HP Laserjet P1505 "Filter failed"

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1

Attempting to send print jobs of any kind to my printer results in “Filter failed”.
According to cups, my last successful print job was May 25, 2026. I don’t recall if I had tried printing anything between then and now, but I have had this issue before. Prior to the successful May prints, I was getting the same message. A buddy of mine fixed it for me, and I–foolishly–assumed that I wouldn’t need to do it again (have I mentioned that I am new to Linux?).

This week, I have searched for every iteration of this query that I could think of, and I have read at least a dozen completely different solutions across multiple threads across multiple websites, all of which fail to help in the first couple steps due to outdated information or command lines simply not doing the same thing for me that they do for others.

As for concrete steps I have taken, they go as follows:

  • Added the printer via cups http://localhost:631/ as per this thread
  • Changed drivers between:
    • … hpijs, 3.26.4
    • … hpcups 3.26.4 (en)
    • … hpcups 3.26.4 (en, en)
      • when the driver is set to either of the hpcups, the printer will whir as if it is about to start printing, but then “Filter failed”
  • Loaded .pdd from foo2zjs
  • Attempt to disable Smart Install via SIUtilities.exe on Windows machine
    • I read that I would need to extract the program from the printer’s “Full Windows drivers package”, but I couldn’t find anything like that for my printer
    • After hours of trying to find out where to even download this file, I had to use the Wayback machine just to get a working website. Even then, it required Windows 8, which I do not have access to, as I was borrowing a friend’s laptop with W11
    • I also tried installing HP App and HP Smart Install from the Windows Store, but neither of them got me any closer to disabling this “Smart Install” feature
  • Plugging the USB cable into a different port

I am out of ideas and in way over my head. If I should be posting this elsewhere, please let me know. I just want my printer back.

Thank you.

2

Hi, and welcome to :fedora:

this should not be necessary. hplip has a ppd file for the p1505

$ lpinfo --make-and-model p1505 -m |grep -v p1505n 
drv:///hp/hpijs.drv/hp-laserjet_p1505-hpijs.ppd HP LaserJet p1505 hpijs, 3.26.4, requires proprietary plugin
drv:///hp/hpcups.drv/hp-laserjet_p1505.ppd HP LaserJet p1505, hpcups 3.26.4, requires proprietary plugin
lsb/usr/HP/hp-laserjet_p1505.ppd.gz HP LaserJet p1505, hpcups 3.26.4, requires proprietary plugin
everywhere IPP Everywhere

$ ls /usr/share/ppd/HP/*p1505*
/usr/share/ppd/HP/hp-laserjet_p1505n-zxs.ppd.gz  /usr/share/ppd/HP/hp-laserjet_p1505.ppd.gz

$ zgrep -E 'cupsFilter|PrinterLanguage'   /usr/share/ppd/HP/*p1505.ppd.gz
*hpPrinterLanguage: "ljzxstream"
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 hpcups"

the line *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 hpcups" means that the last filter involved is hpcups and converts any receiving data from the previous filter into a printer compatible ljzxstream.

the second-to-last filter could by one of the following (depends on the type of document )

$ grep application/vnd.cups-raster /usr/share/cups/mime/*convs
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-ghostscript.convs:application/vnd.cups-pdf	application/vnd.cups-raster	99	gstoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-ghostscript.convs:application/vnd.cups-postscript	application/vnd.cups-raster	175	gstoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-individual.convs:application/PCLm		application/vnd.cups-raster	32	pclmtoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-individual.convs:image/png			application/vnd.cups-raster	100	imagetoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-individual.convs:image/jpeg			application/vnd.cups-raster	100	imagetoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-individual.convs:image/tiff			application/vnd.cups-raster	100	imagetoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-individual.convs:image/pwg-raster		application/vnd.cups-raster	100	pwgtoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-individual.convs:image/urf			application/vnd.cups-raster	100	pwgtoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/cupsfilters-poppler.convs:application/vnd.cups-pdf	application/vnd.cups-raster	100	pdftoraster
/usr/share/cups/mime/mime.convs:application/vnd.cups-raster	image/pwg-raster		100	rastertopwg
/usr/share/cups/mime/mime.convs:application/vnd.cups-raster	image/urf			100	rastertopwg

