What's wrong with my printer?

General Questions
#1

Facts:

I have an HP DeskJet 340.

I have a three-month-old Dell desktop running XP.

I can successfully print from WordPerfect.

I cannot successfully print from Word, WordPad, Final Draft, or Paint Shop Pro.

When I try to print from any of those programs the cartridge light comes on. I press that button, and the power light flashes for a moment, then goes back to the cartridge light. I then have to turn the printer off to reset. I turn it back on, and it prints pages of nonsense laid over the correct text.

What’s up? Do I need a new printer or what?

#2

You do not mention how old your PC is, but the fact that you are using an HP 340 which is almost 7 years of indicates some degree of long toothedness.

Older versions of WordPerfect, even some of the early windows versions, used their own printer driver instead of Windows built in driver. All the the other non-printing apps are probably using the window drivers. Delete the entire printer definition and any copies of it that may exist in the printers folder, and re-install the drivers. If the problem persists it may indicates a lower level print control binary has busted, and a re-install of windows may be necessary.

#3

Well yes you did after all! :o

How old is the version of WordPerfect?

#4

Also see

HP Deskjet 340 Series Printer - The Change Cartridge Light Flashes When Printing Monochrome

#5

I have WordPerfect 11 (came with the computer), and I had no troubles with the printer on my old computer (with Windows ME). Word is 2002.

I’ve already reinstalled both the printer and the drivers.

#6

Given that the XP driver is probably nearly identical to the 2000 340 driver referenced in the link, trying the workaround specifed in the link might help