wide bands in colour prints

[cathW]

Colour prints have wide bands of light and dark tones horizontally across the picture. This happens with both photos and documents. Printer diagnostics are fine, cartridges are genuine and new and paper is HP. I have run cleaning pages and there are no error messages. Any ideas?

[Mocap]

Print head may be out of alignment, or simply malfunctioning.  You should have an option to run an alignment in the service menu where you find the cleaning options.

[cathW]

Thanks for your reply. I cannot see an option to run alignment in the service menu.

[Mocap]

Im sorry, it seems the call it something a bit different on this model.  Its called "Calibrate Color" and is found under the wrench icon, System Setup, Calibrate Color.  Then look in the lower corners for the alignment color bars.  If it prints that normally it may be an application problem your having.

[cathW]

The alignment bars look fine. Yesterday the prints were fine but today is a different story with the bands appearing on all pictures. I haven't changed anything. Could it be the imaging drum?

[Mocap]

Its very possible if the drum has a "bad spot" that its not properly fusing the toner to the page making it look lighter in some spots.  Do you happen to have an old toner cartridge that you could temporarily swap back in to test?   

[cathW]

I have put two of the old cartridges back in to the printer and the print outs are the same. I have had a quick look at the drum and can see anything obvious, although I don't really know what to look for!

[Mocap]

That would lead me to believe that its not related to the cartridge at all.  Did the diagnostic pages print with the color issue at all?

[Repairatrooper · Accepted solution]

Any chance you are using a different program to print the pictures this time. I have seen a variance in print quality between different imaging programs and some printers seem to do better with certain programs.

[cathW]

Thanks, I have pasted the pictures into word and they have printed fine. I still don't understand why the stripes appeared when the day before they printed fine using the same program! Not to worry it's sorted now thanks for all the help.