My print comes out as grey squares instead of letters after the MacOs Big Sur 11.5.1 update

[GustaZan]

I experience similar problems since end of July or beginning of August. I just read this thread and I haven't tried all the steps suggested, as I am not in the office were I use HP printers right now.  My turnaround at the moment is to save the Word file as a pdf, and the print it with Acrobat Reader DC (it doesn't work with MacOs Preview). Its very cumbersome, but maybe it can be of some help for someone else who hasn't saved the problem yet

[JBkayak]

I found an odd work around.  My fix was to email the .Doc or .PDF to myself, open in google docs....download from google docs as a PDF and open it Preview. 

If I pint it from Word or Pages it has errors.

If I save it from Word as a PDF, open it in Preview: prints with errors. 

If i upload my Word Doc to Google docs, download as a PDF and open it in Preview: prints perfectly.

...so what is different between a 'save as type' Word PDF and a downloaded Google Docs PDF? 

Preview will only print the latter correctly.

I suspect, opening it in Google Docs stripped some Microsoft coding or converted it to Google Docs format and that fixed the printing issue.   Not sure why Preview cant print the 'Save as PDF' directly from Word though?   ...it has to be scrubbed by Google Docs first to print correctly

James

[ZibiPoland]

I have the same problem but for sure it is no problem after MacOs update but after printer drivers. I have two macbok one has old version of Os and another new but  the problem occurs on both. It's occurs on Word but when I try to print from Pages there is missing of polish letter. If I sent same files to print from mail it works proper. If I print from windows computer it work proper.

[BahadurSingh]

Heya! Try using a different font and / or a different print plugin / method.

[Fillister]

We have Macs with Big Sur, Catalina and Mojave with the same printing issue on all.  The problem for us started when the Firmware on the 577 was updated to  MAHDWOPP1N001.2132A.00 in August.  

I was able to download the previous Firmware version but have yet to figure out a way to get it to load to the 577.  Hours and hours trying to understand obscure references to Netcat and port 9100.  When I attempt to connect to the printer's Local IP address via Netcat the connection is refused by the printer.  All settings on the printer are defaults with no passwords or other limitations.  I will keep trying, but in the mean time I will attempt some of these work arounds.  

Thank you everyone for the information.

[tcaptivates]

I've finally resolved this for a client today. A little background: he started printing squares about a month ago and we did a workaround using the Generic PCL driver, which of course means he can't print color, etc. He is on MacBook Pro running the latest Big Sur and a HP Pagewide 477 dw.

Here is what worked for them as of today:

Install Apple Printer Driver found here

https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1888?locale=en_US

Then add the printer again, selecting HP Pagewide 477 instead of Airprint or Secure Airprint under "Using"

The client gets an error message "matterhorn.framework will damage your computer" twice every time he prints, but it's much better than printing in black&white only using the generic PCL driver.

[Fillister]

Added the 577 as a generic Postscript printer using it's local IP address.

Mac Add Printer under Preferences Printers and Scanners

Protocol:  HP Jetdirect – Socket was selected

Use:  Generic PostScript Printer driver was selected

So far no issues with both text and images.

[TinyMN]

This solves the problem on the Mac but doesn't solve the problem for iPad's or iPhones.

[PeroS]

I have the same exact problems, I managed to clear the problem on the Mac using: Generic PostScript Printer, which I am using only for .docs or pages, for all other standard printer. It is a bit of a hustle when I select the wrong printer…. but oh well. 

My biggest problem is the iPad since there is no setting for the printer. Please somebody help, I am now only using iPad at the office and I have to convert everything to PDF and even then it is not working every time… I have no idea why not, I am importing to acrobat an already newly created PDF.  I am getting ready to bring back the old 280 back in the office and throw away the 477! 

[EvanMcNally]

Edit: 

Link to an old firmware which still works with Airprint:  PW477DW_1908C.exe - Google Drive

Be sure to log into the printer web interface and disable automatic updates so the printer will not re-update to the broken version.

--->  Hey HP:  Make old firmware versions available on the support page for this printer.  We should not need to use unofficial channels to revert to a working firmware version.  From a security perspective, it forces people into using firmware from untrusted sources for your devices. Just be decent and make previous versions available for download.  Thank you. 

End Edit

-----

I have the same issue.  This is conclusively a firmware bug which HP ought to work on fixing.

It occurred around August 2021, same as many in this thread.  It impacted a Mac and 2 iPads--all the Apple devices in the office.

I was able to locate an old firmware version via Google search.  When I installed it, the problem instantly disappeared for all devices.  This printer's default is to automatically download new firmware from the internet, so auto-update needs to be disabled to prevent an "upgrade" back to the bad firmware.

For me, the problem stayed gone until today, Oct 26.  I'm IT for a remote office which has this printer, so I have to go see if it auto-updated itself again despite updates being disabled. 

I'll have to locate the old firmware again and will post a link in this thread to help people obtain it.