HP printer is printing shadows

[Auggie3]

My printer is printing shadows

[sandytechy20]

@Auggie3

Welcome to the HP support community.

Clean the area around the nozzles

1. Gather the following materials:

   • Dry foam-rubber swabs, lint-free cloth, or any soft material that will not come apart or leave fibers (coffee filters work well)

   • Clean sheets of paper

        CAUTION: 

     Do not use platen cleaners or alcohol to clean the nozzle area. These can damage the cartridge or the printer.

2. Press the Power button to turn on the printer, if it is not already on.

3. Open the front access door.

   Figure : Open the front access door

   

4. Wait for the carriage to move to the center of the printer.

5. Press down on one of the cartridges to release it, and then pull it out from its slot.

   Figure : Remove the cartridge

   

      CAUTION: 

   Do not remove both cartridges at the same time. Do not leave a cartridge outside the printer for more than 30 minutes.

      CAUTION: 

   Do not touch the cartridge contacts or nozzles.

   Figure : Do not touch the contacts

   

6. Set the cartridge on a piece of paper with the ink nozzles facing up.

7. Lightly moisten a clean, foam-rubber swab with distilled water.

8. Clean the face and edges around the ink nozzle with the swab.

      CAUTION: 

   Do not clean the ink nozzle plate.

   Figure : Clean the area around the ink nozzle

9. 1. 

      Nozzle plate - DO NOT CLEAN

   2. Area surrounding ink nozzle - Do clean

   3. Cartridge contacts - Do not clean

10. Either let the cartridge sit for 10 minutes to allow the cleaned area to dry, or use a new swab to dry it.

11. Insert the cartridge into its designated slot. The black parallelogram icon () designates the slot for the black cartridge, and the magenta half circle icon () designates the slot for the color cartridge.

    Figure : Insert cartridge

    

    The cartridge rests in its slot at a slight upward angle.

    Figure : Cartridge rests at upward angle

    

12. Press the cartridge in to snap it into place.

    Figure : Snap cartridge into place

    

13. Repeat these steps to clean the area surrounding the ink nozzle on the other cartridge.

14. Close the front access door.

    Figure : Close the front access door

    

15. Try to print again.

You can refer this HP document for more assistance:- Click here

Let me know how it goes.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.