HELP! hp laserjet prints code and infinite blank pages!

This issue can be the result of selecting the wrong driver; e.g., generic PCL instead of Postscript. Or the printer may be configured internally to use the wrong kind of driver. An older, unsupported laser printer will sometimes work with the generic Postscript driver.

The initialization string for Postscript indicates that your Mac is trying to send Adobe PostScript printer control language, not the native HP-PCL.

Your HP printer does not contain true PostScript, but an HP emulator, and since the printer is nearly 10 years old, the emulator is apparently unable to handle current PostScript output.

Are you printing through the network attachment, or via a USB cable?

There is no network support for installing this as a new printer. Installation only works via a USB cable, according to footnote 3 at the bottom of this page:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/mostViewedDi splay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTo k=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_efb5c0793523e51970c8fa22b053ce01=wsr p-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c03800910-3%257CdocLocale%253Den_US&javax .portlet.tpst=efb5c0793523e51970c8fa22b053ce01&sp4ts.oid=25475&ac.admitted=13977 52383850.876444892.199480143

So, attach the HP via a USB cable, and you can probably simply re-install the printer and have it work as designed.

If your HP printer is not immediately recognized when attached via USB cable, running Apple Software update should retrieve the latest HP software support package including the proper HP-PCL driver.

Glad to be of assistance. and thanks for the 'Solved' acknowledgment. It is greatly appreciated.

I still use my HP LaserJet 1320, purchased new in 2005. I used to write HP-PCL macros to pre-load certain page formats, so I recognized right away that you weren't getting the right printer language sent to the printer.

Sorry to bug you but I saw you solved this guys issue in April. I just did the Maverick update and now my HP 3200 printer won't print properly. I tried the advice you gave King but it is still printing the same code he got. Any suggestions? I used the usb, have deleted and added the printer, done numerous Apple Software Updates but I just keep getting the same results. Any suggestions? Thanks in advice for your time/help/patience! Jennifer

Sorry to bug you (also bugged kotsby) but I saw you solved this guys issue in April. I just did the Maverick update and now my HP 3200 printer won't print properly. I tried the advice you gave King but it is still printing the same code he got. Any suggestions? I used the usb, have deleted and added the printer, done numerous Apple Software Updates, the printer driver appears to be correct per the apple listing (version 19.8) but I just keep getting the same results. Any suggestions? Thanks in advice for your time/help/patience! Jennifer

If you are still getting the same kind of %PS-Adobe- character string printed on the paper as the individual who originally posted in this thread, then your computer printer driver is sending 'Adobe PostScript' printer control language to the printer, instead of "HP PCL" printer control language. There is apparently no option in the HP OS X printer driver to select which printer language the computer tries to send.

Have you tried a printing system reset?

Mac OS X: How to reset the printing system

WARNING: A reset ABSOLUTELY WILL delete ALL printers and ALL the 'Presets' (user-created print job profiles) from your Mac, so don't do it lightly. I always do screen-captures of ALL the pages of each Preset print job setting, both default and the ones I've created BEFORE I reset the printing system. I have about two-dozen custom print-job configurations (sample for my LaserJet 1320 shown below) saved for the four different printers I use, so it's a real pain to do a printer reset, but that way I can re-create my saved print-job settings by viewing the screen-captures of all the settings pages without trying to do it all from memory.

Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that resetting the printing system will work either.

According to this page last updated July 31, 2014, there is a recent driver update 19.8 from Apple via HP for the HP LaserJet 3200 all-in-one printer used with OS X 10.9 Mavericks:

OS X: Printer and scanner software available for download

According to this page, HP still supports the HP LaserJet 3200 for printing only, not scanning:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?ja vax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vi gnette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=wsrp-naviga tionalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c03411613-9%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D& javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1407171778117.87 6444892.492883150

There is possibly be another work-around, but I haven't ever used it, so I cannot say that it will or will not help.

"It" involves installing another type of printer driver called Gutenprint, http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net. Again, I've never used it, so I can't offer any help there.

I did the Printing System Reset both ways they described, I already had the 19.8 version installed, HP website doesn't provide a direct download option; I had read about the Gutenprint option before but don't feel confident in trying it right now (taxed mama brain). I sent HP a couple Comments on some on their pages but don't know if that will get someone to fix what I am guessing is a bug in the version.

Unless you have the time to continue helping I will keep searching when I get spare minutes in between kiddos. And thanks for fielding my question, I have never posted on this site before.

If anyone else has a possible solution I will gladly try it.

OK here goes... (please take a deep breath)

I'm going to include TONS of details, hoping that something here might help you get to the answer.

If it's too much for your brain at whatever moment you get time to read all this, I do apologize.

