hp color laser mfp 179fnw printing gibberish on imac catalina

[Cgeo]

When i try to print one page of text through Word , the printer starts to print numerous pages with gibberish text.

I tried deleting/adding the printer (also in safe mode) but i keep getting the same result.

Any help?

hp color laser mfp 179fnw / imac catalina 10.15.3

[Kumar0307]

Hi @Cgeo

Welcome to the HP Support Community. I'd be happy to assist you.

Have you tried printing different types of documents like PDF or Webpages and check if the issue persists?

Try making a standalone copy and check if that works. By this, we can conclude if this is a hardware or a driver issue.

Let us try these steps to resolve this issue:

Reset the printer

1. With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer.
2. Wait at least 60 seconds.
3. Reconnect the power cord to the rear of the printer.
4. Turn ON the printer, if it does not automatically turn on.
5. Wait until the printer is idle and silent before you proceed.

Note: HP recommends connecting the printer directly to a wall outlet rather than a surge protector or a power strip.

Update the printer firmware

If the printer is connected on a network, use the EWS page to update the printer firmware

Kindly refer to page 67 of the user manual(under maintenance tab)

Click here to know different methods of updating printer firmware.

Check the print queue on the MAC

Click on the Apple icon > System preferences > Printers and scanners > Choose your printer > Open print queue > Delete all pending print jobs

Try printing.

If the issue persists, we will have to perform a factory reset on the printer.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

[ALS-77]

Gibberish text is usually the result a bad/corrupt printer driver or the wrong printer driver being used. It also might be tied to your Safe Mode operation. 

Try deleting and reinstalling without Safe Mode. The other recommendation is to delete and reinstall the driver, but use a different one than what you're currently trying.

[Cgeo]

The printer is connected via wifi. Also i didn,t download any drivers because the os did it automatically. i cant find any drivers for my printer in hp site (apple)

So is it a bad driver from hp? Or a problem from catalina? Before the upgrade of catalina everything was working ok.

 Now i can only print through my telephone. but not with my imac.

[ALS-77]

It sounds like your upgrade is the culprit for your issues since it was OK before. Updates on any computer can cause problems. I just had a customer yesterday that said she couldn't scan from her HP to her PC anymore. I tried everything, then asked about any updates on her computer. She confirmed that an update was recently done and that is when it stopped working. For an iMac, I'm not sure what you can do to correct this.