HP LaserJet 500 M575 - scanner doesn't work, printing ok

What does

sane-find-scanner

say when the device is plugged into a USB port. Please post the complete output of the command.

Cheers,

Brian.

Hi brian_p, thanks for having a look into the issue.
Here's output of sane-find-scanner (with sudo):

" # sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the
  # result is different from what you expected, first make sure your
  # scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer.

  # No SCSI scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that
  # you have loaded a kernel SCSI driver for your SCSI adapter.

found USB scanner (vendor=0x0bda [Generic], product=0x0139 [USB2.0-CRW]) at libusb:003:004
  # Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by
  # SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend's manpage.

  # Not checking for parallel port scanners.

  # Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports
  # can't be detected by this program."

So it seems, that the command finds a scanner (not HP but a generic one), however trying again "scanimage -L" (with sudo), returns only the usual:
"No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages)."

Regards,
Martin

Not sure if this will help, but:
$ lsusb|grep Hewlett
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 03f0:9f17 Hewlett-Packard

$ grep 9f17 /etc/sane.d/genesys.conf
returns nothing.

> Here's output of sane-find-scanner (with sudo):

sane-find-scanner must be capable of giving a positive output when run by a user (no sudo). Do you get the same output as a user as you did when you used sudo? (root always has permission to use the USB bus. A user has to have it set up for him. See below).

The output you do get is very unusual.

> found USB scanner (vendor=0x0bda [Generic], product=0x0139 [USB2.0-CRW]) at libusb:003:004

This device is a Realtec card reader! Do you still get the same output when the M575 is unplugged?

The absolute minimum you need for success with sane-find-scanner is to have libpam-systemd installed and the file 56-hpmud.rules in /lib/udev/rules.d.

(I use Debian but, AIUI, Ubuntu and Mint use the same packages).

Cheers,

Brian.

> (I use Debian but, AIUI, Ubuntu and Mint use the same packages).

Not a very helpful statement.

I would been better to have asked which version of libsane is being used.

--
Brian.

Hi brian_p,
sorry for a bit long time to replay.

Here are the answers:
When the device is unplugged and without sudo command:
sane-find-scanner

  # sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the
  # result is different from what you expected, first make sure your
  # scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer.

  # No SCSI scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that
  # you have loaded a kernel SCSI driver for your SCSI adapter.

could not open USB device 0x8087/0x8000 at 002:002: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x1d6b/0x0002 at 002:001: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x8087/0x8008 at 001:002: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x1d6b/0x0002 at 001:001: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x1d6b/0x0003 at 004:001: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x0bda/0x0139 at 003:004: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x13d3/0x5188 at 003:003: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x03f0/0x094a at 003:018: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x04f3/0x010c at 003:008: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
could not open USB device 0x1d6b/0x0002 at 003:001: Access denied (insufficient permissions)
  # No USB scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that
  # you have loaded a kernel driver for your USB host controller and have setup
  # the USB system correctly. See man sane-usb for details.

  # Not checking for parallel port scanners.

  # Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports
  # can't be detected by this program.

  # You may want to run this program as root to find all devices. Once you
  # found the scanner devices, be sure to adjust access permissions as
  # necessary.

dpkg -l |grep libsane
ii libsane:amd64 1.0.25+git20150528-1ubuntu2.16.04.1 amd64 API library for scanners
ii libsane:i386 1.0.25+git20150528-1ubuntu2.16.04.1 i386 API library for scanners
ii libsane-common 1.0.25+git20150528-1ubuntu2.16.04.1 all API library for scanners -- documentation and support files
ii libsane-hpaio:amd64 3.16.3+repack0-1 amd64 HP SANE backend for multi-function peripherals

dpkg -l |grep libpam-systemd
ii libpam-systemd:amd64 229-4ubuntu10 amd64 system and service manager - PAM module

ls -l /lib/udev/rules.d/|grep hpmud
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 921 mar 29 2016 56-hpmud.rules

So the answer seems to be yes to your questions, they are already installed.
I'm a bit confused, printer worked out of the box (except duplex but this was just one option to be set and good to go). But scanner is not working or discovered by any tool? Weird..
I mean, shouldn't it be the case ...

Thanks for the detail, Martin.

> dpkg -l |grep libsane
> ii libsane:amd64 1.0.25+git20150528-1ubuntu2.16.04.1 amd64 API library for scanners

Version 1.0.27 has Debian and Ubuntu bugs for scanners not working filed against it. You are not affected by this.

Printing and scanning are done by different software and one can work and the other not. The two processes are not intimately connected. The printer works because it found by a different process.

I do not think this is a scanner driver problem. You have clearly shown that sane-find-scanner run as root does not detect a scanner. The scanner driver is hpaio (look at /etc/sane.d/dll.d/hplip) and is not used by sane-find-scanner. A user must have permissions given to him to access the USB bus to find the scanner. root doesn't need to be given permissions.

Let us see where a user stands. Plug the device in and do 'ls -l /dev/bus/usb/*/*' as a user. Do you have a line beginning like this "crw-rw-r--+ root lp"? The important thing is the "+". If none of the lines have a "+", log out and log in again.

The end of the line should look like this: /dev/bus/usb/004/005. This is the device file. Now do 'getfacl /dev/bus/usb/004/005'. I get "user:brian:rw-" so I have read-write permissions to the that device file, which is used by the scanner.

Cheers,

Brian.

Hi Martin,

The Linux Mint 18.3 version is yet to be supported in the hplip. Please wait for the next release (Feb 2018) to get the supported version of Linux Mint 18.3 distro in HPLIP.

Please look for the latest release information in our website – https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing

Thanks,
Nishitha

@Nishitha

Martin cannot not detect the scanner when it's on the USB bus and he uses sudo. In this circumstance sane-find-scanner needs nothing from hplip to do its job.

