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Archived This topic has been archived. Information and links in this thread may no longer be available or relevant. If you have a question create a new topic by clicking here and select the appropriate board.
HP Recommended
HP ENVY 4520
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

Hello, I'm having some problems with this printer smearing text documents. I've had this printer about a year, and have hardly used it, and after a long period of time I have need of it again. Now, it is suddenly smearing all the text and color in documents. I have printed images and they appear fine. However text is always smeared. I have attempted to clean the ink cartridges, clean the printer through the support software. I have also tried taking the ink cartidges out and placing them back in. However none of these solutions have solved my problem. My ink levels are fine, but I am out of ideas on what to do with the printer. Even stranger is the fact I can print anything as an image, but not a text document. I took a picture of my text document and it printed fine, but the text documents themselves won't print correctly. It's happened with various documents and different computers. Here are some images for reference.

JPEG_20170326_195706.jpg

(The printer printing diagnostics)

JPEG_20170326_195801.jpg

(The text itself smearing)

JPEG_20170326_195837.jpg

(And an image [taken by gyazo] of the text document, printing without issue)

7 REPLIES 7
HP Recommended

@Austin96

 

This is a great location to get assistance! I read your post and see that ink smears and you are getting print quality issues on HP Envy 4520 printer. I would like to help you resolve this issue. 

 

To Fix the ink smears follow these steps.

  • Make sure the printer is loaded with plain white paper.
  • On the printer control panel, swipe the display to the left, then touch Setup .
  • Touch Tools.
  • Swipe up on the display, then touch Clean Page Smears.
  • The printer slowly feeds a blank page.
  • Wait for the printer to eject the blank page.

Also follow the below steps to fix print quality issues.

  • Make sure you are using the appropriate paper for your print job.
  • Check the print settings.
  • Check the estimated ink levels.
  • Replace any low or empty ink cartridges.
  • Print a Print Quality Diagnostic report.
  • Clean the ink cartridges.

Click here to refer the document and perform troubleshooting steps mentioned above to fix this issue.

 

Let me know how it goes.

 

I hope it helps and if you feel I have answered your question and concerns,

Please mark this post as a solution accepted and Kudos would also be appreciated.

 

Cheers.

Sandytechy20
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended

Hello Sandy, this solution did not solve my problem. I have already attempted to do this before, and did it again just now. Text will still smear when printed from Word Documents. However, as the images I attached earlier will show.. if I print out an image, the text on the image will come out without problems. I have tried four different types of word documents, as well as a PC and MAC device for extra measure.

HP Recommended

@Austin96

Thanks for the reply.

I appreciate your time and effort.

Please print a Print quality diagnostics report and check if you are still getting the same issue.

Print a document from any other application, like PDF and check.

Reply with the result of the above-mentioned steps, for further assistance.

Cheers.

Sandytechy20
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended

@sandytechy20

 

Strangely enough, printing out a PDF worked without issue. 

I printed out a Print Quality Diagnostic and this is the first time it's come out without a mostly blank piece of paper. Here is a picture of it.

JPEG_20170328_111758.jpg

HP Recommended

@Austin96

Thanks for the reply.

Looks like issue is not with the printer.

Ms work is causing some issue.

I request you to update Ms Office or contact Microsoft support to fix it.

I realize this is a lot of things to consider, but I hope it helps,

And if you feel I have answered your question and concerns,

Please mark this post as a solution accepted and Kudos would also be appreciated.

Cheers.

Sandytechy20
I am an HP Employee

HP Recommended

@sandytechy20

 

What leads you to that conclusion? I just want to understand better, because the Print Diagnostics still comes out with issues such as smearing and missing text, how would that be relative to MS when it's from the printer itself and not a word document?

HP Recommended

@Austin96

Thanks for the reply.

I appreciate your time and effort.

I understand the situation well.

It seems to be a hardware issue.

I request you to contact HP Phone support for further assistance on this.

Cheers.

Sandytechy20
I am an HP Employee

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