White vertical bands when printing mailing labels

[EricaK]

I print a lot of mailing labels at home and lately, the ink is banding. There are white, vertical streaks that didn't print. I replaced the ink cartridge but it's still happening. I searched online and they suggested to wipe the gold metal pieces under the ink cartridges but that didn't make a difference. How can I fix this? Picture attached. Ignore the address parts, I blurred those out, that was not a printing error. You can see where the white banding is that went through the zip codes, that is part of the printing error.

[Dragon-Fur]

@EricaK 

Wow, this is a workhorse printer!

Product introduced Fall 2012

Product Homepage

HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 6520 e-All-in-One Printer series

Known Solutions here:

 Black Ink Not Printing, Other Print Quality Issues

You may have done what you can do. 

Ordinarily I would suggest the rollers in the printers be cleaned - I don't see this as a step in this printer's document.  The idea of opening up the printer and wiping down the print rollers may not be possible (or reasonable or reachable) -- or the document might be wrong and a good cleaning (of whatever you can easily reach) might help.  If you decide to do that, use a lint-free cloth dampened with clear, clean water (nasty old tap water might do if you have nothing else).

On the other hand.. the printer is getting on in service years - the rollers might be wearing out;  the mechanical parts that squeeze the paper "just so" and feed it through the ink system (that puts ink on paper) might be struggling.

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HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 6520 e-All-in-One Printer series

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[EricaK]

The weird thing is that it prints other things just fine. Regular mailing labels and documents. I appreciate your help and feedback. Thanks!

[Dragon-Fur]

@EricaK 

You are welcome.

It might just be an odd bunch of label paper.  That is unlikely, of course - paper is paper is paper and all that.

Sorry there is no actual and precise fix for "just this label".

You could try using a different font, exporting to PDF and print as image...

Thank you for participating in the HP Community Forum.

We are a world community of HP enthusiasts dedicated to supporting HP technology.

Merry Christmas 2019