HP Laserjet 5MP prints garbage on first line

[mparkes]

Printer self tests okay but will only print garbage on first line, and
then sometimes page after page that is blank. Have tried reinstalling
drivers from HP, etc. Changed bios from ECP to ECP + EPP and tried the
other options here as - nothing helps. thanks for any help.

 

[Lou]

Printer self tests okay but will only print garbage on first line, and
then sometimes page after page that is blank. Have tried reinstalling
drivers from HP, etc. Changed bios from ECP to ECP + EPP and tried the
other options here as - nothing helps. thanks for any help.

Check the cable and cable connections.

Also driver may be wrong.

Lou

 

[Tony]

Printer self tests okay but will only print garbage on first line, and
then sometimes page after page that is blank. Have tried reinstalling
drivers from HP, etc. Changed bios from ECP to ECP + EPP and tried the
other options here as - nothing helps. thanks for any help.

Which OS?
You say you used the HP drivers, WinXp has the drivers built in for this
printer and my guess is so does Win98. Might be worth trying those drivers.
Also, it is always a good idea to reboot after uninstalling drivers and before
reinstalling them.
Was the printer working and suddenly stop? If so were there any system changes
made at that time?
Tony

 

[Arthur Entlich]

The usual suspects are:

Corrupted or wrong driver file

corrupted or "broken" document still hanging in the printer queue or in
the printer buffer

Badly made or poorly connected printer cable

Incorrectly formatted parallel port in CMOS or elsewhere.

I understand you have considered a number of these and tried to correct
for them. Consider some of the others as possible causes.

Art