pstopdffilter/pstocupsraster failed with err number -31000

Question

Level 1

122 points

pstopdffilter/pstocupsraster failed with err number -31000

Printing a PDF of a scanned page from Adobe Reader 7.0.8. Nothing happens but the printer ends up held. Other documents print just fine. Start jobs simply stops again with no visible message. I found the error message in Console /var/log/cups/error_log. I haven't the foggiest even how to START to debug this. Seems like a CUPS problem, rather than Adobe, but who knows?

It says: "Try setting the LogLevel to "debug" to find out more." How & where do I do that?

Other suggestions?

Complete log (quite short):

I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:13 -0800] Saving printers.conf...
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:13 -0800] Printer 'Stylus_C60' started by ''.
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:14 -0800] Adding start banner page "none" to job 188.
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:14 -0800] Job 188 queued on 'Stylus_C60' by 'betsy'.
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:14 -0800] Started filter /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pictwpstops (PID 4377) for job 188.
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:14 -0800] Started filter /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstopdffilter (PID 4378) for job 188.
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:14 -0800] Started filter /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr (PID 4379) for job 188.
E [20/Nov/2006:18:07:17 -0800] [Job 188] pstopdffilter/pstocupsraster failed with err number -31000
E [20/Nov/2006:18:07:17 -0800] PID 4378 stopped with status 1!
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:17 -0800] Hint: Try setting the LogLevel to "debug" to find out more.
E [20/Nov/2006:18:07:17 -0800] [Job 188] can't create PDFDocumentRef for `/private/var/spool/cups/tmp/45625f5289e31'
E [20/Nov/2006:18:07:18 -0800] PID 4379 stopped with status 255!
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:18 -0800] Hint: Try setting the LogLevel to "debug" to find out more.
I [20/Nov/2006:18:07:18 -0800] Saving printers.conf...

flat screen (G4) iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Nov 20, 2006 10:00 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

Nov 21, 2006 1:18 PM in response to Alan Ackerman

Hello Alan,

There must be something in that file that the conversion filters don't like. You are right in that it is a CUPS issue, as the document is failing to be converted into a raster so that it can be printed.

Did you OCR the scan and is there an image in the file or is the document an image PDF (which is basically a TIFF with a PDF header)? I ask because if it is still an image, converting it to text may help.

The other thing to try would be printing it from a Preview. It may get the same error but it is worth trying.

FYI: setting the Loglevel to debug is done in the file /etc/cups/cupsd.conf. From my experience it won't be any more helpful, you just get a lot more information to sift through.

Regards,

Paul

Reply

Answer 2

Alan Ackerman Author

Level 1

122 points

Nov 21, 2006 9:49 PM in response to PAHU

It's not OCR-able. It's the scan of a fiddle tune that someone sent my wife. They do this quite often, but this is the first one that has refused to print. And you are right, it can be printed with Preview. Also with Acrobat Reader 5.1. I will try the LogLevel debug.

Reply

Answer 3

Alan Ackerman Author

Level 1

122 points

Nov 21, 2006 10:32 PM in response to Alan Ackerman

debug was not helpful:

D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:44 -0800] [Job 199] PrintJobMgr - copying PDF to temp file "/private/var/spool/cups/tmp/4563ede0caa70"
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:44 -0800] [Job 199] NUP printing is OFF
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:44 -0800] [Job 199] No Borders
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:44 -0800] [Job 199] Communication channel is ASCII only
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:44 -0800] [Job 199] languagelevel for this print job is 3
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:44 -0800] [Job 199] TT rasterizer availability for this print job is Unknown TT rasterizer availability
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:45 -0800] ReadClient: 10 POST / HTTP/1.1
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:45 -0800] ProcessIPPRequest: 10 status_code=1
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] PID 338 exited with no errors.
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] %%[ Error: ioerror; OffendingCommand: image ]%%
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199]
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] Stack:
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] -dict-
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199]
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199]
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199]
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] %%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199]
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] %%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199]
E [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] pstopdffilter/pstocupsraster failed with err number -31000
E [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] PID 339 stopped with status 1!
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:47 -0800] [Job 199] JobManager converting file: /private/var/spool/cups/tmp/4563ede0caa70 (6 args)
E [21/Nov/2006:22:27:48 -0800] [Job 199] can't create PDFDocumentRef for `/private/var/spool/cups/tmp/4563ede0caa70'
D [21/Nov/2006:22:27:48 -0800] [Job 199] fatal::internal error -1
E [21/Nov/2006:22:27:48 -0800] PID 340 stopped with status 255!

Reply

Answer 4

Nov 22, 2006 12:11 PM in response to Alan Ackerman

It's a Postscript error caused by an image in the file, though that might not be that helpful. You could try isolating the images to see which is the problematic one.

In the future, another helpful "debugging" method is to use the Error Handling panel in the Print Dialog. It would have provided the same information, but it's a lot easier to get to.

Reply

Answer 5

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

Nov 22, 2006 3:38 PM in response to John Blanchard1

Hi Alan,

As John said, it is due to the image, which unfortunately is the whole document so it won't be easy to remove the offending image. For the record I have seen Acrobat 7 have trouble with image pdf's. And it's not just the Mac version, Windows has the same problem. As you found, an older version of Acrobat works or printing from Preview is the workaround. I don't think there will be much you can do. Maybe Acrobat 8 will take care of this.

Regards,

Paul

Reply

Answer 6

Alan Ackerman Author

Level 1

122 points

Nov 27, 2006 9:13 PM in response to John Blanchard1

"It's a Postscript error caused by an image in the file, though that might not be that helpful. You could try isolating the images to see which is the problematic one."

The document is simply a single image.

"In the future, another helpful "debugging" method is to use the Error Handling panel in the Print Dialog. It would have provided the same information, but it's a lot easier to get to."

What "Error Handling panel in the Print Dialog"? I don't see one in File > Print in Adobe Reader 7.0.8.

Reply

Answer 7

Nov 28, 2006 11:08 AM in response to Alan Ackerman

"In the future, another helpful "debugging" method is
to use the Error Handling panel in the Print Dialog.
It would have provided the same information, but it's
a lot easier to get to."

What "Error Handling panel in the Print Dialog"? I
don't see one in File > Print in Adobe Reader 7.0.8.

Look in the Copies menu - if you are printing to a network postscript printer, there should be an Error Handling panel.

Reply

Answer 8

Alan Ackerman Author

Level 1

122 points

Nov 28, 2006 8:34 PM in response to John Blanchard1

Nope, plain old Epson Stylus C60. There is no "Copies". THere is a "Copies & Pages" but nothing about error handling.

Reply