HP Officejet J4580 printing shaded text

[Snoopy990]

Hello,

For the last few months, whenever I print something with black ink, the text seems to have a blurry look - like it's being shaded. But this doesn't seem to happen when I print test pages or clean the cartridge - when I print from there, the text looks normal. But if I print pdfs or Word docs, I get that shading. I've run the HP doctor and confirmed that the driver is up to date and everything appears to be normal and I'm using HP cartridges. The only thing I haven't tried is use a different cartridge but I figured if it's printing test pages ok, that's not the issue.

My only thought is it either happened when the computer was automatically upgraded to Windows 10 (seemed to start happening around that time), or somehow a setting got flipped somewhere that I can't figure out what I did. It just looks like it's printing with shade as a default and I don't know why. Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Kumar0307]

@Snoopy990, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

I understand the print quality is not satisfactory while printing in black.

Try making a standalone copy and check if that prints fine. By this, we can conclude if this is a hardware or a driver issue.

If the copy is fine, we need to reinstall the printer drivers on the computer. 

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

[Snoopy990]

@kumar0307 thank you for the response. I can confirm that a standalone copy is not affected by this issue (prints fine). I then went to Device Manager, Printers, HP Officejet J4500 series, right click to Update Driver and was told that I have the most up to date drivers. Any other suggestions?

The text doesn't look blurry so much as it looks like everything defaults to have shadowing (there's the light gray underneath each black letter). Is there a setting somewhere that got flipped or anything like that? Thanks!

[Kumar0307]

@Snoopy990

Perform a clean reinstallation of pre-installed HP drivers to resolve this issue as the copy is working fine.

1.  In Windows, search for and open Programs and features 
2.  Select your HP Printer 
3.  Select Uninstall 
4.  In Windows, search for and open Devices and printers 
5.  In the Devices and Printers windows look for your HP printer. If you see it listed right-click on it and choose ‘Delete’ or ‘Remove Device’ 
6.  Open up the run command with the “Windows key + R” key combo. 
7.  Type printui.exe /s and click Ok. (Note: there is a space in between “printui.exe” and “/s”) 
8.  Click on the “Drivers” tab 
9.  Look for HP Printer driver. If you see it Click on it and click Remove at the bottom 
10.  Select Ok 
11.  Select Apply and Ok on the Print Server Properties windows 
12.  Close Devices and Printers, restart the computer.

Click here to download the HP Full-featured driver.

Once downloaded, make sure to run the file to start the installation and follow the on-screen instructions.

Try printing.

Keep me posted.

[Snoopy990]

@kumar0307 thanks again for your suggestion. I did uninstall and reinstall the driver. This did seem to help with Word docs, but it made no difference with PDFs. Still getting the shading. I'm about ready for a new printer I think................ 

Thanks for your help though!

[Kumar0307]

@Snoopy990

That's unfortunate. If the issue persists with PDF files, try updating or reinstalling the Adobe reader app.

You may also try to print the PDF file as an image as shown in this document.

Let me know how it goes.

[Snoopy990]

@kumar0307 thanks again for your prompt response. I uninstalled the Reader, installed the new one, restarted and tried again. Still no luck, including when I try printing the PDF as an image as suggested in the link you provided. I don't know if it's fixable or not; maybe it's a coincidence this seemed to start happening with Windows 10, otherwise it's an old printer and maybe it's just time to move on? Thanks again!

[Kumar0307]

@Snoopy990

If this was an issue with the printer, the issue would not be limited to PDF files. You would have the same issue while printing any other type of file. 

I think this issue needs some additional technical assistance that can be better provided through one-on-one interaction or a remote session with our HP Support team.

Please reach out to the HP Technical Support team in your region for further assistance. 

Keep me posted for any other assistance.