Times New Roman font will not print on HP Officejet Pro 8610

[TomComputer]

My new HP Officejet Pro 8610 will not print documents, spreadsheets, or printer test pages containing Times New Roman font (of any size).  It does not put a job in the print queue.  In Excel, I receive the "Generic_2_Q294552"  error message.

My setup:  An HP Pavilion Elite computer NY809AV-ABA e9119t; running Windows 7 Enterprise SP1; HP Laserjet 5L, HP PCS 1310, and HP D4360 all print the font just fine.

My new printer:  HP Officejet Pro 8610, firmware revision FDP1CN1502AR, connected via USB cable.  [Also connected via ethernet cable to cable modem.]

What I have done so far to troubleshoot the last 3 days:  Reinstalled the printer (3 times), the most recent today with an installer issued today; rebooted the printer; rebooted the computer after each significant change; updated the firmware in the printer; tried two different USB cables; tried printing the fonts in Microsoft Word 7, Microsoft Excel 7, and directly from the font file; reinstalled the Times New Roman fonts from backup; visited the forums and tried all of the solutions I could for any similar problem; tried the winprint, hpzppw71, and hpzpplhn print processors with both RAW and NT EMF 1.008 data types; found and repaired all problems I could find with any hardware and software, as well as updating all software to the latest version.

[dansdaduk]

I'm not famiiar with this printer model, and don't know the answer; just some observations:

• According to the specifications (see http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2014/OJPro/OfficejetPro8610_8620_8630.pdf), the printer languages supported are PCL3 GUI and PCL 3 Enhanced.
• Unlike the case with PCL5 and PCL XL (as supported by most LaserJet printers), HP does not appear to publish details of these languages.
• As far as I can establish, both these proprietary languages are raster-based.
• This means that most of the hard work of rendering text, images, etc., is done on the host workstation by the printrer driver - all that is sent to the device is a series of encapsulated, compressed raster images; the printer just unencapsulates and uncompresses these images, and prints the resultant dots.
• So the problem  is almost certainly either with the printer driver, or the source (TrueType?) font, not the printer itself.
• The fact that other printer drivers appear to handle the font OK perhaps absolves the OJ 8610 printer driver. edit: I meant "absolves the font".

[TomComputer]

I would agree that the hardware in the HP Officejet Pro 8610 is probably not the problem.  The FAX feature tests OK, as does the scan feature.  I can print anything that I send through hpeprint.com, including those documents that fail to print here at home.

However, a print engine is useless without proper software, drivers, and interfaces to support it.  I have been working diligently at my end trying to install various drivers, software updates, re-install fonts, re-install language packs, trying different HP installer scripts - all to no avail.

If I can't receive a clear set of directions on how to fix this problem, the printer is going back to Best Buy.  Any thoughts on whether I should replace it with an Epson WorkForce WF-2660 All-In-One; a Canon Maxify MB2020 Business Inkjet AIO; or a Brother MFC-J870DV Color Inkjet All-In-One?

Respectfully submitted,

TomComputer - a software professional with 50 years of experience in the computing industry

[TomComputer]

Despite the (perhaps desperate) tone of my last post, I really would prefer solving this problem.  It's not just Times New Roman that doesn't print.  Most fonts do print.

I would be curious if someone notices the difference betweeen the fonts that DON'T print (I have only tested all installed fonts from A to C):

Arial

Arial Unicode MS

Batang Regular

BatangChe

Cambria

Cambria Math

Courier New

Courier Regular

and those that DO print (again in the A to C range):

Arial Rounded MT Bold

Baskerville Old Face

Bell MT

Bernard MT Condensed

Bodoni MT

Bodoni MT Poster Compressed

Book Antiqua

Bookman Old Style

Bookshelf Symbol 7

Britannic Bold

Brush Script MT

Calibri

Calisto MT

Candara

Castellar

Centaur

Century Gothic

Century

Century Schoolbook

Colonna MT

Comic Sans MS

Consolas

Constantia

Corbel

Curlz MT

Again, any pointers in the right direction would greatly help me (and from what I am reading on-line in reviews lots of others).

Respectfully submitted,

Tom

[dansdaduk]

Tom

I don't have an answer for you, but I'll keep on thinking and sleep on it.

As I understand it, you are saying that you have the same problem with Arial, etc. as you do with Times New Roman?

You refer to an error returned in Excel.
What happens if you try to print a Word document using (say) just the Arial Regular font?
Any error message?
... or does Word crash?
... or what?

Chris
A (retired) computer professional, but with only 45 years experience!

[TomComputer]

Thanks for trying to help.  I am happy to report my experiments and results.

