HP Laserjet 1012: very annoying "Unsupported Personnality" problem!

[GP]

Every once in a while, my Laserjet 1012 stops printing the requested pages
and instead prints: Unsupported Personality: PCL I have to restart the
printer before it restarts printing.

What the hell is that?

GP

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Pretty funny, but I have no idea what it is trying to indicate.

Sounds like you got an ear on a conversation between the printer
spooler/driver and the computer. It is very polite, don't you think?

Art

 

[GP]

Pretty funny, but I have no idea what it is trying to indicate.

Sounds like you got an ear on a conversation between the printer
spooler/driver and the computer. It is very polite, don't you think?

Polite maybe. Funny, no. But this is definitely a question for Mr
Headrick, the very resourceful HP man. I'm sure he'll come up with the
answer in no time at all.

GP

 

[stevem]

Polite maybe. Funny, no. But this is definitely a question for Mr
Headrick, the very resourceful HP man. I'm sure he'll come up with the
answer in no time at all.

GP

Only time I ever heard the word "personality" used in conjunction with a
printer was in the days of the early Oki Microline series, where you had to
insert a particular "Personality Module" depending on whether you wanted
RS232 connectivity, or some other obscure protocol (can't remember what it
was, but not parallel). However, that was twenty years ago or so. As you
say, hopefully Bob Headrick will come up with the answer.

Steve.

 

[GP]

Only time I ever heard the word "personality" used in conjunction with a
printer was in the days of the early Oki Microline series, where you had to
insert a particular "Personality Module" depending on whether you wanted
RS232 connectivity, or some other obscure protocol (can't remember what it
was, but not parallel). However, that was twenty years ago or so. As you
say, hopefully Bob Headrick will come up with the answer.

From this search:

<http://www.google.com/search?q="Las...illa-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8>

it seems the problem is common. No doubt HP has issued a new driver that
fixes the problem. Bob Headrich has certainly got it at hand this very
minute. This is the kind of issue HP has a reputation for fixing very
rapidly. I mean, they build the printer. If they can't put out a
functional driver, who will?

I'm sleeping tight on this one!

GP

 

[Dewaine Chan]

If you have the PCL6 driver loaded, try the PCL 5e driver.

Dewaine

 

[me]

If you have the PCL6 driver loaded, try the PCL 5e driver.

It does sound as though it might be trying to do the wrong PCL version.
When I was working out the setup on this machine I was able to generate
similar messages regarding Postscript languages by using the wrong
driver.

 

[GP]

It does sound as though it might be trying to do the wrong PCL version.
When I was working out the setup on this machine I was able to generate
similar messages regarding Postscript languages by using the wrong driver.

No, no. Thanks for your solicitude to both of you. Rest assured it's not
the wrong driver. But I see Bob Headrick is back, so we'll have the answer
anytime soon.

GP

 

[GP]

No, no. Thanks for your solicitude to both of you. Rest assured it's not
the wrong driver. But I see Bob Headrick is back, so we'll have the
answer anytime soon.

Err... yes... well... You must understand that Mr Headrick is not getting
paid at all by HP, his employer, to answer questions here. He just does
this on his space time, which is truly unbelievable. This is why we are
all so truly grateful to Mr Headrick for giving us almost a full week's
worth of his spare time every week.

I mean this guy is so devoted to us that I've seen him print pictures and
send them postpaid from his very own pocket to the other side of the globe
just to show the quality of HP printers, his employer, in whose's name
he's never speaking here.

My Headrick is truly unique and, of course, the counterpart of this is
that one must understand that he's got to be minimally patient.

And am I ever. I even had some time to do some research on the problem I
face. One of the post I've read says that every server OS encounters the
same problem with the Laserjet 1012. Which should certainly help Mr
Headrick find the solution to the problem.

My humble contribution to the great HP cause.

GP

 

[Bob Headrick]

Err... yes... well... You must understand that Mr Headrick is not getting
paid at all by HP, his employer, to answer questions here. He just does this
on his space time, which is truly unbelievable. This is why we are all so
truly grateful to Mr Headrick for giving us almost a full week's worth of his
spare time every week.

