[SOLVED] HP Printer Printing Random Gibberish

[appletatoes]

I have a client with an HP 577DW printer and it is constantly printing random pages with random symbols and gibberish all over it all of the time. Around 20 or so random pages a day. The printer is connected to a surge protector and is connected to the network via Wi-Fi. It also is being port forwarded for their cloud-based software that they use. They get jobs to do for their line of work via this connection and it acts kinda like "faxing."

Any ideas on how to fix this issue? I have already tried changing the IP address of the printer on the network and made the changes in the port forwarding section, I tried renaming the printer on the network and I have powered cycled the printer a few times but am still having issues.

 

[chaoyang]

I recommend contacting HP support for this or try to factory reset your printer.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Check the printer driver on the machine/s in question. This is classic wrong driver behavior.

 

[appletatoes]

Okay I will try those solutions. Thank you.

 

[appletatoes]

Update. I have moved the printer near the router and have it connected via ethernet right now. WiFi is off on the printer when connected via ethernet. I also turned on the built-in firewall inside the printers settings which was accessible through a web-browser and its associated IP address. My next thought is to reinstall the printer drivers on all of the computers in the network that use that printer if the problem of random garbled text and symbols keeps printing out at random times.

 

[hang-the-9]

What exactly are they printing? Can you narrow down if this issue is coming from a specific computer or program? They may be trying to print something like a binary file or some other file not formatted for printing.

 

[appletatoes]

What exactly are they printing? Can you narrow down if this issue is coming from a specific computer or program? They may be trying to print something like a binary file or some other file not formatted for printing.

They have this cloud based software that they remote into and then it loads a program on their computers. They then print off of the local networked printer from there. They also have the printer port forwarded to the Internet so that they can loop back into the network from their cloud based software, just to have the printer "scan a document to the cloud software." They do this for billing so they can attach a copy of a file from their cloud based software back to that software in the cloud. I believe they are doing this because the printer can create a digital print (maybe PDF) of the document to get posted to their online software? Maybe I can have them just choose scan to PDF instead of selecting the printer for this operation that they are doing? Then I can remove the port forwarded printer so that the random prints of garbled text and symbols stops happening and also close that hole into their network?

 

[hang-the-9]

They have this cloud based software that they remote into and then it loads a program on their computers. They then print off of the local networked printer from there. They also have the printer port forwarded to the Internet so that they can loop back into the network from their cloud based software, just to have the printer "scan a document to the cloud software." They do this for billing so they can attach a copy of a file from their cloud based software back to that software in the cloud. I believe they are doing this because the printer can create a digital print (maybe PDF) of the document to get posted to their online software? Maybe I can have them just choose scan to PDF instead of selecting the printer for this operation that they are doing? Then I can remove the port forwarded printer so that the random prints of garbled text and symbols stops happening and also close that hole into their network?

Since all this is done through the cloud in some software running elsewhere, then the job is sent to the printer, the start would be the support for whatever program they are using. They would know exactly how they are doing the printing and can do tests. Need to know what is being sent to the printer and in what format. It may simply be some characters the print spooler did not know how to format and it sent junk data to the printer which then did what it could with the info.

 

[appletatoes]

Since all this is done through the cloud in some software running elsewhere, then the job is sent to the printer, the start would be the support for whatever program they are using. They would know exactly how they are doing the printing and can do tests. Need to know what is being sent to the printer and in what format. It may simply be some characters the print spooler did not know how to format and it sent junk data to the printer which then did what it could with the info.

Okay I'll try and talk with their tech support over the phone. Just an update on the current situation as well. We have the printer wired to the router right now and WiFi off. Fewer gibberish print outs since we did that but still a couple coming through. I'm going to try and do a fresh install of the drivers on each computer in the network.

If they have to loop back into the network to do what they are doing, is there a way I can permit only their public IP address to enter the network to do print jobs through the printer's firewall settings? Or would I need to know the IP address(es) of the server they are connecting to and then add that to the printer's firewall permit list?

Thank you,
Appletatoes

 

[appletatoes]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to update you all that I have solved the problem with random pages being printed from an HP printer. I communicated with the company's software company and we decided it was necessary to install a VPN Router. In doing so we established a secure connection between the office and the servers that they connect to. We purchased a SonicWall TZ270W and it is also performing the wireless duties for the office. The connection was fairly simple to setup and SonicWall support was very helpful in troubleshooting some errors we had with the VPN connection. All is good now. Thank you everyone for the help along the way.