Microsoft Word:

I open a blank document.  Type something in.  Select the entire text.  Change the font.  When I change to some fonts (those listed on my DOES print) the document shows up in the print queue and prints.  When I change to the other fonts (those listed as DOES NOT print) nothing happens.  It just sits there.  No messages.  No crash.  Nothing in the print queue.  I can walk away for hours (as I have done) and come back and nothing has happened.  When I change back to a DOES print font it prints.  Change it back to a DOES NOT print font and it doesn't.  Repeatable.  Consistent.  No configuration changes or installs have changed it.

Microsoft Excel:

I open a black spreadsheet.  Type something in.  Highlight the entire text.  Change the font.  When I change to a DOES print font it prints.  When I change to a DOES NOT print font I get this:

"Microsoft Office Excel

    Your file could not be printed due to an error on HP Officejet Pro 861   on 0.  There are several possible reasons:

. There may not be enough memory available.  Try closing files and programs you aren't using.

. If you use a network for printing, there may be a problem with the network connection or the printer driver.

. There may be loose cables or a bad connection between your computer and printer.

For more information about troubleshooting printing problems, chick Help.

   Show Help >>"

when I click the Show Help >> button I get:

"This error can be caused by:
General problems: The printer may be unavailable, the network may be down, the communication port to the printer may be corrupt or unavailable, a hardware error at the computer may have occurred (out of paper, paper jam, out of ink, out of toner, etc), and a language setting may need to be reset from the Regional Options control panel.
Local problems: There are several reasons for a local printer (a printer that is attached directly to your computer) to fail:
Check to make sure the printer has paper, ink, and/or toner and check the cables.
If the printer appears to be functional and a printer test by the printer itself indicates the printer is working properly, then check the cables, printer port from the computer, and configuration of the printer at the computer.
Occasionally, an application can develop a conflict with the printer driver and cause a memory leak which corrupts the printer port. If all else fails, restart the computer, recycle the power to the printer, and try printing again.
Occasionally it is even necessary to delete the printer driver and reinstall the latest version of the printer driver.
Network problems: There are various reasons for a network printer to be inaccessible: the name may have changed, it may be out of paper, out of ink, out of toner, down for maintenance, the network could be down, or a printer job previous to yours has stalled due to incorrect settings on the user's computer who last submitted a print job, or even your printer driver cannot communicate correctly with the printer. Network related printer failures are usually best handled by your local technical support.
Memory problems:On occasion, large print jobs with complex graphics or consisting of several hundred pages, which can consume large quantities of memory on the printer, may cause a problem (especially if there was an over run of memory at the printer). You may want to try reducing the amount of complex graphics in your print job, or break the print job up into smaller segments and see if that corrects your problem. It is not uncommon for a very complex graphic to have a defect or error which prevents it from printing on any printer. It may be necessary to load new or revised graphic converters or drivers in order to alleviate a problem of this type.
For more information about fixing problems related to printing, see Microsoft Windows Help and Support. (Click the Start button, and then click Help and Support.)"

Excel keeps right on going.  Doesn't crash.  Just pops up the gray dialog box.  Behind the box popped up is another box (that goes away then the dialog box is closed) saying:

 "Now printing page 1 of 1

'Book1' on the

HP Officejet Pro 861     on 0"

The format of these messages does seem strange now that I look at it so carefully while trying to type EXACTLY what I see.   I think I will try to shorten the name of the printer.

Once again,

Respectfully submitted for analysis, review, suggestions, and criticism.

Tom

[TomComputer]

... just as a quick addition to my previous reply ...

I changed the printer name from

HP Officejet Pro 8610

to

HPOfficejetPro8610

[just in case some old Unix script didn't like the spaces or something didn't like the length]

The messages now say HPOfficejetPro861   on 0.

I have no idea if this is a "clue" to someone.

... onward ...

Respectfully submitted,

Tom

[dansdaduk]

>> ... in case some old Unix script didn't like the spaces ...

I was under the impression that you are using Windows 7.

I've still no idea what could be going on; a few questions:

• Is your locale set to a plain english-speaking one (English (UK) or English (US), or to something else?
• Are your documents using just plain ASCII text (alphabetic characters, digits, common punctuation), or do you use extended ASCII characters, or characters from other languages / regions?
• Have you tried to verify that the 'bad' fonts are OK - use the Microsoft Font Validator tool - see http://www.microsoft.com/typography/FontValidator.mspx - you'll need to run the tool against a copy of the indfividual font file(s) in a different folder - it won't work directly with the %WindDir%\Fonts folder (or with a copy of the whole folder).
• Having said that, the fact that other printers work OK with these fonts tends to suggest that the fonts are OK - and bear in mind that the tool is slightly out of date - it doesn't recognise some later versions of a few of the TrueType tables (although I don't think that this affects any of the standard Windows fonts).
• Have you tried a sample print, but one where you select the 'print to file' option in the Print dialogue, which should cause the print job to be captured to a nominated .prn file; does this appear to complete OK, or to 'hang'?

