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HP Recommended
hp laserjet pro MFP M281cdw
macOS 10.15 Catalina

When I am printing double-sided documents, the printer drops the top margin. The content of the entire page drops down so that the last line or picture of content on the sheet is at the bottom of the paper, in the footer area. This doesn't happen ALL the time which is frustrating because I don't know how to pinpoint the problem. My printer is wireless so it will also happen when others send documents to the printer to print double-sided. This has been happening for a while. I haven't made any changes to the system that I can remember. I'd like to solve this problem so I don't have to print double-sided documents, one side at a time. Thanks!

1 REPLY 1
HP Recommended

Try this out to center the page first. Looks like you only have tray 2, so make sure the guides are tight, then run an alignment page from tray 2. If it is a duplex model, it should print a vertical and horizontal line with markings on both sides. You will fold the paper in half vertically and horizontally and see if it is close to or right on the center mark. If it isn't the menu should have adjustments to move it over per mm + to the right and - to the left, + up, - down.  Then reprint, fold and check again, then do the duplex side. This will at least make sure the printer is centering the print from the tray properly in the first place.

 

The duplex issue if it isn't always doing it poorly registration wise could be a dirty sensor. After it passes the fuser, it will feed back in to the duplex path and back towards where tray 2 feeds in. The paper should pass a sensor flag and hit a registration bar to straighten it and then feed. If the alignment didn't fix it and it isn't some software issue, might just be something dirty or stuck in the duplex path throwing the timing off.

 

Step three: Set the individual tray alignment
Follow these steps when text or images are not centered or aligned correctly on the printed page when printing
from specific trays.1.From the Home screen on the printer control panel, select the Setup menu.2.Select the following menus:System SetupPrint QualityAdjust AlignmentPrint Test Page3.Select the tray to adjust, and then follow the instructions on the printed pages.4.Print the test page again to verify the results. Make further adjustments if necessary.5.Select OK to save the new settings.

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