PCL XL Error

[MrsW2014]

I have a HP Laserjet 1536dnf MFP printer, today it printed out an error; PCL XL Error Subsystem: TEXT Error: IllegalFontData File Name: cheettext.c Line Number: 1453. What does this mean and how can I fix it?

[dansdaduk]

Your error:

PCL XL Error
 Subsystem:   TEXT
 Error:       IllegalFontData
 File Name:   cheettext.c
 Line Number: 1453

 implies that the incoming print job includes a downloaded soft font, but that part of the font definition is invalid.

To find out just what is wrong with the font definition would almost certainly require access to the source code (specifically module cheettext.c) of the firmware in the printer - available only to HP (or whoever was contracted to write the firmware).

In earlier generations of LaserJet printer, the format of the error message (as per the PCL XL specification) was somewhat different; for example:

PCL XL Error
 Subsystem:   TEXT
 Error:       IllegalFontData
 Operator:    ReadFontHeader
 Position:    43

which could be used to discover the underlying fault by reprinting the document using 'print to file', then analysing the resultant .prn file, and finding the data associated with the relevant PCL XL Operator tag (which, in the above example, would be the 43rd operator in the print job).

Although the new format of error message is possibly more useful to HP in determining the cause of the error (their having access to the source code of the firmware), it would have been very useful to independant consultants if the original Operator tag and Position elements of the error had also been included.

If you get exactly the same error if you reprint the same document to the same printer, using the same application and print driver on the same workstation, then the fault is likely to be a driver error, in which case the only solution may be to use a different printer driver (if one is available).

If doing a reprint as per above produces a different error (or no error at all), then the problem is intermittent, and is more likely to be caused by corruption of the print job between workstation and printer; check (perhaps by replacing one item at a time) cables, ports, switches, hubs, etc.