[TomComputer]

To everyone following this thread:

     I have spent a great deal of time on this issue since I received the most recent reply.  Here is a summary of everything I can think of:

    I have a new HP Officejet Pro 8610 product number A7F64A.  I have now tried to install and use it on all 3 of my home computers with the following results:

    On my 5-month old HP Envy Notebook m7-ki211dx (12 GB Core i7-5500@2.4GHz, 64-bit Windows 8.1 I was able to install the printer in wireless mode with only one problem:

Webroot Secure Anywhere detected the following during installation:

Thu 2015-07-30 16:29:00.0534 Infection detected: c:\program files (x86)\hewlett-packard\hp support framework\hpsf_tasks.exe [MD5: 9569204C66E9DC3102EC24FFD81E9149] [3/00081000] [W32.Rogue.Gen]

Thu 2015-07-30 16:29:00.0534 File blocked in realtime: c:\program files (x86)\hewlett-packard\hp support framework\hpsf_tasks.exe [MD5: 9569204C66E9DC3102EC24FFD81E9149, Size: 17208 bytes] [528384/00000003] [W32.Rogue.Gen]

   After the installation, I was able to print, scan, fax, print through hpeprint.com.  I was able to use all fonts, including Times New Roman.  Why am I mentioning this?  Because of what I did next:

   On the machine in question (HP Pavilion NY809AV-ABA e9110t (8 GB Core 2 Quad CPU Q9550@2.83GHz, 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise SP1) with video card upgraded to NVIDIA GeForce GT240 and 2nd identical HDD added) I am still having problems printing a subset of the fonts that includes Times New Roman.  Here is what I have tried, based on suggestions:

- Cannot get the Times New Roman font to print on this computer.

- Replaced Times New Roman font with a backup copy, still can't get font to print.

- Replaced Times New Roman font with a copy of the Times New Roman font that works on my Windows 8 computer, still can't get font to print.

- Tested many of the fonts using Microsoft Font Validator Release 1.0.1286.23890.  Almost all of the fonts report warnings and errors.  The three versions of the Times New Roman fonts all report hundreds of errors.   So do fonts that print well.  I can find no usefulness in this tool.

-  "Printed" a file containing Times New Roman to a .pdf file using PDFCreater without problems.  The resulting .pdf file printed fine on my HP 8610.

- I cannot find a way (or an option) to generate a .prn file as was suggested.

- I tried the "Font Substitution" option in Microsoft Word.  It said there was no need for font substitution since the font was available.

    As a bonus bug, the HP Support Assistant icon in the System Tray shows up as a black rectangle (instead of a blue circled question mark as it shows up on the other two computers.)

    Lest this get overly long, let me quickly summarize that my third computer behave just like the Windows 7 "machine in question".  This machine is a mule that started as a Compaq Presario SR1620NX (EG733AA-ABA SR1620), upgraded with an AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.2GHz, upgraded with an NVIDIA GeForce G210, and upgraded to 3.25 GB (2.75 GB usable) memory.  It is running Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1.

    A hearty thanks to all of you that are still reading.  Any assistance I can get would be greatly and humbly appreciated.  If you need more information, you must know by now that I am not hesitant to provide details.  Likewise, if you can suggest additional tests to perform, I am willing to do them.

   Respectfully submitted,

"Tom Computer"

Tom

[dansdaduk]

As the printer does work with other PCs, this would seem to absolve the printer hardware.

As other printers print the 'rogue' fonts OK from the 'rogue' PC, this probably absolves the TrueType fonts on that PC - although not definitely, because the other printer drivers may select printer-resident fonts, or use some form of font substitition.

The most likely culprit is the printer driver on the 'rogue' PC, or the interaction between the source applications (Word, Excel, etc.) and the driver.

I don't run Windows 7, and I don't have access to an OfficeJet Pro 8620 printer, so I can't run any tests.

>> ...  I cannot find a way (or an option) to generate a .prn file as was suggested ...

With most printer drivers, there should be a 'print to file' option in the Print dialogue; for example:

Later versions of some applications (e.g. Word 2013) 'hide' the standard dialogue and include the option (albeit somewhat hidden) instead on their own print dialogue:

Having said that, even if you can capture somthing to a .prn file, all that (analysis of this) this may (but may not) do is to provide more clues as to what is going on.

I woudl try to totally remove the current printer driver (you should find advice about this elsewhere on this forum, or on the web); then install a new driver (I'm not sure whether the recommended one is a download from HP, or built-in to Windows Update).