Awful Color Quality from Color LaserJet Pro M254dw

[kathydv]

This is a new printer and I'm having multiple issues. First, using iMac with 10.14, trying to print from InDesign or Adobe Acrobat Pro, all software etc. is updated. This is my 15th HP laser printer, so I have had almost every issue you can imagine and I know a few things to check, but I am stumped on this...

#1 - Color is hot on magenta, I've tried entering IP address and pulling back on magenta, but it made zero difference

#2 - Color issue is the same whether printing from InDesign or a PDF in  Acrobat Pro. I exported a jpeg and checked color and it has 3% magenta on my file and the printed file has 19%

#3 - I have to print via USB as wireless takes 45 minutes to print 1 page, we have very fast upgraded hi-speed internet, so ???

#4 - I also have to print by exporting everything to PDF, instead right out of Indesign (like I've done for over 15 years), as logos and images print very poorly

#5 - Supplies are good - each toner is 80%-90%

I also have an Enterprise Color Laserjet M553 that is worthless as the printer creep is so bad and inconsistent it cannot be adjusted for. Plus, a Color LasetJet Pro 1525nw and another random one - neither of which can be used for any type of color prints.

I spend at least 10-15 hours a week trying to get any of these printers to put toner onto paper with a halfway decent result and have not succeeded yet.

Weeping hot tears of frustration on my keyboard....

Kathy

[John_Getzke · Accepted solution]

Print quality issues usually boil down to a few common areas:

- HP vs 3rd party toner cartridges

- Paper quality

- Application settings

- Driver settings

- Color profiling

The first big one is to confirm if you are using HP original cartridges or not.  If not then you need to work with your 3rd party reseller on print quality issues.  It sounds silly, but the printers are only calibrated for OEM cartridges when color quality issues arrise.  3rd party can often do a passable job, but artists and designers like yourself will notice the difference in certain situations where color quality is important.

After that you will want to verify the quality of the paper you are printing on.  A mismatch of the paper settings can account for variations in print quality.  The printer needs to understand what is loaded in the trays so that it can adjust the heat and electrical charges used to attract the toner to the paper.  Perhaps all you have to do is tell teh printer you are printing on "glossy" paper instead of plain.

Application settings are where things get tricky.  Design heavy applications like photoshop and indesign are highly adjustable and customizable compared to a more simple application like Windows Photo Gallery.  Try printing a diagnostic or demo page directly from the control panel of the printer to confirm if the quality issues are application specific or something on the printer.  If the printer prints fine from the control panel then try printing from a few different applications to compare and see if the issue is isolated to your Adobe products or not.  Consult Adobe if it is for color profiling options.

Driver settings, or rather the driver language used to send print jobs to the printer.  A simple swap from PCL6 to PostScript can have a big impact on your output as some print languages are better able to handle high design print jobs than others.  Feel free to dabble in the various model specific drivers HP offers on thier Support Site.  Your printer is also compatible with HP Universal Print Drivers if you care to venture out that way and experiment too.

Finally, there is good old fashioned ICC Color Profiles.  This one takes some trial and error.  In a nutshell, it is a configuration process that helps you calibrate what you see on your screen to what is physically printed from the printer.  Lots of info out there on ICC color profiling with a quick Google search.

Let us know if you have more questions.

[kathydv]

Thank you!  Yes, always 100% HP toner and yes, it was set to the correct paper type. Great advice on trying the various printer drivers and working with the ICC Color Profiles. That one is tough, as what I am printing varies greatly in color setup from one page to the next. So it makes sense, I'm printing labels with 100+ dog breeds, so a white Maltese has a really different color profile than a Rottweiler. The white dogs are where the magenta pops out, even thought I pull back as much as I can via Photoshop. 

Thank you so much! I will mark this solved and I know your in-depth answer can help lots of others.

Kathy