I mean this guy is so devoted to us that I've seen him print pictures and
send them postpaid from his very own pocket to the other side of the globe
just to show the quality of HP printers, his employer, in whose's name he's
never speaking here.

My Headrick is truly unique and, of course, the counterpart of this is that
one must understand that he's got to be minimally patient.

And am I ever. I even had some time to do some research on the problem I
face. One of the post I've read says that every server OS encounters the same
problem with the Laserjet 1012. Which should certainly help Mr Headrick find
the solution to the problem.

My humble contribution to the great HP cause.

Blush... Thanks for the kind words, it is nice to be appreciated but I am
unfortunately rather ignorant of the Laserjet side of the business. My most
recent experience with LaserJet's is the LJ 4 I bought a dozen years ago and
still keep around on the off chance I will need to print a PC board transfer.

That said, you might be able to get an answer in the HP peer support forum at
either
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=413
(business users) or
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=219
(IT Resource forum).

Dewaine Chan is the top contributor in the LaserJet forum, and I would expect
he would be your best bet to get your issue resolved. I would expect his
advice would lead to a solution if there is one .

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[GP]

Blush... Thanks for the kind words, it is nice to be appreciated but I am
unfortunately rather ignorant of the Laserjet side of the business. My most
recent experience with LaserJet's is the LJ 4 I bought a dozen years ago and
still keep around on the off chance I will need to print a PC board transfer.

Come on, Mr Headrick! No false humility, please! You know how much you
deserve all those compliments and so much more.

That said, you might be able to get an answer in the HP peer support forum at
either
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=413
(business users) or
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=219
(IT Resource forum).

Hey, this certainly is an interesting ressource -- LOTS of forums! --, but...

Dewaine Chan is the top contributor in the LaserJet forum, and I would expect
he would be your best bet to get your issue resolved. I would expect his
advice would lead to a solution if there is one .

since Dewaine has already intervened in this thread, we might as well
continue here, don't you think? I'm surprised you don't see his post,
since we both have supernews as a provider.

Dewaine has already made a suggestion about downgrading to a former PCL
driver. VERY unfortunately, the 1012 doesn't even use a PCL driver. And
the problem, recognized worldwide, it seems, is that it just won't
print... continously, without off-on recyclings, with a server OS, be it
Linux, Mac OS X and even, I read, Windows server.

So the question, I suppose, boils down to this: how come the Laserjet 1012
refuses to print properly with any server OS? Surely somebody at HP knows
why the 1012 presents such an enormous /bug/ and the way to fix it. I
really don't think Dewaine will be much help this time. This is clearly an
HP issue.

Kind regards!

GP

 

[Bob Headrick]

Dewaine has already made a suggestion about downgrading to a former PCL
driver. VERY unfortunately, the 1012 doesn't even use a PCL driver. And the
problem, recognized worldwide, it seems, is that it just won't print...
continously, without off-on recyclings, with a server OS, be it Linux, Mac OS
X and even, I read, Windows server.

So the question, I suppose, boils down to this: how come the Laserjet 1012
refuses to print properly with any server OS? Surely somebody at HP knows why
the 1012 presents such an enormous /bug/ and the way to fix it. I really
don't think Dewaine will be much help this time. This is clearly an HP issue.

Could you provide some more details of your issue? What OS are you using?
What model computer? How connected?

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Warren Block]

Every once in a while, my Laserjet 1012 stops printing the requested pages
and instead prints: Unsupported Personality: PCL I have to restart the
printer before it restarts printing.

What the hell is that?

http://www.linuxprinting.org has a little more information on this.
They say they solved the "personality" problem in their driver by always
sending a string of eight bytes as part of the job. However, that was
discovered by checking the output of the Windows driver--presumably what
you already have!

It's almost a "host-based" printer. There's probably little to be done
other than pestering HP for a cure. From what I've seen on the HP
support forums, it looks like it may be a ROM bug in the printer.
Whether HP will fix this, or even is able to fix it without replacing
the printer, remains to be seen.

