My Printer Printing Weird Symbols – Fixed

Posted by Chloe Harter , 06 Feb, 2025
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Whether you’re using an inkjet or laser printer, seeing strange symbols on your printed pages may indicate something is wrong. These symbols may appear as a long string of random characters, numbers, or even unrecognizable text. This is usually caused by software or communication issues between your computer and the printer. In this blog, we will explore the printer printing weird symbols problem and provide some practical solutions.

Why Is My Printer Printing Weird Symbols?

There are many reasons why a printer prints weird symbols, including unsupported fonts, corrupted printer firmware, software conflicts, loose transfer cables, corrupted printer spoolers, and more.

1. Unsupported Fonts

If your printer starts outputting strange symbols, one of the main reasons could be an unsupported font. First, the font may not be properly installed on your computer. If the installation fails, your application may replace it with random characters. Alternatively, the document’s font may not be compatible with your printer. If you use a less standard font, especially a unique or decorative font, the printer may not be able to read it correctly.

2. Incompatible Software

Sometimes, your printer prints weird symbols due to software conflicts. This can happen if the program you are using to print the document is not compatible with your printer driver. Additionally, using third-party software to print may also cause the printer to misinterpret the data.

3. Printer Driver Problem

The printer driver acts as a bridge, telling your printer how to interpret data sent from the computer. If your printer driver is outdated, corrupted, or incompatible, it can cause various problems, such as printing random symbols.

This can also happen when you have multiple printer drivers installed on your computer and use a non-corresponding driver to communicate with the printer.

4. Loose or Damaged Cables

Although less common, a loose or damaged printer cable can also be the source of the problem. When your printer’s cable is not securely connected or is damaged, it can cause the data sent to the printer to be corrupted or incomplete. The printer will print garbled symbols or completely omit parts of the document.

5. Printer Spooler Corruption

The printer spooler is a service that temporarily stores print jobs before sending them to the printer. If the spooler becomes corrupted, it can cause communication errors between the device and the printer, resulting in strange symbols or incomplete print jobs. The problem is often related to printer queue conflicts.

How to Fix Printer Printing Weird Symbols?

Whether you use Brother, Epson, HP, Ricoh, Xerox or another brand of printer, you can use the following methods to fix your printer printing weird symbols.

1. Cancel the Print Job and Restart the Device

This is the simplest solution. Cancel the current print job and then restart your printer and computer, which often resolves temporary problems.

You can cancel a print job in two ways. For more information, read the blog How to Cancel a Print Job on a HP Printer.

On Your Printer: Press the “Cancel” or “Stop” button (usually a red X icon) to stop the job.

On Your Computer: For Windows users: Go to “Printers & scanners,” select your printer, and open the “Printer Queue.” Right-click the print job and select “Cancel.” For Mac users: Choose “System Preferences,” select “Printers & Scanners.” Click your printer, “Open Print Queue,” select your print job, and then click “X.”

Then, restart all your devices. Turn off the printer and unplug it, then shut down the computer. Wait 1-2 minutes before turning your printer back on and restarting the computer.

After restarting, try to print the document again.

2. Checking for Software Conflicts

If restarting the device doesn’t help, check for software conflicts. Are you using third-party print management software or remote desktop software such as FinePrint, Print Conductor, PaperCut, PrinterLogic, TeamViewer, or AnyDesk? This software may be sending incorrect commands or conflicting with the local printer driver.

Or have you just used security and antivirus software? This type of software may block or interfere with the printer spooler service, thus corrupting the print data.

Sometimes, if you use a PDF reader to print, such as Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader, it may use fonts or encodings that the printer cannot interpret correctly.

Check your security and antivirus software to see if anything has been set to the printer program. Then, close the software mentioned above in the first and third categories. After closing these programs, try to print the document again. If the problem persists, you may need to continue with other troubleshooting steps.

3. Check Document Fonts and Print Preview

Another simple fix is to check the fonts used in the document you’re printing.

If your document contains unsupported fonts, try switching to a more commonly used font, such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Calibri. It’s also a good idea to convert the document to a format that embeds fonts, such as PDF. This ensures that your printer can read and display the text accurately.

Also, use the print preview feature to double-check your document before printing. If you see any weird formatting or symbols in the preview, they will appear on the printed page as well.

4. Print a Test Page

We can also check whether the problem is with the printer or the document itself.

Most printers have a diagnostic or test page feature that can help identify hardware problems. Go to the printer’s “Settings,” select “Reports,” and print a “Diagnostic Page.” If the test page prints correctly and does not have any weird symbols, the problem may be with the document or the connection between the printer and the computer.

Next, send your printed document to a new printer to print. If the page has weird symbols, something is wrong with the document.

On the other hand, if the test page shows strange symbols, the problem is most likely with the printer itself. In this case, you may need to troubleshoot the printer’s driver or hardware.

5. Check the Printer Cable

Loose or damaged printer cables can also cause communication problems between the computer and printer, resulting in weird symbols.

Check the printer’s USB and network cables to ensure they are plugged in securely on both ends. If a cable becomes frayed or damaged, replace it with a new one.

For wireless printers, make sure the printer is connected to the correct network and that the signal strength is sufficient. A weak or intermittent connection can also cause printing errors.

6. Update/Reinstall Printer Driver

Updating or reinstalling your printer driver usually works.

To update a driver in Windows, click the Start menu, go to “Settings,” and search for “Device Manager.” Expand the “Printers” category, right-click the printer you want to update, select “Update driver,” and then select “Search automatically for updated driver software.” Windows will search for and install any available updated printer drivers.

For Mac users, go to “System Preferences” and select “Printers & Scanners.” Select the printer you want to update, click “Options & Supplies,” and then select “Driver.” If an update is available, you will be prompted to install it.

Moreover, you can uninstall and reinstall the current printer driver. Visit the printer manufacturer’s support website, search for your printer model, select the corresponding driver, and then install it on your computer.

Wrap It Up

When your printer prints weird symbols, don’t worry. Follow the solutions above, and your printer should be back up and running. If all else fails, contact customer support for further assistance.

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