Hpdeskjet5550 problems

[chunky]

I recently just bought this printer becuase of the good user reviews at Newegg, but I've had nothing but problems. Everytime I print a page, an extra page also prints that has strange black and yellow horizontal bars and green checks marks in the left hand margin. I've gone to the Hp website and downloaded the lastest drivers, but nothing seems to work. Can anyone help me out?

(Running WinXP pro. Printer connected via parallel cable)

 

[Tarkus]

do you have 'print separator page' selected? normally these are blank but it's a thought.