Maybe come back later when they're sleeping and you're wide awake, if that is ever possible. I was a stay-at-home Dad for one precocious child for a few years, so I have a tiny idea what you're talking about, though our married friends with multiple (usually bickering) children always assured us that having just one child is nothing at all like having children. So bless you! My heart goes out to you!

Anyway, in Windows, there used to be a generic HPPCL driver and a generic PostScript driver for older printers. You could usually use a "generic" driver just fine, because very few programs (other than page layout and graphic design) used even 1/10th of the capabilities of the lowest-common-denominator oldest version PCL or PostScript command set. Something like that DOES exist in the Mavericks print installation dialogue.

But back to YOUR printer.

I tried installing my HP LaserJet 1320 on my iMac running Mavericks*.

Unlike Windows, you can't install a printer that OS X Mavericks cannot 'see', either directly connected or via a network 'share', or wirelessly.

My HP is connected via a network share. This should not significantly change what happens when you install your printer, but no guarantees.

This was my first attempt to install the HP, because my default printer is a Canon inkjet, connected wirelessly via WiFi.

So the LaserJet is in another room physically connected via USB to a MacBook, and marked 'Share this printer' on the MacBook system preferences. The MacBook has to be awake (not sleeping) and in this case, physically connected for my iMac to 'see' it.

So, when I clicked the + sign in the , System Preferences, Printers & Scanners to add a new printer,

I entered the description HP LaserJet 1320 into the search box the first time, then

1. Mavericks tried to "find" the HP LaserJet on the network, connected to the MacBook.

2. "This printer requires software that is not installed..."

3. "Downloading Printer Software Update..."

4. "Setting up "HP LaserJet 1320 Series @ KoMtB (MacBook's network name)

5. At that point the printer appeared in this Add window shown below:

Note the bottom Use: window below Location...

Note that the third choice is Generic PostScript Printer...

THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE AND THE ONLY TIME you can apparently select anything about which printer 'language' the Mac is going to use to talk to your printer:

In searching for about 10 minutes, I did not find any way to ever get BACK to this screen once the printer installation is complete, short of deleting and reinstalling the printer again, or adding the printer a second time with a different name.

I selected the choice highlighted, HP LaserJet 1320 series. I did a test print from TextEdit, and it worked perfectly the first time. I also tried it from Pages, and again, it worked perfectly, no spewing of PostScript initialization strings...

My suspicion is that maybe Generic PostScript Printer is getting selected by Mavericks somehow without ever informing the user.

Maybe 'Auto Select' does it. Don't know.

In any case, since you've already done a Printing System reset, you have nothing else (custom print job Presets) to lose by trying to reinstall it again.

I tried it, and It SHOULD also be possible to install the same printer multiple times, PROVIDED THAT you rename each one slightly during the Add process (HP-3200, HP-Auto Select, HP-Generic PostScript... ), so you can give several of them a try until you find one that actually works.

Now, here's how to find the 'generic' PCL printer driver...

Add the printer again, giving is a new name.

In Use: select "Select Software", then search for "HP LaserJet Series PCL 4/5"

HP LaserJet Series PCL 4/5 driver IS a 'generic' PCL driver, and SHOULD work for basic printing, provided that you DO NOT use the slash between 4/5 in the printer name use a dash - instead. When I tried it with a slash (probably because it was a network share, the printer did NOT install. When I tried again and used a dash, it worked fine.

The PCL 4/5 driver comes with a disclaimer as shown below:

Your HP is apparently from the year 2000? (Mine is from 2004.) It's so hard to give up old workhorse friends, especially when one toner costs almost a much as a new printer. The good news it that newer LaserJets are WAAAAAAY faster, and a toner for a new model still costs almost as much as a new printer... 😢

After years of buying ONLY genuine HP toner, I finally purchased a generic toner cartridge online last year when I needed to print about 1500 pages. The high capacity generic refill cartridge cost 1/3 of price of a genuine HP 'standard capacity', and it works beautifully.

Of course this is time consuming, especially when you have active kiddos competing for your time, but the last alternative after Gutenprint is to purchase a new printer.

*DISCLAIMERS & FOOTNOTES:

I don't use OS X Mavericks much, so I'm really not the best person to ask. But I did answer this thread ages ago.

So, if none of this helps, please post your question again as a brand new message in the OS X Mavericks forum.

That way it will likely get far more 'views' than posting your question in an old thread already marked 'solved'.

From what I've seen in the Apple Support Communities, those most knowledgable tireless Saints of Mac with tens of thousands of reputation points who frequent these forums most every day usually look for the 'unanswered' and 'unsolved' questions first.

Mostly I use OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, because that's what shipped already installed on my iMac that I purchased from Apple as a refurb in Dec 2013. And because 10.8 seemed more 'sorted out' than Mavericks did last December.

