Stopping Brother 1440 Printer from Spewing Garbage

[W. eWatson]

Apparently, my Brother 1440 b/w printer doesn't like the document it's
trying to print. It prints garbage on a few lines and then goes to
another page. I'm sure it could work its way through hundreds of pages.
Using XP Printer controls to stop or cancel the document doesn't do
much. Turning off the printer produces a paper jam, which then needs to
be cleared. Restarting continues the torrent. Rebooting doesn't help.
Maybe this is a common printer. What's the solution?

 

[Don Phillipson]

Apparently, my Brother 1440 b/w printer doesn't like the document it's
trying to print. It prints garbage on a few lines and then goes to
another page. I'm sure it could work its way through hundreds of pages.
Using XP Printer controls to stop or cancel the document doesn't do
much. Turning off the printer produces a paper jam, which then needs to
be cleared. Restarting continues the torrent. Rebooting doesn't help.
Maybe this is a common printer. What's the solution?

Obvious tests and questions.
1. Is the problem in the data file or the printer.
Can this data file print OK on another printer?
2. Can this printer print OK a different file of
similar length?

 

[Al]

Apparently, my Brother 1440 b/w printer doesn't like the document it's
trying to print. It prints garbage on a few lines and then goes to
another page. I'm sure it could work its way through hundreds of pages.
Using XP Printer controls to stop or cancel the document doesn't do
much. Turning off the printer produces a paper jam, which then needs to
be cleared. Restarting continues the torrent. Rebooting doesn't help.
Maybe this is a common printer. What's the solution?

That is not generally a printer problem. I can have that happen when
I'm printing from several programs and changing printers too fast. You
already restarted the computer so the printer driver has reloaded and
that's not the problem in all likelihood. So I think you have a bad
print document stuck in the printer spool. You need to delete that and
start over with the print request. Also, always recheck all the
connections just for completeness.

 

[Warren Block]

Apparently, my Brother 1440 b/w printer doesn't like the document it's
trying to print. It prints garbage on a few lines and then goes to
another page. I'm sure it could work its way through hundreds of pages.
Using XP Printer controls to stop or cancel the document doesn't do
much. Turning off the printer produces a paper jam, which then needs to
be cleared. Restarting continues the torrent. Rebooting doesn't help.
Maybe this is a common printer. What's the solution?

It may help to pause the printer: right-click printer icon,
Properties/Pause Printing. Then you can delete the print file from the
queue so Windows will stop sending it. Might require a reboot before
it will let you actually delete the file.

Don't forget to to un-pause the printer afterward.

 

[Al]

Obvious tests and questions.
1. Is the problem in the data file or the printer.
Can this data file print OK on another printer?
2. Can this printer print OK a different file of
similar length?

I'm all for testing Don, but the problem the OP describes is that the
printer keeps trying to print this garbage every time he turns it and
the computer on. Therefore, I maintain he has to delete that bad job
before he can do anything. Otherwise, the printer keeps puking and
paper keeps rolling out the front with two lines of crap on each. I've
never waited long enough to see when it would quit. I suppose you
could keep running old paper through the printer to see if it would
complete the job eventually. That would be a nice test.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

What has been described is usually either an incorrect driver, or a
corrupted one. I suggest checking for more recent driver updates from
Brother, and if not, remove(uninstall) the printer driver and reinstall
from the most current version that works for your model, and see if that
helps.


Art


If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/

 

[Michael J Davis]

Apparently, my Brother 1440 b/w printer doesn't like the document it's
trying to print. It prints garbage on a few lines and then goes to
another page. I'm sure it could work its way through hundreds of pages.
Using XP Printer controls to stop or cancel the document doesn't do
much. Turning off the printer produces a paper jam, which then needs to
be cleared. Restarting continues the torrent. Rebooting doesn't help.
Maybe this is a common printer. What's the solution?

Since no one has really answered the question...

1. Has the printed a 'cancel job' button? (My Brother has). If so press
that.

2. If it continues to print after the current page (or if no cancel job
button), remove all paper from the paper trays.

3. Go to computer and find printer job (eg Settings / Printer & Fax/
Brother 1440) and delete job if it is still visible.

4. Switch printer off to clear the residual memory (the job may have
reloaded from the computer *after* you'd pressed cancel job).

5. Switch printer on again and you should be ready to go.

HIH

Mike

--
Michael J Davis
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