HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-one - poor print quality

[Jonathan4000]

I have used the above printer for a number of years and it has always worked fine.  But recently the print quality has become patchy, with small areas of lettering on the printed page that are faded.

Can anyone please suggest how I can remedy this?

[Picardje]

Hello Jonathan4000,

please print a testpage by pressing Setup» Print Report» Self-Test Report. Scan the page and add it to your post using the insert/edit picture button so that i can have a look.

[Jonathan4000]

Thank you for replying. Much appreciated.  An example of the problem can be seen below where the last couple of letters in the word "Pattern" don't come out.

[Picardje]

Tnx for the page, black has not to good quality indeed. I cannot read the pageyield of the printer correctly but it looks like at least 5 digets, so pretty much. Might be that the printhead is starting to wear out, but you could still try a couple of cleanings for the software toolbox

[DaveRoker]

I had a C5180, the ink cartridges (363) are located at the front with tubes going to the print head, with pressure priming pumps etc. After about 2 years,  I had trouble with the black tube or head being blocked, I was able to clean it once but it would not clean a 2nd time, and scrapped it.

I had nothing to loose by trying a clean, so I part fill a black cartridge with nozzle clean, and pressurised the cartridge with the syringe through the ink hole, there is a ball that acts like a none return valve, when you fit the cartridge the printer pressure blows through the system, and in my case it worked for a number of months until it blocked again

[Jonathan4000]

Many thanks for this.  Much appreciated.

[Jonathan4000]

Thank you for this. I didn't know about the cleaning option, so useful to know.  The print quality does look a little improved, but still not really acceptable.  Perhaps time for me to get a new one!

[DaveRoker]

I scrapped the 5180 and bought a HP Photosmart B209a-m. The printer is exellent, there is no tubes to block.  If only HP could get the software more reliable, particularly the Solution Centre