When I got my iMac last December, I immediately installed OS X 10.9 Mavericks on an external drive that I could select at boot time because:

1) I could get Mavericks for free (wasn't sure if it would be a limited-time thing)

2) Purchase of a new or refurb Mac then included a free iWorks suite (Numbers, Pages, Keynote) latest versions (wasn't sure if it would be a limited-time thing)

3) I have Windows 7 installed under Parallels 9 on Mavericks to run basically one legacy Windows application I spent years learning and still use once or twice a year. Honestly, almost the only time I use Mavericks is to run Parallels 9 and Windows 7 and that legacy Windows app.

4) My original Mac is a mid-2007 MacBook is still running OS X 10.6.8. That's what the HP printer is connected to. I now use the MacBook for email or when I need to take a computer somewhere else. My MacBook is not capable of being upgraded to run Mavericks, and I wanted to at least know about the current version of OS X, even if I NEVER upgraded my main system.

I kept adding until my login finally timed out, so I couldn't add this last comment:

ONE MORE UPDATE:

I'm not sure I made it clear that using the 'generic' driver is the last one to try before Gutenprint.

So I tried printing a page with both text and graphics using the HP LaserJet Series PCL 4/5 driver.

The text was 'OK', an attempt at 300dpi, I think, but the graphic had noticeably lower resolution, like printing at 150 dpi on an inkjet. For my HP the standard resolution is 600 dpi, and it also has a 1200dpi option. Still, low resolution is better than "no resolution", I guess. Best of luck!

You are wonderful. Truly wonderful. Thank you. If you want me to I can repost my question as new and then solved so you can get the points/credit because you certainly deserve it!

I didn’t do it exactly how you said because things were moving differently but below is my best remembered version of how it just happened:

I turned on my printer then plugged in the usb to the printer then to the computer

I went to Apple > Sys Pref > Printers

I deleted the Laserjet 3200 listed under Printers which left a blank left column then pushed control and above the + sign and did the Printing System Reset

The printer started making noise, recognized the printer in a different fashion then I had seen before then said the Apple Software server was unavailable (or something like that) and the software was not installed

I went to Apple > Sys Pref > Printers again

I clicked on the + sign chose Laserjet 3200 and then WENT TO THE USE pulldown like you suggested. I saved three version:

hp laserjet 3200

hp laserjet 3200 gpcl (generic postscript option)

hp laserjet 3200 guten (gutenprint v 5.2xxx)

I checked share this printer even though we only have one computer

The go-to (for lack of better terms) hp laserjet 3200 started to print a million pages like before. Deleted this one.

Then tried hp laserjet 3200 gpcl (generic postscript) hp laserjet 3200 guten (gutenprint v 5.2xxx) and they both printed! Interesting that the driver icons that worked did not look like my printer but the one that did did not print.

I didn’t use the HP LaserJet Series PCL 4/5 driver instructions because I thought I was doing it like you said and didn’t realize I did it differently until afterwards (does that make sense?). I tried adding one of the drivers and it gave me the “The selected printer software isn’t available…” and it wouldn’t let me add it so I think that’s maybe how I ended up doing it my way above.

I spent numerous naptimes (like gold to this mama) trying to get this to work and you solved this problem for me. Thank you again for taking the time. And one kid is hard, don’t discount that in anyway, you sound like you are a very good dedicated dad. I have a 6 month-old and a 27-month-old so I am definitely more tired than I was with just the one. But I couldn’t imagine life without our son, he and my daughter are already think as thieves.

And I got the printer from my dad and its still running strong (sans this fun time) and he breaks everything so that’s a testament to this workhorse. And we happened upon a new cartridge for $5 so the thought of getting rid of the printer was really hard.

Have a wonderful day, you just made mine great 🙂

Thanks for the kind words!

Don't bother about reposting. I don't do this for the reputation points. I do it because I enjoy helping people solve the (few) technology problems that are at my level of expertise.

There must be SOMETHING that either HP or Apple changed with OS X Mavericks printer drivers. If the printer truly was no longer supported, NONE of the alternate Use: options you created would have worked. As I suspected, the default one was the problem.

Perhaps it is as simple as someone at Apple or HP mis-copying or accidentally deleting some line of code from the previous version. In any case the change makes some printers receive a (possibly just incorrectly formatted?) PostScript initialization string and turns it into a paper-spewing monster.

Glad I could help you get your printer to work the way it is supposed to. I'll bet the paper recyclers in your community will be sad to lose all that extra paper.😉

Thanks!!!! I have spent hours trying to find a solution and discovered that a couple of fonts actually printed from Pages. So based on your comments, I reset my printing system and chose 'auto select'. That did not work so I reset the printing system again and chose 'generic postscript' and it worked like a charm. I use Pages often and have been pulling my hair out. Even exporting in PDF and docx formats did not help. Once again, many thanks.