networked HP 4050 randomly prints rubbish

[JMC2]

I currently have around 8 HP 4050 printers set up on our network. Sometimes a document will print with all characters for each line on top of each other in one space. The only way to fix it is to select another printer, print and then reselect the original printer and print again. It looks almost as if the printer is using the wrong driver but all of the printers are set up on the same server and are using the same (latest) drivers.

 

[LawnBoy]

Is this specific to a workstation or will all wksts do it?

 

[JMC2]

More than one workstation. It is the workstations that tend to switch between printers quite often but they only have the 4050 installed as all network printers are 4050s - apart from Adobe Writer 5.

 

[LawnBoy]

Windows has a bad way of reloading drivers that are local instead of loading new drivers from the server. Sometimes you need to purge the local drivers to get an updated one loaded. You can do this (on the local machine) from Printers->File->Server Properties->Drivers. Find the 4050 driver and delete it (you will have to delete any 4050 printers first, and usually you also have to restart the local print spooler). After purging the new driver will load.

I've also seen some strange conflicts between PCL6 drivers and having Adobe software loaded (Adobe being very much into PostScript drivers). Reverting to PCL5 drivers has solved this for me every time.