HP OfficeJet Pro 6970, all in one printer, double sided printing vertical misalignment

[Graham48]

I have an HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 all in one printer that is 18 months old. Recently, when doing double sided printing, the first page starts printing about half way down the paper and the bottom half of the page is lost. The second side prints OK. What is the problem and how can it be fixed?

[Jeet_singh]

@Graham48,

Thanks for engaging in HP support Forums! This is a wonderful location to converse with the community, get assistance and find tips!  I came across your post and wanted to assist you. I understand you are having issues with printing in colour and duplex not printing after the recent Windows 10 update. Don't worry as I have a few suggestions which should help you resolve this issue.

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started?

Have you tried to clean the ink cartridge contacts?

Are you able to make a copy from the printer?

In the meantime, let's try these steps here: 

Perform a Hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Let’s first try and make a “photocopy” to determine whether the issue is with the printer or not. Place a document on the scanner glass and choose “Copy” option. If the printer is making a good copy, then the printer hardware is fine.

Alternatively, try to follow the steps suggested in the support document for - HP OfficeJet Pro 6900 Printers - Fixing Poor Print Quality

If the issue persists, I would suggest here is to Uninstall and Re-install the printer drivers:

First, unplug the USB cable from the printer if present.

Go to Control panel – Programs and feature – Select all the HP OfficeJet printer entries and uninstall them.

Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.

Press the "windows key" + "r" to get the "Run" window open - Type "printui.exe /s" (There is a space between .exe & /) and press enter.

Under print server properties, go to drivers - remove any entry there as well.

Again, go to the Run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.

Restart your computer.

Now click   https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/printers/OJ6970/OJ6970_Full_WebPack_40.12.1161.exe to install the software.

Connect the USB cable if prompted and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Now go ahead and check the settings, 

• Go to Control panel – Devices and printer.
• Right-click on OfficeJet Printer (6970/6900 series) and select “Printer properties”.
• Select the “Device settings” tab.
• Ensure that the “Duplex unit” is set to “Installed” rather than “Not installed” and save the settings.
• Now again give a right-click on the printer icon and select “Printing preferences”.
• If a "Printing shortcuts" tab is available, select the "Print on Both Sides" or "Two-sided (Duplex) Printing" option.
• If “Printing shortcut” is not available, click the “Layout”, “Features”, or “Finishing tab”, depending on which tab displays in your driver version.
• Locate the "Print on Both Sides" or "Two-sided printing" menu or option, then select the binding or page flip option depending on if you want the document to read like a booklet or a tablet and save the settings.

Let me know how that pans out,

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,