HP Laser Jet pro - copy colors are off, but scanned images are fine (when scanned and then printed)

[james012]

Hi Everyone, 

I have been scratching my head for a while and am hoping someone can help.

Our HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP m177fw printer has been behaving very strangely. We are having an issue with copying documents using the copy function. 

When we copy using the printer itself (so that the printer performs a scan and print without needing to use a pc) the colors produced are way off. Blues and greens are becoming yellows, and other colours are EXTREMELY feint. If we scan the same document from the hp scan utility on our PCs and then print, the colours are represented properly. We can also print documents (without any scanning) and the colors are printed properly (sometimes they are a bit feint but still acceptable).

This makes me doubt that the issue is related to capturing the image, or even the process of printing documents itself as if we scan from a computer and print it is fine. It is mostly the copy function that has ridiculously poor colour quality. 

I have updated firmware, reset settings to default, performed a hard reset (unpluggged the printer for a few minutes and restarted it), performed color calibration multiple times and have had no luck. We have also changed the cartridges to genuine HP cartridges and this has not made a difference. 

When printing or scanning from PCs the print quality is a bit feint on particular colours sometimes. In particular the printer seems to struggle with blues, greens and purples. but this is tolerable and nowhere near as bad as the colors produced when copying.

The printer did show an error message saying "used image drum is installed" the other day, but i do not understand how this would cause most colours and documents to print fine and only particular colors to be feint (or completely off when copying). i would think that the imaging drum would impact all printing and all colours. 

Please assist as i have been struggling with this for a while and am desperate to get it sorted. 

[Kumar0307]

@james012, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

This could be an issue with the copier mechanism or the Imaging drum. Let us try these steps: 

Print a cleaning page

1. From the Home screen on the product control panel, touch the Setup  button.

2. Touch the Service menu.

3. Touch the Cleaning Page button.

Print the print quality page

1. From the Home screen on the product control panel, touch the Setup  button.

2. Open the Reports menu.

3. Touch the Print Quality Page option, and then touch the OK button.

Check copy settings

1. Touch Copy, Copy Document, or Copy Photo on the printer control panel, and then select any available basic settings that apply to your copy job.

2. Touch Settings or the gear icon  to open the copy job options. You might need to scroll down the control panel screen to access all settings.

• Paper Type: Select the type of plain or photo paper for your copies.

• Quality: Select an available copy quality level.

• Lighter/Darker or Contrast: If the original is faded or too saturated, make the copy lighter or darker.

• Optimize or Enhancements: Select the type of item you are copying to improve quality, such as sharpening text and image edges or improving faded colors in photos.

• HP Copy Fix: Automatic copy quality and skew adjustment tool.

• Save Current Settings or Set as New Defaults: Retains the selected settings for future copy jobs.

Also, Reinsert the Imaging drum and check for any damages

Refer to this document for more info on the Imaging drum

Let me know how this goes.

If you feel my post solved your issue, please click “Accept as Solution”, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[james012]

Hi Kumar,

Thank you very much for your help. 

I have tried all of the proposed solutions but did not have any luck. The only issue was that there were two options you listed which could not be found on the printers interface. 

the two items i cannot find are:

Quality: Select an available copy quality level.

HP Copy Fix: Automatic copy quality and skew adjustment tool.

Also, what am i looking for with regards to checking the image drum? The drum seems fine to me except for the fact that it was full of yellow ink. 

Regards

James

[Kumar0307]

@james012

Thank you for the response.

If the Imaging drum has any type of scratches or dust, the print quality may be affected. Let us try resetting the printer to its factory settings and check if that helps.

• The reset instructions are specific for your printer and performing those steps on a different printer may corrupt the device.
• I've sent you a private message with reset instructions, follow the reset instruction to perform a full reset and re-initialize the printer.
• In order to access your private messages, click the private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP Forums profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/notes/privatenotespage

Keep me posted.

If you feel my post solved your issue, please click “Accept as Solution”, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!