How do i stop the printer from spitting out paper with gibberish on it?

[rksmith613]

I I cannot tell you how to re-create it.  I tried to print in booklet an Adobe file using the printer driver for Windows 11.  Instead of 1 copy of a 3-page booklet, which was a text file (not graphic).  I got about 70 pages with varying numbers of lines (1-5) and all non-text material on the pages.  It finally ran out of paper.  Even after I canceled the print job and spooler service (when I ran out of paper) when I put more in it started back up with the computer in sleep mode.  I finally turned off the computer power and turned it back on. 

What went wrong?  I can't afford the paper and ink this costs me, and I bought an HP because of its market reputation.  How do I stop this from ever happening again?

The file is one I have printed before, and printed since.  I ran diagnostics, and it told me no errors.  I have used the printer drivers many times before on this same computer.

[Repairatrooper · Accepted solution]

The most common cause of this behaviour is a WRONG printer driver. The file may have an embedded (print control) command that the driver sends to the printer, which it cannot decipher and it throws it into a loop. When this happens you many need to purge your printer queue to stop the waste of paper.

If you are using windows it is possible that a windows update has changed your printer driver and you need to reinstall.

[rksmith613]

Thank you, Trooper.  I had recently installed an update (with Windows, that seems almost continuous, but no surprise).  Deleting the driver totally and pulling the new one through HPSmart seemed to work well.  Thank you.  I was surprised that the driver was the problem; with Windows 10, I had the same driver for several years.