HP Photosmart Printer - Ghost in the machine?

[britechguy]

Today I was working with a client who has an older HP Photosmart multifunction and something was happening that I have never seen before and could not fix, either. A bit more background, although the printer has wireless capability, it was not connected to the network, and it continued doing this even after wireless was turned off.

It would consistently print the following (or very similar, I didn't try to compare and contrast):


I'm just wondering if anyone has encountered this before and, if so, what in the heck the root cause is?

 

[frase]

Deus Ex Machina, though looks like a comm error with the drivers, it is using IPP; connects over Internet Protocol. Have you tried to read the printer via a valid IP address.

 

[britechguy]

Have you tried to read the printer via a valid IP address.

No. This was one of those service calls I didn't feel great about because there was a whole lot of time expended for what I consider to be a "whole lotta nothing." I had already come to the conclusion, and told the client, that purchasing a replacement printer would be a better use of their money.

It was one of those calls where every time you thought you were done, another issue presented itself, many of which are not something the end user notices or cares about, but that will come back to bite you if you don't fix it. Five hours later . . .

 

[Markverhyden]

Been a while since I've seen something like that but seem to remember its a problem with firmware. I do remember a couple of times where updating/reflashing firmware fixed the problem.

 

[Porthos]

I do remember a couple of times where updating/reflashing firmware fixed the problem.

On HP's that can be an issue if the user does not use genuine HP ink.