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When printing to a print device using a Version-4 Class Driver the printed output may be unreadable on Windows 8

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Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:
  • You have a system running Windows 8.
  • Connect a print device to the system.
  • The print device installs using a Version-4 Class printer driver.
  • Send a print job to the print device.
In this scenario, when you send a print job to the print device, the printed output is unreadable and the characters are square blocks. This occurs even if you print a test page to the device from the Printer Properties as seen in the below image.




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Cause

This issue occurs due to a possible incompatibility between the print device firmware and the V4 Class Driver command set.


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Resolution

For systems running Windows 8 (x86 or x64), the vendor provided version-3 compatible print driver should be used for the device. Check Windows Update and the device manufacturer for a v3 driver.

For systems running Windows RT (ARM), support is limited to version-4 drivers provided by Microsoft.  In this case you will need to check with the hardware vendor to see if a firmware update is available to correct the issue or use a print device that is capable of using a Version-4 Class printer driver.


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Keywords: kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 2777663
Revision : 1
Created on : 1/7/2017
Published on : 10/30/2012
Exists online : False
Views : 227