LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

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  • THINKINK01
    Technician

    Site Contributor
    • Mar 2009
    • 31
    #1

    LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

    I have a client that needs to print from the Home Direct website. They were furnished an OKI printer originally but the toner costs for those cartridges are prohibitive, so we installed a HP LaserJet 4050N.
    The machine works great for the first 3 or 4 consecutive printed pages but then it just starts printing gibberish.
    Tech support for the site claims that they can only print to an OKI but I find this hard to believe. We've tried both the PCL 5 and 6 drivers but get the same results. The OS is Win XP Pro SP3. Under Win 7 it prints fine but the client needs to be able to use the XP.

    Your help is much appreciated.
    Tags: None
    • Iowatech
      Not a service manager

      2,500+ Posts
      • Dec 2009
      • 3933
      #2
      Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

      Originally posted by THINKINK01
      I have a client that needs to print from the Home Direct website. They were furnished an OKI printer originally but the toner costs for those cartridges are prohibitive, so we installed a HP LaserJet 4050N.
      The machine works great for the first 3 or 4 consecutive printed pages but then it just starts printing gibberish.
      Tech support for the site claims that they can only print to an OKI but I find this hard to believe. We've tried both the PCL 5 and 6 drivers but get the same results. The OS is Win XP Pro SP3. Under Win 7 it prints fine but the client needs to be able to use the XP.

      Your help is much appreciated.
      Depends on what the gibberish is. If there are just a few, random AsCII characters on each page it could be a loss of power problem, that's been a problem for a lot of printers since the dot matrix printer days.
      Are you using drivers for that printer that you downloaded from the HP website? That might help.
      Anyway, that's all for now. Good luck!

        Comment

        • blackcat4866
          Master Of The Obvious

          Site Contributor
          10,000+ Posts
          • Jul 2007
          • 22927
          #3
          Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

          Are you sure these are HP LJ4050 PCL print drivers, not Okidata PCL print drivers? I had a Kyocera that was printing solid black, that was printing from an Oki driver. The interesting part was that the PC was a special purpose PC with WinXP SP3, and a German language OS. Plus this PC had no outside CD, DVD, USB, or any other outside interface or internet connection to accept a driver. =^..^=
          If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
          1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
          2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
          3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
          4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
          5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

          blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

            Comment

            • THINKINK01
              Technician

              Site Contributor
              • Mar 2009
              • 31
              #4
              Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

              Originally posted by blackcat4866
              Are you sure these are HP LJ4050 PCL print drivers, not Okidata PCL print drivers? I had a Kyocera that was printing solid black, that was printing from an Oki driver. The interesting part was that the PC was a special purpose PC with WinXP SP3, and a German language OS. Plus this PC had no outside CD, DVD, USB, or any other outside interface or internet connection to accept a driver. =^..^=
              The drivers were downloaded directly from HP so we are fairly certain they are the correct ones. The first 3 or 4 pages print correctly then we start getting just a couple of lines gibberish and the rest of the page is blank. I suggested they keep using the Win 7 machines as those work fine but the client insist that the XP machine needs to be used. I will check on the version of XP tomorrow but I suspect it's just an ole ratty US XP.

              It is also my understanding that there are only 90 Home Direct distribution agents across the US but I find it hard to believe that the software would be written to run only on OKI printers.

                Comment

                • prntrfxr
                  Service Manager

                  1,000+ Posts
                  • Apr 2008
                  • 1627
                  #5
                  Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

                  Garbled data (I call it hieroglyphics) usually occurs when there is a file corruption or breakdown in communication between the printer and the PC. You didn't say what you've already tried so...

                  Let's break down the troubleshooting steps:

                  1) Print paper path tests (at least 10 pages) from the printer control panel without the printer being connected to a PC. If it still does it, it is likely a hardware problem versus a software issue. Usually formatter/firmware related.

                  2) Print from another site or application (more than 10 pages). Does the problem occur again? If it does, delete all the printer drivers (including the Okidata), reboot the PC, and reinstall the drivers. You may have a corrupted driver or something can be conflicting with the driver. Also check cable connections and update OS, and any other applications that are troublesome.

                  3) If it only occurs with that particular site, they may have hardware specific software that requires you use the printer they require. (It is rare, but I have seen it happen once before with a medical billing company's software.)
                  Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Coke in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!".

                    Comment

                    • THINKINK01
                      Technician

                      Site Contributor
                      • Mar 2009
                      • 31
                      #6
                      Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

                      Originally posted by prntrfxr
                      Garbled data (I call it hieroglyphics) usually occurs when there is a file corruption or breakdown in communication between the printer and the PC. You didn't say what you've already tried so...

                      Let's break down the troubleshooting steps:

                      1) Print paper path tests (at least 10 pages) from the printer control panel without the printer being connected to a PC. If it still does it, it is likely a hardware problem versus a software issue. Usually formatter/firmware related.

                      2) Print from another site or application (more than 10 pages). Does the problem occur again? If it does, delete all the printer drivers (including the Okidata), reboot the PC, and reinstall the drivers. You may have a corrupted driver or something can be conflicting with the driver. Also check cable connections and update OS, and any other applications that are troublesome.

                      3) If it only occurs with that particular site, they may have hardware specific software that requires you use the printer they require. (It is rare, but I have seen it happen once before with a medical billing company's software.)
                      Thanks but the KISS rule has already been applied to this problem, and as I mentioned earlier it works just fine when printing from a Win 7 platform. But for whatever reason the client "wants/needs" it to work with the XP OS.

                        Comment

                        • JustManuals
                          Field Supervisor

                          5,000+ Posts
                          • Jan 2006
                          • 9865
                          #7
                          Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

                          This Parts & Service manual can now be purchased for $12.77 and downloaded immediately after payment from:

                          Just Manuals, The Internet's largest selection of manuals ~ Instant Downloads


                          Paul@justmanuals.com

                            Comment

                            • THINKINK01
                              Technician

                              Site Contributor
                              • Mar 2009
                              • 31
                              #8
                              Re: LaserJet 4050N printing gibberish

                              It took a while but we figured it out. The problem was some software in the print server. We attached the printer directly and shared it on the network. Printed flawlessly for over 2 hours from all OSs.

                              Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

                                Comment

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