HP LJ4000 - bizarre problem

[Ole Tech Guy]

k - I have been working with pc's since '98 and this is something that has stumped me. This is with a HP Laserjet 4000 printer

A client called me and complained they were getting a line of random text across the top of every printed page. Started around the end of April.
examples :
- A woman named Veronica wipes Jesus face
- Jesys falls again
- Jesus dies for us
- Jesus is stripped of his clothes
- Jesus is nailed to the cross
- Jesus tells some women not to feel sorry for him but For themselves and their children
- Jesus falls the third time

No - there are no typos - those are the exact lines and they change every dozen pages or so. First I thought it was the computers but then when I found nothing - I disconnected it from the network, pulled out the additional memory, pulled out the jetdirect card, reset the printer - cold reset and factory defaults. Still printing - even on the printer configuration page while not connected to anything. I looked it up and these are the Catholic 'stations of the cross'

Does anyone know of any virus, bug or malware that could have caused this.


Any help or pointing in the right directing is much appreciated.

thanks.

[Ole Tech Guy]

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[ptjeff1]

did you try clearing the nvram? from the service manual...

Clearing NVRAM
This procedure will clean up the NVRAM by removing old areas that
are not being used.
1 Turn off the printer.
2 While pressing [Cancel Job] turn the printer on. CLEANUP NVRAM
appears briefly on the display, followed by INITIALIZING. After a
few seconds READY appears.

[MichaelTech]

I doubt the NVRAM would hold this information. It seems like the firmware has been messed with. Has this been changed? Someone has access to the driver, and is able to input this drivel. Re- install it fresh.