“filter failed” can have multiple reasons. You def. need to enable debug logging, initiate a test print and capture the full output of (e.g last 5 minutes )

sudo cupsctl --debug-logging
sudo systemctl restart cups

## PRINTER is the queue name   shown by  lpstat -s 
##  or print a test-page  from cups admin webinterface
lp -d PRINTER  /path/to/a/document    

# wait for the error then collect journal of last 5 minutes 
journalctl --no-hostname --no-pager  --since -5m >  /var/tmp/journal_cups.log 

sudo cupsctl --no-debug-logging
sudo systemctl restart cups

review the file /var/tmp/journal_cups.log for errors,
you can also upload the file with fpaste and post the URL here. Link will expire after 24h, though

make also sure that ( pls post output of these commands as pre-formatted text </>

  • lsusb lists your USB printer
  • lpinfo -v detects your printer
  • not sure this is needed ( still have not used an USB printer :slight_smile:
    • systemctl status ipp-usb
    • sudo ipp-usb status
    • sudo ipp-usb check
  • lpstat -t

there is also a very good documentation available on docs.fedoraproject.org
check also the other pages ‘useful tricks, known issues, etc’

Update: have you tried hp-setup?
try hp-probe first
hp-setup --help

3

The printer predates IPP/AirPrint, so a legacy .ppd will be needed. note that the PPD format has been updated to accommodate newer printers. I had a printer that didn’t support IPP and had to edit the last working .ppd file to work with the current definition.

4

In that case, it might be a good idea to remove ipp-usb if it is installed?

5

It shouldn’t interfere with anything else, and will be available if it becomes necessary to replace the old printer.

6

This requires proprietary plugin kept bothering me, and apparently that printer needs a binary blob downloaded from HP.

| Device | Plugin (Required/Optional) | Min. Plugin Version | Reason(s) |
| HP LaserJet p1505 Printer | Required | 2.8.2 | Printing support. |

Most Linux distributions include HPLIP with their software, but most do not include the plug-in. Therefore, it is a safe practice to run a utility called “hp-setup”, which, will install the printer into the CUPS spooler, download, and install the plug-in at the appropriate time.

the downloaded archive has a fw file for the p1505

$ tar tvf plugin_tmp.tar |grep 1505
-rw-rw-r-- 1000/1000  166020 **2026-05-20** 07:19 plugin_tmp/hp_laserjet_p1505.fw.gz

You probably have to update the binary blob. try running hp-plugin
If that does not fix the issue, then remove all current printer queues and start over instaling with hp-setup.

7

The binary blob is only for the scanner portion of the printer. My HP Laserjet (several years old) works with hplip and not with ipp. Without the binary it works for printing flawlessly. With the binary the scanner works.

To set up my printer I use it wireless. On the printer I have a fixed IP address (reserved on the wireless AP with dhcp) and then I simply used hplip to configure it and it has worked flawlessly for as long as I have had it.
During the setup using the management tool with hplip-gui it automatically asks for permission to install the binary blob and the scanner works with xsane very nicely.

8

What scanner portion? The p1505 is a printer only device.
Binar blob is optional for the P1505n (network)

image
image804×125 7.56 KB

9

Sorry, I spoke about a MFP series from HP and did not realize the P1505 was a single function printer.

Mine is an MFP and does have the scanner which does require the binary plugin.

Hplip still claims to support both the p1505 (usb) and the p1505n (network) versions.

10

Hallelujah. This did it for me.
I shouldn’t be surprised that the simplest answer had eluded me for so long.

Thank you, Mark. God bless.