Failing printing for last 6-8 weeks but still photocopies fine... Planned obsolesence?

[camdbug]

Windows 11
HP Smart Tank Plus 555 Wireless All-in-One
Purchased 2020
(Edited to add above as these details seem to be getting dropped off when I post).

About 6-8 weeks ago, the printer started missing lines. So one print line would be fine, the next would be missing, giving striped pages. After every stage of cleaning, this improved somewhat.

Most common issue appeared to be when printing from browsers. Three separate laptops though, one Windows 10, two Win11. Browsers in use were Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Opera was installed to quadruple check. 

I mention browsers, as a workaround appeared to be to "Print to PDF" and then print the PDF via a non-browser app, which worked as expected again, though increased hassle.

Things started degrading again about 4 weeks ago, when we would see things like images being printed from docs, but zero text. So blank pages with just the pictures.

2 weeks holiday, came back and we're just getting blank pages. From all laptops. Including if printing via the PDF option.

Printer/HP Smart test pages are now printing next to nothing, and head cleaning achieves zero improvements. Although if you do an alignment test, the final centre page of a printer icon comes out just fine.

Which leads me onto the fact that I can put a full colour photo into the scanner, and I can photocopy it with absolutely zero issues. The printer prints just peachy. It's not a head/cleaning/ink issue. It's not a physical printer issue.

I have attempted to uninstall and re-install drivers on all three laptops (one of them < 6 months old, the other unboxed from new in the last 6 weeks), but with Windows 11, that doesn't seem to be as complicated (aka "simple") a procedure as it used to be back in the day, when you just uninstalled and re-installed. Now you can only re-install the entire HP Smart suite from Microsoft, and... it changes nothing...

So , how can I have a fully functional printer capable of scanning and photocopying, but if we try to print anything from any of the laptops we are getting either fully blank pages, or pages with a few pixels/lines of garbage?

For reference, I have also tried just printing a single black page - single A4 page with black as a background colour, set to print in "Colour" @ 300 DPI. The printer just gives me an error code of "A". Which I have never seen before.

Printer firmware was updated October 2024. There don't appear to be any newer updates.
Ink is full and authentic.
Printer clearly works as proved via photocopies and is not an ink issue.

Any explanations, or is this actually a new example of planned obsolescence by HP... because I am out of ideas at this stage!

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @camdbug,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

I understand your HP Smart Tank Plus 555 Wireless All-in-One printer (purchased in 2020) is:

• Printing blank or striped pages from multiple Windows 10/11 laptops.
• Photocopying and scanning perfectly.
• Failing to print even PDFs or test pages.
• Displaying error code "A", which indicates the printhead alignment mode is not a fault.

1. Run HP App (Windows only)

Although HP is phasing it out, it may still help diagnose driver or spooler issues.

• HP Smart.

2. Perform a Full Driver Reinstall

HP Smart alone may not fully reset the driver stack. Use these steps:

• Go to HP Smart Tank Plus 555 Wireless All-in-One Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support
• Select Windows 11, download HP Easy Start.
• Uninstall HP Smart from all laptops.
• Disconnect the printer from Wi-Fi and USB.
• Reboot PC.
• Reinstall using HP Easy Start with the USB connected first, then switch to Wi-Fi.

3. Reset the Printer

Sometimes internal memory or spooler cache causes blank prints.

• Turn off the printer.
• Unplug the power cord from the printer and the wall.
• Wait 60 seconds.
• Plug back in and power on.

4. Check Printhead Health via HP Utility

Even if photocopying works, the printhead used for PC printing may differ.

• Go to HP Smart app > Printer Settings > Tools > Print Quality Diagnostic.
• If black or color blocks are missing, perform deep cleaning.

5. Update Firmware (if not already)

You mentioned the October 2024 update. Confirm latest version: HP Smart Tank Plus 555 Wireless All-in-One Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support

I hope this helps.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

VikramTheGreat

[camdbug]

So... first of all, thank you for the detailed reply. First challenge was to find a USB cable that would fit the printer, but I managed to find one in an old USB DVD drive.

Every step has now been followed. I then repeated the entire exercise, ensuring that all traces of HP were removed from my laptop, with multiple reboots, before going step by step to re-install. 

Added an additional step of doing a complete factory reset of the printer, before setting up via USB again.

And essentially very little has changed.

Taking on board your point that "photocopy OK does not necessarily mean that print is OK", if I print the "Demo" page from HP Smart -> Printer Reports -> Demo, it prints just fine. Full colour, full page, no issues at all.

If I then do the "Print Diagnostic Information" option, or the "Print Quality Report" option from the same page in the app, I get the same almost blank pages with just a couple of coloured grids/dot-boxes in the middle and white space for the rest. The print alignment page is not recognised when you then scan it back in, as there is hardly anything on it to align against.

So several hours later, I am no further along, but I also can see that the printer is fine printing a full colour page (from the HP Smart App), while also failing to print any diagnostic pages (from the same HP Smart App).

I'm even further at a loss now.

[camdbug]

I've just ordered two new printheads, which should arrive tomorrow. I was half expecting them to cost most of a new printer, but Amazon have HP authentic ones for about the same price as a new ink cartridge, which was surprising.

Maybe that will fix the issue, although if so, it would have been really useful to have had some indication/suggestion of this from the apps or support pages. Took some really deep-digging on the wider internet for this to come up as a potential issue.

Will update tomorrow once I've tried them out.

[camdbug · Accepted solution]

Received and installed the new printheads. Could not get the printer to move the head-carriage to the centre on opening it up, but another frustrated community post regarding the same issue advised to just pull the power cord when the printer was going through it's start up routine.

Did that, caught the carriage in an accessible position, replaced the printheads, and everything is now working again.

I suspect it was just the black printhead that had failed, but replaced them both to be sure.

What I don't understand is why this was SUCH A TORTUOUS PROCESS to simply find out that I need to replace the printheads. Was seriously considering buying a new printer, and I guarantee it would NOT have been HP if I had gone down that route. 

I appreciate the advice VikramTheGreat offered, although it did not resolve the problem. I would have much preferred if the printer/app had simply reported "Printhead failure. Please check HP.com for replacement advice."

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @camdbug,

Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed experience. We’re very glad to hear that replacing the printheads resolved the issue and that your printer is now working again.
 

We do recognize your point about the troubleshooting process. Replacing printheads should be more straightforward, and your suggestion about having the printer or HP Smart app display a clear message such as “Printhead failure detected, please check HP.com for replacement options” is very valuable feedback. We will make sure to share this with our product team so that future updates can better guide customers in situations like yours.
 

We truly appreciate your patience and persistence in working through the issue, and your comments will help us improve both the customer experience and product support. Thank you again for being an HP customer.

Take care and have an amazing day!
 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

VikramTheGreat