this happens for all print jobs regardless of the source?

Eve said

this happens for all print jobs regardless of the source?

Yes... for all print jobs from Firefox, regardless of web site/form such as web page or pdf being viewed. Any print job originating from Firefox.

so print jobs originating from other programs or browsers work fine? I'm asking around

Sort of... it's very hit-and-miss

• Notepad crashes, displays 'stopped working' window & closes;
• QuickBooks, a notorious problem child, usually prints OK;
• Adobe Reader/Acrobat print OK;
• Microsoft Edge 44.18362.449.0 | EdgeHTML 18.18363 prints OK (but it breaks web sites);

• Chrome v80.0.3987.149 x64 dies similarly to Firefox but without the dialogue box or error report box — just crash & close (and breaks web sites); and
• Internet Explorer 11.719.18362.0 crashes & restarts (but doesn't break web sites — they just refuse to work under IE and tell you to update or go away)

The work-around of printing to a pdf first, then printing the pdf as hardcopy is pretty reliable except for this googletag issue popping a js error.

Perhaps your printer driver is messed up in some way? Can you make sure that's updated? Or maybe it updated recently and it broke it?

The printer driver is up-to-date and not broken. It's been un- and re-installed with no change. If it's the printer driver I wouldn't expect it to print at all... plus, this really is the wrong place for me to pursue issues with the printer driver.

The GoogleTag JavaScript issue that's plaguing me is what I'm chiefly concerned with fixing at this point. Do you envision some way an errant print driver could cause a JavaScript googletag issue?

EDIT AFTER SOLVED PrimoPDF is also a printer driver. I was only considering the Canon driver. This was definately the right path as shown below—Sky

Hi Sky,

I see malware scans on the 'net with the exact same gtm tag which means other people are having the same problem as you. On one Nitro board the admin said to do a 'repair' on PrimoPDF. Worth a try.

Good luck.

Jeff

Jeff Grossman said

I see malware scans on the 'net with the exact same gtm tag which means other people are having the same problem as you. On one Nitro board the admin said to do a 'repair' on PrimoPDF. Worth a try.

Yes it was!

This advice led me to look at PrimoPDF as the originating culprit for the googletag JavaScript error. PrimoPDF has been owned, and now essentially orphaned, by Nitro PDF for some years now. The latest version July 26, 2010 when Nitro incorporated their advertising box on the opening page.

I dl'd another copy of PrimoPDF just in case my installation copy was bad. The only type available is 32-bit, although a 64-bit version exists... somewhere. Next was uninstall-reinstall, then check. On launching my newly-installed version of the very same program I found different settings caused odd behavior, from my notes:

Screen displays OK eBook 502 Bad Gateway (cloudfare) error Print script error https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-WVZNLW Prepress script error https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-WVZNLW Custom (default) script error https://www.googletagmanager.com

After hitting Custom, all now show the script error. Trying variations made no difference. UN- RE-INSTALL, launch - same issues as after Custom. Options > stop Streamlining. Reopen, started OK, showed Custom settings although all are default except streamlining.

PrimoPDF appears to have been the source of the JavaScript error, and in Primo the "streamlining" option appears to be the root cause. That it happened coming off of Firefox appears to have been happenstance.

Now the only thing that flashes on the screen looks like an error — but it is not. It's a very fast Print Preview | Progress flag saying the preview is preparing. I was able to capture and see it using the Microsoft Steps Recorder in Windows 10.

Thanks, Jeff!

EDIT For anyone interested, it's worth noting PrimoPDF is (now officially) a discontinued product seen today on Nitro PDF's web site here no wonder they haven't updated it—but they still have it for download. — Sky

You're welcome, Sky.