CanonIR C5035 networked printer intermittently printing large amounts of gibberish

[johndesd]

I have a networked print queue for a iR-ADV C5035 hosted on a Win2k3 server and installed with the Canon iR-ADV C5030/5035 PCL5c print driver (x86/x64)
The site IT is reporting that the printer intermittently starts printing large amounts of gibberish. The most recent occurrence used up 280 pages before we could shut it down.
I have reinstalled the print queue, used a different print queue name, installed different drivers, reinstalled the print queue on another host server, and even installed another port address. The device continues to spit out gibberish at random intervals. I have checked the event viewer logs and checked the anti-virus log files on the host server, but have found nothing that explains the event.
Canon tech support has advised my site IT that nothing is wrong with the device, but I'm thinking it has to be rooted in the firmware or installed memory.

We maintain several other 5035's installed with the same driver on the same host server and do not encounter the problem with any of them. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[MFPTech]

Check where is the print job coming from, it is possible that someone is printing to the machine using a wrong driver ....

[johndesd]

Check where is the print job coming from, it is possible that someone is printing to the machine using a wrong driver ....
Thought about that too and the site IT exported the print jobs to a csv file. There is no source (username nor filename) associated with the event, and we can't correlate any of the random events happening after any particular user sends a file to the printer. User are restricted by policy from using drivers other than what is assigned by the host server when connecting to the networked print queue.

[KenB]

If possible to nail down a time when this happens (hard, I know) see if you can run Wireshark and capture the data going to the printer.

Even if nothing usable comes through, at least it will tell you the culprit's IP address.

I had this very same thing a t a large account a few years ago. I did a capture and it turned out that a rouge NT4 server was randomly spitting out random garbage; its owner had forgotten all about it.

We all had a good laugh, and made quite a few brownie points that day (plus we gained a bunch of technical respect!)

[assets]

Had the same problem it turned out that anothe device on the network was set up with the same IP and print jobs sent look like Post script job on a PCL driver pages of junk. check for conflicts on network. Right sub net etc.

[Fer]

configure the ip permit list in the machine so that the mfp only prints jobs from your server. If u can root out that the garbage is NOT comming from illegal source, check the connection between the mfp and network.

Let site support use another patch cable, patch port and switch. Fix the duplex/linkspeed on BOTH the printer and switch.

[Simons]

ping 192.168.1.x -t make sure you get a solid long responce. address/space/-t

[KenB]

If the print jobs were coming from a workstation, the job name and user info should be in the csv file.

Not having that info sent suggests that the bogus jobs are likely coming from a mainframe or something else other than Windows workstation or server as a print job. For instance, even well formed successful AS400 print jobs don't normally show any additional info in the logs(s).

As mentioned, though, make sure that there is nothing with a duplicate IP address. Unplug the network cable from your machine and try to ping it. It should fail - if not, you've likely found your issue. Printers with duplicated IP addresses may get bits and pieces of jobs, rendering goofy results. (I highly doubt this is your issue, but it's quick and easy to check out.)

One other thought: One thing that I guess is inevitable is people trying to print from smartphones; most fail miserably until the right solution is found. I would think that this craziness could cause all kinds of problems, up to and including hallucinations, :D