black always overprints color

[richienh]

I have an old Deskjet 679C whcih I've just gotten to work under Windows 7.  I've replace both the black and color cartridges.  Black text print just fine.  _Any_ color printing, regardless of the program which prints it, is overprinted in black.

I've created a small test file consisting of five rectangles, one each of red, green, blue, yellow, and gray.  It clearly demonstrates the problem.  The gray rectangle comes out as I expect it.  The other four show the desired color overprinted by medium-gray.  There's a very fine line of the underlying color along one edge, perhaps a pixel's worth, just enough to be sure the real color was printed.

I've checked settings to be sure that Print in Gray is not set.  I've not been able to run a power on self test because the printer complains that the banner lever is at the wrong setting for my paper (also checked, not true).  I've checked various places and have been unable to find a similar question.

How do I stop the overprinting?

[sandytechy20]

@richienh

Welcome to the HP Forums. I would be happy to help you with your HP Printer. I understand that you are getting print quality issue and you have already done some preliminary troubleshooting. 

Don't worry though as I have a few steps to determine the issue and find a solution as well,

• Check for ink smears on the back of printouts.
• Make sure you are using the appropriate paper for your print job.
• Check the print settings.
• Check the estimated ink levels.
• Align the ink cartridges.
• Clean the ink cartridges.

Click here and follow the steps mentioned in the document to fix this issue.

(Note: Though the title does not show your printer model, these steps should fix the issue)

Let me know how it goes.

Cheers.

[richienh]

These are brand new, genuine HP cartridges  -- full, no need of cleaning.  There are no smears.  I used the test file because it most easily shows the problem, but both text and graphics are equally affected.  Standard, 20lb., bright white printer paper.

What specific print settings?  I went through the link in your response and it refers to software I don't have.  I'm using Windows 7 because it's too much of a pain to wrestle with HP's hplip under Linux (Mint 17.3 Rosa).  Support for the Deskjet 679C has been dropped from Windows 10.

I had to scramble across the Internet for a driver.  How about if HP were to provide printer drivers for types they no longer support otherwise?  The question then would be how do I replace an existing driver?

[sandytechy20]

@richienh

Thanks for the reply.

Superb job on trying the different steps to isolate the issue.

• Click here and type the printer model number and operating system to download the latest printer driver.
• If that does not work, please contact HP Phone support for further assistance on this.

Let me know if that helps.

Cheers.

[richienh]

https://support.hp.com/in-en/drivers does not even recognize the model name, let alone provide a driver. I've mistyped previously, by the way; it's a Deskjet 697C.  I believe the 690 driver would work.

[sandytechy20]

@richienh

Thanks for the reply.

I made a research on this issue.

This seems to be a hardware issue.

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

Cheers.