Faded Colors When Printing

[ciairrah]

I just bought new ink cartridges for my printer and now my colors are faded when I print. I thought it was a cartridge issue, so I got replacement cartridges, but I am still having the same problem. I use the HP 202X ink cartridges. The memory sticks are not damaged, the drums are not damaged. I printed a clean page, still having the same issue. It's mostly on yellow, orange, pink/purple and green. It starts fine on the right side of the page and fades across to the left side when printed in portrait mode. I ran a diagnostic and came back fine. I checked Economode, it is not enabled. I'm using the same paper I always use and the paper is not an issue with any of the other printers we have. Not sure what to do from here. It was purchased in 2018. It has been working fine up until this week. Any help you can provide is much appreciated.

[Andr-1611]

Hello @ciairrah ,
Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Print the supplies status page (see Manual)
1. From the Home screen on the printer control panel, select the Setup menu.
2. Select Reports.
3. Select Supplies Status.

upload here, click on the icon "Insert photos", "Set format = Large", original size at least 200 KB.

Then the FW should be updated: HP Color LaserJet Pro M280-M281 Multifunction Printer series Firmware Update Utility 

Recommendation: use a USB connection for this.

Kind Regards
Andr-1611

[ciairrah]

The black ink is a bit low, but I'm not having an issue with the black ink fading.

[ciairrah]

I updated the firmware, per your suggestion, but it's still printing faded colors.

[Andr-1611]

Thanks
Indeed, the colors (printout, 2nd image) are not OK.

But the accessory status printout already shows that the colors (all) have a problem with intensity!

Start the calibration and then print the diagnostic page.
Please upload it here.

[ciairrah]

[Andr-1611]

Hi,

if you have not changed anything in the color settings, see Toolbox, then the 3 color cartridges must be reclaimed.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted.
Andr-1611

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[ciairrah]

What do you mean? I just got cartridges replaced due to this issue. I got new ones, then the color was faded, so I got replacements and the color is still faded. I don't understand the problem or how to fix it.

[Andr-1611]

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@ciairrah wrote:

What do you mean? I just got cartridges replaced due to this issue.

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It may be that the cartridges come from one production batch.

Where exactly were the cartridges purchased? Check the seal: Validate Security Seal .

How many pages were printed with the printer? You find in the hp toolbox.

Open the HP Printer Wizard (HP Color LaserJet MFP M281...)
> click on "device toolbox"
> Devices setting > scroll-down to prints, here you find the total number of prints

Then, click on "Event log", take a screenshot of it and upload here, click on the icon "Insert photos", "Set format = Large", original size at least 200 KB.
But before you must remove or delete the personal data and printer serial number on the printout.