Likely related to a recent software Chrome OS 97 update, users are reporting that their Chromebook won’t print to an HP printer. Earlier this week, the bug was considered a low priority. However, it’s now a higher priority for Google to fix as more people say their Chromebook won’t print.
Chrome OS 97 and HP printer devices appear to be the commonalities in these reports. Initially, the problem was reported by Chromebook owners for devices with either Intel or ARM-based processors. A fix was pushed out that has helped those with Intel Chromebooks. However, the issue is still around for ARM-based Chromebooks. These are the Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook, HP Chromebook x2 11, and others that run on MediaTek and Qualcomm chips.
Yesterday, a comment was made indicating something definitely changed in regards to HP printers with the Chrome OS 97 software update:
I’ve been able to reproduce this on M97. So far it looks like the problem is limited to ARM-based Chromebooks. We did an upgrade of hplip in M97, so my initial suspicion is that there’s a problem with the ARM build of the new version that made it through testing.
You’ll know if your device has this problem, not only because you can’t get something printed, but by a “Filter failed” message in the print queue message.
Earlier this week on Twitter, a reader mentioned that his Chromebook can’t print and asked me to amplify the message by calling public attention to it. I decided not to, mainly because a bug report was already filed and open for it. I also wanted to watch the process of submitting a bug to Google happen in “real-time”. At that time, the priority was listed as a level 3.
With more people reporting the issue to the bug report, that priority is now a level 1, just shy of the highest priority, which is a level 0. That actually makes sense to me as a level 0 would likely impact all Chromebook users. This is a subset of users with an HP printer. It’s important to them, of course. But overall, it’s still a small segment.
If you’re part of the affected user group and your Chromebook won’t print, know that Google has escalated the issue. You can “star” the bug to follow the progress as well. And, there is a reported workaround in the meantime if you can’t wait for the fix.
Update: Google has found the root cause of the problem and coded a fix.
