Yes, I realize this is the third FF3 post in a row, but It’s pretty much a “lazyweb” cry for help…
When I print from Firefox 3 RC1, I get garbage:
I’ve tried several printers. Not running any add-ons. Clean install of XP SP3 and FF3 RC1 is the first version of Firefox to ever go on this machine.
Anyone else had similar issues by chance? I’m not quite sure how to tackle this one.
[Updated] Wonder if I have an encoding issue or have found a real bug? I was just logging into feedburner and noticed the submit button has a similar issue:
Thoughts?
Updated again: Solved! <cue angels’ trumps and loud choruses> Via chat, Nathan suggested I try updating printer drivers. This morning I grabbed new Ricoh PostScript drivers and updated my machine. I can print again!
Possibly Related posts:
May 20th, 2008 
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I tried printing something in Firefox 3 RC1 and don’t seem to have this issue. It isn’t a clean install of Firefox 3 RC1, it was an update. And this is on Vista.
I hope you figure it out!
My home machine (XP SP2) was an upgrade and prints just fine as well.
Interesting…
I guess it must have to do with clean installs only, which most people probably won’t be doing.
I have this problem too, everything I print from the browser comes up as gibberish, had it with the earlier betas too.
I’m not sure what you mean by “clean” installs, I still have FF2 installed, I’ve just been running FF3 from a folder.
Definitely annoying, though. I also occasionally get a little block with an ASCII code or something in it.
Glad to know I’m not alone!
By “clean install” I mean that FF2 was never on this particular machine. It’s a fresh load of XP SP3.
What OS (and service pack) are you running?
I have the same problem, first firefox install and i get jibberish.
I have tried changing encodings and it will start working until I restart firefox then I have the same issue all over again.
This is FF3 rc1
I am having the same problem, I installed FF3 this morning in Windows 2K without uninstalling FF” but I still think it is a clean install.
Funily I have the exact same problem with Eclipse.
Folks with similar problems: What sort of printer?
My issue seems to be related to a big Ricoh multi-function unit. The other day I was able to print to an HP just fine — until I tried the Ricoh. Then both spewed garbage.
My issue has been with a multi function ricoh as well. Imagine that.
I downgraded to FF2 and wait for the final release. Which is out now. I haven’t had time to try out final yet.
I am having this issue with the stable release! Anyone have a solution for this??
I am having the same problem and do not know how to fix it… are there any ideas or solutions how to work around this problem?
@Donald @Aaron I don’t have any answers, but I’m curious as to what sort of printer you guys are having the issue with.
Maybe we can at least narrow it down a bit.
Same here ricoh 1045 pcl connected via ethernet
Same problem here
XPSP2
Different types of HP priners;
laserjet 4000
Colorlaserjet 4700
Laserjet 2100
Forgot to add that I changed to a PS driver it printed ok, but the font was something I have never seen on some pages.
[...] the release of Firefox 3 people have been searching on printing issues and finding my older Firefox 3 RC1 Printing Garbage [...]
I have this problem with FF3 stable version (downloaded on Download Day). Only some text, not the entire page, is gibberish.
XP SP3
HP Deskjet 6540
Had FF2 installed prior to FF3
report your experience here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=426438
Guys, I have no idea whats happening with your printers, but here mine is working good. I m using HP printer and haven’t had any such problems.
Andrew
I’m having the same issue. I had FF2 on this machine before installing FF3. All text on a Google Maps page is garbled when printing to an HP LaserJet 5000; the direction words, street names, and addresses are garbled when printing to a Xerox Phaser. I will be adding my info to the Bugzilla page.
I have this problem with FF3 stable version. But its only with some texts.
set the character encoding to Unicode UTF-8. Looks like the 16-bit character encoding is busted.
@baha How is that done?
See the latest update to the bottom of the post: I fixed my issue by updating printer drivers to the newer Ricoh PS option.
I was having the same issue. Win2k and firefox 3 with quite a few add-ons printing on hp laserjet 2200. In the preview page everything looked alright but when printing it was garbage. So finally fixed it.
Tools->options->content
Fonts & color Option
Change the “Default Font :” from Times New Roman to something else. I choose “Trebuchet MS” and size 14.
Nothing else was changed, its printing alright now.
Good luck
I am having this problem with the full release of Firefox 3. Prints exactly like the image at the top. Going to print preview and then clicking print assures that it prints fine, but when doing CTRL+P from the page I’m on prints the greek.
I tried changing the default font, and now about 50% of the document prints fine, but the rest of it is in greek :/
We are having the “gibberish” problem when printing some web pages from FireFox 3 to a Sharp multi-function AR-M450N printer/scanner/fax/copier. FF2 printed just fine. The websites the have garbled text will print fine if Print Preview is used first.
I Am using fire fox 2 for 2 years and had taken so many print outs no problems found,when firefox 3 is installed home key and bak keys are gone,irestored that buttons by customizing,print out from f3 is like the above pic ,again tried with f2 its,they have to find the problem and make an update
I changed
Tools->options->content
Fonts & color Option
Change the “Default Font :” from Times New Roman to something else. I choose “Trebuchet MS” and size 14.
and then changed back to Times New Roman and it worked. Thanks Sukhbir.
If you view the page in Print Preview and THEN print then it does seem to work…
There is clearly something wrong – look at the bug report
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=426438
Had same problem with upgrade to FF3 (and 3.0.1) on Win2000 printing to Ricoh Aficio AP4510. Was using RPCS driver… switched to PCL 5e driver from Ricoh site (released in 5/2008) and all is now well.
Here’s how I solved the same problem printing to a networked Ricoh Aficio 1045 (multi-function) with PCL 5e driver:
Go to Print from the menu, click Properties, then click Print Quality, then unselect “use printer fonts”. Should print fine then.
I tried this again today, and it works, but I seem to have to unselect “use printer fonts” each time I go to print. I recall the last time I had this issue, I only had to uncheck the box once, and I never had the problem again until this most recent update….
Yup FireFox 3 SUCKs big wad – go to http://www.hp.com and print to a laserjet it will be in Chinese. I don’t wanna use IE but FF can’t print (IE can)
I was having this problem with a networked HP LaserJet 4 plus. The problem seems to recur with older models. I went to the server it was located on, opened the printer, went to preferences, advanced, turned “print text as graphics” on. That way there is no use of fonts to mess up. As long as you aren’t using a completely ancient printer with no memory it should print just fine, also assuming your network settings aren’t fubar and it retains the setting information. Worked for me after multiple reboots.
I’m also having printing problems with the full release of FF3. Doing a print preview doesn’t help. I usually get an almost blank page. PDFs take forever to print and sometimes only print part of the page. Some web pages with mostly text don’t print the text but might print a graphical header at the top. I’ve tried some suggestions above with no improvement. I installed a new hard drive in February. It’s got the following:
XP SP3
FF3 was an upgrade to FF2
networked HP LaserJet 3320
I have never been able to print anything but garbage on FF3, especially bank statements, until I read somewhere in the miriad of suggested fixes for ‘printing garbage’on FF3, and I’ve tried them all, a solution that Really Works – Yes ! Really Works, and it’s so simple.
The solution was to disable ‘Device Fonts’ in the ‘printer properties’.
My printer is a xerox Docuprint P8ex and it now works fine.
Thanks to whoever submitted this fix.
Thank you, Jim!
That’s the solution for us too.
We use Nashuatec copy/printer systems and had FF3 print garbage too.
Unselecting “Druckerschriften verwenden” solved the problem.