:1.0: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 2 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04F9 pid 0x0228
Dec 11 08:21:23 i3-4130 kernel: usb-storage 2-10:1.2: USB Mass Storage device detected
**i3-4130:~ #** lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: HLL2350DW
device for HLL2350DW: lpd://BRW1CBFC0D1EA86/BINARY_P1
device for MFC255CW: lpd://BRWC417FEB49788/BINARY_P1
HLL2350DW accepting requests since Tue Nov 16 17:30:12 2021
MFC255CW accepting requests since Mon Nov 22 14:51:35 2021
printer HLL2350DW is idle. enabled since Tue Nov 16 17:30:12 2021
printer MFC255CW is idle. enabled since Mon Nov 22 14:51:35 2021
**i3-4130:~ #** lpinfo -v
Password for root on erlangen? ********
file cups-brf:/
serial serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=115200
network beh
network smb
network ipp
network ipps
network https
network lpd
network socket
network http
network lpd://BRW1CBFC0D1EA86/BINARY_P1
network lpd://BRWC417FEB49788/BINARY_P1
**i3-4130:~ #**
The down side is that printing is still stubbornly not happening.
CUPS reports state as “the printer is in use” and dmesg is quite happy:
I experienced the above problem several times on some occasions and got it fixed by de-install / reinstall of the newest Brother driver.
@karlmistelberger: There should be no need to reinstall the driver. In fact, analysis of the CUPS log showed no issues with the print job processing. The issue is (as the last posts have revealed) an incorrect device URI for a USB-connected printer. Once that is corrected, printing should work without issue.
To my experience reinstalling is fast and fixes these issues in most cases.
Searching for the underlying cause is recommended only when reinstall fails, in my opinion of course.
I’d like to make clear that I am using the latest drivers I found on the Brother website. I don’t know of any newer versions.
Results this morning are:
lpstat -t
[FONT=monospace]scheduler is running
no system default destination
device for DCP1610W: lpd://nina/DCP1610W
DCP1610W accepting requests since Sat 11 Dec 2021 11:54:59 GMT
printer DCP1610W now printing DCP1610W-35. enabled since Sat 11 Dec 2021 11:54:59 GMT
The printer is in use.
DCP1610W-35 anonymous 1024 Sat 11 Dec 2021 11:54:59 GMT
[/FONT]
and lpinfo -v gives
n[FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace]etwork beh
network lpd
network ipp
network http
network socket
network https
network ipps
direct usb://Brother/DCP-1610W%20series?serial=E74225H1N882595
network smb
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=monospace]
Looking at dmesg -w I see these last few lines:
[/FONT][FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace] 575.681706] usblp 4-1.3:1.0: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 5 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04
F9 pid 0x035B
575.724051] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
575.743216] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
1180.099050] usblp0: removed
1180.111093] usblp 4-1.3:1.0: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 5 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04
F9 pid 0x035B
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace]
to my very untrained eye it looks like lpinfo reports the device as seen, but dmesg says “no devices found”. Is it significant that the name I gave the queue ([/FONT][/FONT][FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace]lpd://nina/DCP1610W[/FONT]) is different from the device name reported by lpinfo ([FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace]DCP-1610W%20series)? I should think not, but perhaps I am wrong.[/FONT][/FONT]
In order to eliminate another possible source of problems I tried other usb ports on my desktop but they all reported errors, so I’m sticking with the front usb port, which I know works because I have had other devices successfully working with it very recently.
the current pending job on the queue was sent this morning via CUPS.
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[quote="naimab,post:27,topic:148912"]
I'd like to make clear that I am using the latest drivers I found on the Brother website. I don't know of any newer versions.
