Color Laser MFP 179fnw – intermittent "URF Decoding Fail" (Error 11-1114) when printing from macOS v

[troicus]

Hi all,

my HP Color Laser MFP 179fnw intermittently prints pages of random symbols (garbage) instead of the document when printing from a Mac via AirPrint. Roughly 1 in 3 jobs fails. Once the printer produced this error page:

URF ERROR – [URF] Decoding Fail
POSITION: 0x20402c (2113580)
SYSTEM: emul/URF/URF_dec
LINE: 356
VERSION: V11.73_190212
ERROR CODE: 11-1114

Printer / firmware:
- System firmware: V3.82.01.23 (20250226)
- Engine firmware: V1.00.14 (2019-03-04)
- SPL version: V11.73_190212
- Client: MacBook Pro, current macOS, AirPrint driver

What I have ruled out:
- Driver: happens with the AirPrint driver (no generic PostScript queue)
- Application: happens from both Adobe Acrobat Reader and Preview
- Transport: happens over IPPS, plain IPP and raw port 9100; a packet capture shows no connection drops during the data transfer
- Data size: also happens in grayscale mode

Workaround: if I render the same PDF to JPEG on the Mac and send the JPEG, it prints reliably every time. Printing from an iPhone also works. So the problem seems to be in the printer's URF decoder.

Questions:
1. Is error 11-1114 / URF Decoding Fail a known issue on the 178/179 series?
2. Is there a firmware that updates the URF emulation module (currently V11.73_190212)?
3. Any setting on the printer that affects URF handling?

Thanks!

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @troicus,

Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Thank you for providing such detailed troubleshooting results, including the firmware versions, error code, and tests across different applications and connection methods.

Since the issue occurs intermittently when printing through AirPrint from your Mac, while printing JPEG files and printing from your iPhone work reliably, your findings are helpful in narrowing down where the issue may lie. However, we cannot confirm from these symptoms alone whether error 11-1114 (URF Decoding Fail) is a known firmware issue or whether a specific firmware update is available to address it.

To help narrow this down further, could you please confirm:

Which exact macOS version are you running?

Does the issue occur with multiple PDF files, or only with particular documents?

Have you checked the official HP support page for the Color Laser MFP 179fnw for firmware updates applicable to your printer?

Thank you for sharing your findings with the community. 

Best regards,
Kuroi_Kenshi