Mystery Printer Problems

[WarHorse47]

At the moment I'm at wits end trying to solve a problem with our wireless printer.

Several years ago I picked up an HP Photosmart 7520 Series printer. It is wireless so the wife can print from her Win7 laptop and I can print from my Win8 desktop. I have an older printer as my primary, so consequently we seldom print off the 7520.

This morning the wife wanted to print an Adobe Acrobat form, and the page was nearly blank. You could barely see some of the print. After running several test samples, I discovered that it would print just fine from the HP diagnostic program but no other program.

After attempting to solve the problem from the wife's computer, I decided to do some testing from my desktop. The results were the same. I did run various MS and HP diagnostics, with no change. I did a total shutdown of the modem, router, computer and printer but the problem persists.

At the moment I can think of only two possibilities - both related to yesterday's MS updates. Although we have different OS, yesterday's updates included security updates for MS Office products. However, that doesn't explain the issue experienced with printing the *.pdf file. The other possibility is the update for the *.NET driver. I know nothing about that technology, so I'm just making a wild guess.

I guess I can do a system restore on one or another computer, but that's not a sure thing. Or I can wait and see if the problem surfaces with other users. Or I can just uninstall the drivers and start from scratch. No matter what I don't look forward spending my day playing computer technician without a hint on what I'm looking for.

I'm open for ideas, direction or suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

[Milton Shupe]

If all else fails, before you go restoring anything, just uninstall the printer. Then, reinstall it.

But, have you checked the printer properties to ensure you are not printing on Draft quality, or Econo-mode to save ink?

If tests are printing fine then your personal settings could be the difference.

[Tom Clayton]

My guess would be print head related. I've heard more than once that if you don't use an ink-jet at least on a semi-regular basis, the injector head can foul. Check the drivers to see if there's a head cleaning option. If so, give that a shot. Also, pull the ink cart's and shake them to see if there's even any liquid left.

[Milton Shupe]

My guess would be print head related. I've heard more than once that if you don't use an ink-jet at least on a semi-regular basis, the injector head can foul. Check the drivers to see if there's a head cleaning option. If so, give that a shot. Also, pull the ink cart's and shake them to see if there's even any liquid left.

True Tom; but he said the tests went well.

But, we use our printer infrequently as well and have similar problems. The ink dries in 3-4 months, the heads get gummy, etc

I usually pull out the cartridges and run hot water over them, and very carefully wipe the heads. That helps but usually doesn't get you back to 100% even with multiple head cleaning.

I try to go paperless. :-)

[Tom Clayton]

True Tom; but he said the tests went well.

Oops! Missed that line... In that case, go to Start > Devices and Printers, right-click the printer and select Printing preferences. Check for any settings there that might have you printing in something like a "draft" mode. If all else fails, go to the manufacturer's website and download the latest driver for each operating system and reinstall the printer with those drivers. I deal with driver issues just about every day, but it's usually related to gibberish output or a refusal to print in color. I even have one model that will print the XML configuration settings with every print job if you use the wrong driver!

[WarHorse47]

Thanks guys. Problem solved.

Apparently my new, primary black cartridge was causing the problem.

Had to do a few cleaning cycles, and (after half a ream of paper) I got things working again.

I feel dumb that I didn't notice it earlier. The five new cartridges were just installed two weeks ago. :banghead:

[n4gix]

I despise ink jet printers. Unless you use them at least several times each week, the print heads will dry out and get wonky. That's why several years ago I got a great deal on a Samsung CLP-325W Color laser printer and haven't had any problems with it.

My HP-4280 "All-in-One" inkjet printer's role has been relegated to being used as a scanner/copier only now. If it cannot print a copy, at least I can scan the document and print it on the laser! :very_drunk:

[dmaloof]

in favor of 2 printers all the time. if the all in one gets screwed up for printing you can always scan and use the second for printing. Mine is HP 4500 with scanning working and not printing lately and my cannon printer only

[p14u2nv]

I've had similar times when my Brother 4in1 printer wouldn't print due to dirt and dried ink. I take a q tip that I dip in alcohol lightly and very carefully clean the cartridges ink ports. Then print a test sheet. I don't use my printer much anymore and deal with it every few months. Use the alcohol sparingly as you won't need much

[WarHorse47]

I do have two printers in use.

My primary printer is an old HP 940c Deskjet connected to my desktop with a USB cable. I picked up the (problem) 7520 printer primarily for the wife to use from her laptop. The 7520 is wireless so we can both use it.

I once had a flatbed scanner for photos and documents, but couldn't find a driver for it when I got my current desktop running Win8.1. So I use the 7520 for copying and scanning from time to time.

As I mentioned, I had just replaced all of the ink cartridges so I didn't expect any printing problems. The printer has two black ink cartridges, one for text and another for photo printing. When I did a diagnostic print it seemed normal, but whenever I did a document print you could barely see the type. Reason was that the new black ink cartridge for text wasn't working as expected. If I had used the built in cleaning procedure in the beginning, I would have discovered the problem sooner. :dizzy:

Lesson learned.