HP Photosmart pro B9180 the color blue prints lavender...using advanced HP photo paper ideas?

[gracie54]

HP photosmart pro B9180 win xp no recent changes prior to problem...question is how to get quality color from this printer, the color blue prints lavender, I am using correct ink and hp advanced paper

[bassergitz]

Are you using genuine hp ink?

Try photocopying a blue document, if its still lavander...printhead may have a problem.

[gracie54]

the B9180 is a wide format printer...I can't photocopy. What else can I try?

[bassergitz]

Hard Reset – While printer is powered ON, pull

the power cord from the printer then from the

wall. After 30 seconds reconnect power to wall

and printer. This will trigger a ‘dirty power up’

and restore the printer to a known good

condition (if it is possible). No user settings are

lost with a ‘hard reset’.

This ‘Hard Reset’ is one of the most powerful

tools to use when the printer hardware is not

functioning properly!

[RBohl]

I am having a similar problem with my B9180 printer.  When I print a Blue-Cyan area such as sky or water, the results are too "pinkish".  This is a new problem; the printer worked well until this week.  When I print a test page the Light Cyan patch is BLUE, which means that some Magenta is being added to the Cyan.  I cleaned the Lt. Cyan / Lt. Magenta printhead as well as the NEDD and this didn't help (the printer recalibrated itself, etc.).  A new Lt. Cyan cartridge didn't help either.  The calibration was done using Advanced Glossy paper, but the problem occurs no matter what ICC profiled paper I use. The printer's firmware is up to date. Can anyone solve this problem; I use this printer for exhibition work, but it hasn't been used that hard.  I'm working with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit operating system.

{Personal Information Removed}

[gracie54]

I was using photoshop cs4 to print from and got the bluish pink color but I got really frustrated and saved a copy of the photo to my desk top and then opened it in Kodak easyshare program and the color printed fine. Go figure I couldn't print from a very expensive program but it printed from a free limited program. I had an extended conversation with HP and they told me I could not use any other paper with this printer only advanced glossy paper. On futher research you can't get advanced in a satin or matt finish or 13x19 size. I feel HP really let the customers who purchased this printer be put into a very tight box of limitations. I was forced to purchase a different printer and it was not HP. I have the B9180 beast back in the box and for sale. When I can't have options other than glossy finish I can't fill my customers orders. As a photographer this printer has become useless to me and HP does not care or they would find a solution and better yet make it clear when one purchases a new printer to explain the different types of ink systems they sell. The problem with the B9180 are many starting with having to leave it on all the time which waste so much ink as it goes through a cycle every so many hours; not being able to use other types of paper and then stop making the sizes and finish available is not helping customers want to continue to purchase HP printers.

[RBohl]

If I may make a few comments regarding your latest e-mail:

1. Since you are getting different color results depending on the program used, you may be having a color management problem with CS4 vs. the other program.  This may not be a printer problem.  How do the colors look when you print a test page?  In my case, one of the patches is printing the wrong color.

2. Is you monitor calibrated?  This can be important if you are trying to match colors between the monitor and printer.

3. I agree that HP is limiting the selection of papers, but you can work with almost any (pigment ink) paper type with this printer as long as you use the proper color profile. Until my recent problem I’ve worked successfully with a variety of matte, glossy, and canvas surfaces.  You DO need to have some 8.5 x 11” HP Advanced paper handy to calibrate the printer, but other than that, almost any good paper will do. One of my favorites is Musio Portfolio Rag, especially for B&W.  When working correctly, the B9180 is a terrific printer.

4. Personally, I never found the self-cleaning feature to be a real problem.  Yes, it does use some ink, but it also reduces printing problems.

Many B9180 owners upset by HP’s abandonment of the 13” pro printer market,  and HP’s expensive tech backup; some have moved on to Brand “E” or “C” products because of this.  This saddens me as I’ve been an HP booster for over two decades, having owned a number of laser and inkjet printers as well as scanners.  But hey, what can you do!

[RBohl]

Well I solved my problem with the Lt. Cyan colors (and test patch) turning blue.  I replaced the Lt. Cyan / Lt. Magenta print head and now my priints are OK.  Somehow the Lt. Magenta ink must have mixed with the Lt. Cyan

to produce blue.