 

[GP]

http://www.linuxprinting.org has a little more information on this.
They say they solved the "personality" problem in their driver by always
sending a string of eight bytes as part of the job. However, that was
discovered by checking the output of the Windows driver--presumably what
you already have!

The problem of the "Unsupported Personality: PCL" was finally solved by
Carl Michal (michal at physics dot ubc dot ca). By analyzing the output of
the Windows driver he found out that after the BeginSession operator in
the beginning of a PCL 6 job a special sequence of 8 bytes has to be
added. He added it by a filter to the output of GhostScript's "pxlmono"
driver and from then on the printer worked.

http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_1012

Yeah, yeah... some 8 bit sequence. Very helpful... for HP, maybe.

It's almost a "host-based" printer. There's probably little to be done
other than pestering HP for a cure.

They've been pestered since this printer is out, it seems.

From what I've seen on the HP
support forums, it looks like it may be a ROM bug in the printer.

Yes, a bug...

Whether HP will fix this, or even is able to fix it without replacing
the printer, remains to be seen.

I don't mind them exchanging the printer. It's not my problem.

GP

 

[GP]

Could you provide some more details of your issue?

It seems it's not really «my issue». Remember, Google is your friend:

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=fr&...ity:+PCL"+"laserjet+1012"&btnG=Rechercher&lr=>

What OS are you using?
What model computer? How connected?

I use Linux, which is supported by HP, I believe, but it seems the
problems happens on every server OS.

My computer is a clone with a Gigabyte GA-6VXC7-4X board. The printer is
connected directly through the only interface, usb. Can you think of a
more standard set-up?

Regards,

GP

 

[Bob Headrick]

The problem of the "Unsupported Personality: PCL" was finally solved by Carl
Michal (michal at physics dot ubc dot ca). By analyzing the output of the
Windows driver he found out that after the BeginSession operator in the
beginning of a PCL 6 job a special sequence of 8 bytes has to be added. He
added it by a filter to the output of GhostScript's "pxlmono" driver and from
then on the printer worked.

http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_1012

OK, does this fix your problem? Are you using the PPD file from the above
link?

- Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[GP]

OK, does this fix your problem? Are you using the PPD file from the above
link?

I don't print a lot and in order to not have to install CUPS on Slackware
-- which I might very well dump soon anyway -- I usually print with
Knoppix. The problem I have is with version 3.7. With 3.8.1 and 3.8.2, I
can't print at all, maybe because the driver was changed. I used the
Foomatic +hpijs driver, which is the recommended one at linuxprinting.org,
the place of reference for printing with ANY Linux OS. The pxl1010 is not
available with Knoppix.

Now, I could try this and that for days on end, but as I said, this is not
MY problem. It's an HP problem. This Foomatic +hpijs driver is "your
employer's" driver. Why don't HP just fix it?

I hope, you'll admit, Mr Headrick, that there is a limit to what a company
may expect from it's users. Users are not there to service printers: they
buy a printer and they want to print. Otherwise, you know what might happen.

After downsizing the size of the cartridge of the Laserjet 1012 from
2500-3000 pages to 2000 pages, HP might very well have "fixed" the printer
so that it doesn't work on server OSes. Asking vain questions takes so
little time and answering them, mainly for a non-programmer, is very
time-consuming. So pretty soon, the user has a ride for his money and
gives up.

Certainly you'll understand I don't want to take this ride.You know your
equipment so much better than I, I'm sure you'll come up with an answer in
no time at all... not only for me, but for every user that has been
complaining for years and whose mere existence you seem to ignore.

Err... Not you, of course. Your employer, in whose name you're not speaking.

Best regards!

GP

 

[rrieman]

This fixed it for me

This got rid of PCL unsupported personality message on my 1012 under Vista and re-enabled multiple copy printing...

Use the Vista Laserjet 1015 driver. One the driver is installed, open the properties for your printer. Under the "Advanced" tab, press the Print Processor button.

Select the WinPrint processor and Default data type of "Raw".

Once I did that, I was able to print multiple copies and print other documents I was having problems with.

Hope that helps. It has been a real pain for me up until now.