Regards,

Brian.

These 24/48 hour lags in reponse are tedious.

I imagine the last request would have had a reply (or should have) which shows the user has permissions to use the USB bus. Why sane-find-scanner fails is beyond me. In fact, as root, the utiltity does find a device (a card reader) but misidentifies it. So it isn't as though nothing is found.

There is more which could be said. If the scanner is inoperative it is not worth the time or effort.

Cheers,

Brian.

Hi again,

Thank you brian_p and Nishitha Antony for having a look into this.

The scanner is definitely working, as I can use a copy button to scan a document and print it out.
I can also use scanner to save image into the USB Thumb drive or into build into this printer HDD.
But I cannot use scanner to save files to my laptop or to scan documents from my computer.

'/etc/sane.d/dll.d/hplip' says that it is hpaio

As for the USB, here are the results, it's exactly like you said, one had a '+'.
crw-rw-r--+ 1 root lp 189, 276 lut 14 12:28 /dev/bus/usb/003/021
then:
getfacl /dev/bus/usb/003/021, says:
# file: dev/bus/usb/003/021
# owner: root
# group: lp
user::rw-
user:will:rw-
group::rw-
group:scanner:rw-
mask::rw-
other::r--

So, I'm there, user: 'will' and it's also read-write permission.

I did try the same on Windows 7 VM in VBox.
Device was properly recognized, I have installed scanner software/drivers from HP website, but it could not find any scanner (I did tick the proper USB device in devices tab).
Did some search, and found that, even though it used to work in earlier devices, HP has dropped such basic function like scanning from a PC, both by USB or network.
Some guys already complained about it:
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Scanning-Faxing-and-Copying/HP-LaserJet-Enterprise-500-Color-MFP-M575-Can-t-scan-from/td-p/2180209

There are some other options like shared folder on you laptop/PC to which a scanner should save your images, I'll have a look on it.
Other options are to send email with scanned image, but I don't like that option.

Topic can be closed with note, that this printer does not support scanning over USB nor network.
No such info is in the manual, at least I couldn't see it.

Thank you guys for your patience and knowledge.
Have a great evening,
Martin

I suppose all us should have read the documentation first and saved ourselves some work.

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/supported_devices/index

Scan to PC is not supported by this device.

--
Brian.

I would divide it into 2 groups:
1) supported by device
2) supported by hplip

Some features might be not supported by point 2) HPLIP, but device may still have this option.
Though I agree with you, if HPLIP doesn't support it, there is most probably no support for such feature at all on Linux. Or at least now I know it..

Martin

In an earlier post Martin said
  > No such info is in the manual, at least I couldn't see it.

As far as the manual is concerned, it does not mention "scanning from a computer". Therefore, it can be assumed it is not offered as a facility. (But people do not buy a multifunction printer on the basis of what is in the manual, so many, like me, would expect to be able to scan from a computer because the machine has a scanner and that is what multifuntion devices do. Let the buyer beware!)

Martin also said
  > Topic can be closed with note, that this printer does not support scanning over USB nor
  > network.

It is not the only one! A quick look at /usr/share/hplip/data/models/models.dat shows that almost the complete class of Enterprise multifunctions has "scan-src=0" and "scan-type=0". My understanding of these two parameters is that they indicate a scan from computer-enabled device. "=0" says they are not enabled. There are non-Enterprise devices like this too.

Someone deep in the bowels of HP must know the reason for this; I'm intrigued with the reason. Perhaps HPLIP support could help us out and use their resources to seek out the cause. Is it technical? Is scan to a network folder thought to be good enough for anyone? Is scan from a PC not wanted with such high-end machines? Basically, is the device designed to scan from a computer? And if not, why not?

Another thing I'm intrigued with is the status of the M575 on the network. Would you please try the following, Martin?

1. Connect the M575 to the network with an ethernet cable (have AirPrint enabled). The machine should pick up an IP address via DHCP.

2. Download avahi-utils and run 'avahi-browse -art | less'.

3. Your printer should show up as "PDL Printer" and "Internet Printer". A scanner would be "_scanner._tcp"; is this entry there?

Thanks in advance.

Brian.

Hi Brian,

I totally agree and cannot understand, why HP dropped support for scanning from computer...
Did it thought that there are other options (scan to email, shared folder, etc.) and therefore scan from PC can be ignored?
If so, it's a really bad thinking, maybe some economics comes into play there as well, but for end users, it's really a bad decision!!

As for the avahi-utils, I already have the printer set for printing via network and by default all services and enabled, so you can find results are in attachment.

Hello Martin,

avahi-browse does not show an advertised scanner. This fits your conclusion that scanning over the network or from USB is not supported by this machine. Network and USB ports are disbaled for scanning.

I doubt economic reasons play a part. The Enterprise class has high-end machines, some costing 2000 Euro or more. Providing scanning from USB would be technially possible and not increase the price significantly.

However, an Enterprise-class machine is intended to be used in sensitive environments; financial concerns, law firms etc. It is not your run-of-the-mill home consumer product. Consequently, it has an emphasis on security. Scanning (just like copying) requires the correct user to be physically present at the machine and be responsible for documents being scanned. If there was scanning over the network, information could be taken *off* the machine and out of a secure area by an unauthorised person.

Cheers,

Brian.

Hi Brian,

Indeed this could be the security case, though you loose some control of the scanning process.
Actually, if this is for security reasons, you could make an option to turn the scanning via USB/Network ON and OFF like many other stuff that's in the printer, AirPrint, FTP, AD just to name a few.

Still, would be great if HPLIP could include such possibility or there was a way to make it work.

Thanks,
Martin

This has been an interesting discussion. Next time, Martin - purchase a less expensive machine. ;)

Thanks,

Brian.