[/quote]
I have no idea whether your knowledge is accurate. Tell what you are actually using. Post the link you downloaded. My recently used installer is:
karl@erlangen:~> ll Downloads/linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.2-2
-rw-r–r-- 1 karl users 142971 4. Aug 14:42 Downloads/linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.2-2
karl@erlangen:~>
> to my very untrained eye it looks like lpinfo reports the device as seen, but dmesg says "no devices found". Is it significant that the name I gave the queue (lpd://nina/DCP1610W) is different from the device name reported by lpinfo (DCP-1610W%20series)? I should think not, but perhaps I am wrong.
You don't mention uninstall. Presumably you skipped uninstall. Complete uninstall is essential. Use "yast2 printer > Printer Configurations" and delete all local and remote entries listed.
> In order to eliminate another possible source of problems I tried other usb ports on my desktop but they all reported errors, so I'm sticking with the front usb port, which I know works because I have had other devices successfully working with it very recently.
Front USB headers are more susceptible to failure. Use a rear port which worked in the past, e.g move the mouse to a new port and use the original port of the mouse for printing with a cable known to work reliably, e.g. with an external HDD or SSD.
> the current pending job on the queue was sent this morning via CUPS.
I never succeeded printing a job pending due to configuration errors. Cancel this job. Proceed as described above. When done try printing a test page using CUPS or "yast2 printer".Which driver you have installed? Exact name, please.
https://openprinting.org/printer/Brother/Brother-DCP-1610W
https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadhowto.aspx?c=gb&lang=en&prod=dcp1610w_eu_as&os=127&dlid=dlf101535_000&flang=4&type3=558
…and as I alread explained to you, the CUPS LPD backend is not right for a USB-connected priner.
It is NOT a printer driver issue, so reinstalling such will not help in the slightest.
The lpinfo output reported the attached printer device…
direct usb://Brother/DCP-1610W%20series?serial=E74225H1N882595
[FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace]
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=monospace][FONT=monospace]
[/FONT][/FONT]
to my very untrained eye it looks like lpinfo reports the device as seen, but dmesg says “no devices found”. Is it significant that the name I gave the queue (lpd://nina/DCP1610W) is different from the device name reported by lpinfo (DCP-1610W%20series)? I should think not, but perhaps I am wrong.
The correct device URI is
usb://Brother/DCP-1610W%20series?serial=E74225H1N882595
Reconfigure with the CUPS web interface. In fact, with a working printer and USB cable, it should report the attached printer as soon as you select ‘Add Printer’.
The version of the installer (taken from the Brother website) is 2.2.3-1 as ll shows:
> ll Downloads/linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.3-1
-rwxr-xr-x 1 naima users 143001 Dec 10 19:43 Downloads/linux-brprinter-installer-2.2.3-1
Because you started with a faulty cable, your USB-connected printer wasn’t discovered (during initial installation). Remove the existing configuration, and either run the Brother installer again, or via the CUPS web interface. The working URI will use the CUPS ‘usb://’ backend as already mentioned.
deano_ferari, thanks for persevering with me.
Your solution was correct, and the printer is now working fine.
What confused me was ultimately my lack of knowledge.
When adding a printer through CUPS I had these options:
I chose “LPD/LPR Host or Printer” as the most appropriate one (to my mind). On the following screen the URI was already partly populated with “LPD”, so I thought that this was a necessary part of the URI.
Now I finally understand (I’m a bit slow but I get there if explained to patiently :)) and thank you for your help.
Glad to have been of guidance. Yes, the ‘Local Printer’ was the correct option in this case. (The Brother installer utility would also have configured similarly if used as long as the printer is connected at the time.)
No CUPS required. The Brother installer asks for the model number and readily installs or verifies the packages required. Select option “auto” and you are done: USB Sample install
Yes, as I already explained either will work, but this all started with a broken USB cable. You needed to read the entire thread for context. 
Yes, I have done this. The above confirms what I learned the hard way: Refer to the specific documentation of the make and model first and proceed as suggested by the vendor. If in trouble check power cord and power switch. Check USB cable if applicable. Double check model.
Well done you. I’ve used the installer script and manually on occaision - both work equally as expected. 