MFP 178nw shadow printing problem

[Washand]

My MFP 178nw laser printer has suddenly started printing a shadow of what is printed at the top of the page, down at the lower half of the page. Looking at other posts here, I don't see a solution. Questions posed to other people posting here on the subject of shadow printing are answered below:

Did you make any changes to your printer? No

Are you using HP genuine ink cartridges on the printer? Yes

Have you tried printing using a different ink cartridge? No, they are expensive!

Does the issue persist when you make a copy from the printer? Yes

Try updating the printer firmware and check if it helps. Should I try this, and if so, how?

Help please 🙂

[A_Gayathri]

Hi @Washand,

Welcome to the HP Support Community

I understand you are facing a print quality issue with your HP Color Laser MFP 178nw shadow printing. Not to worry I will help you to get a resolution to resolve the issue.

To assist better:

• Does the copy print out the same way? 
• What's the application you are trying to print from? 
• Have you tried printing from a different application or device? 

While you respond to that, let's print a Print Quality Diagnostic page -Post the Print Quality Diagnostic page here so we can help you further.

Let's perform a power drain: 

• With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.
• Remove the USB cable, if present.
• Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.
• Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord (This is important) and then plug back the power cord to the printer.
• Turn on the printer and wait till the warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle

Update the printer firmware 

• Click here to download and install the latest printer firmware from your product
• Click here to know different methods of updating the printer firmware. 

• follow the troubleshooting steps  HP Color Laser 178, 179 Printers - Fixing Poor Print Quality

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accepted 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!

[Washand]

Thanks. I shall try these options in about 1 week from now as they will require moving the printer and I have limited time.

[A_Gayathri]

@Washand ,

Thank you for your reply, Sure Please try and let us know 

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accepted 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!

[Washand]

I'm now back to troubleshooting my HP printer (HP Color Laser MFP 178nw).

I don't know how to do a Print Quality printout on this printer, please explain the steps. All I can find is a test page, and that is the same mess as with printing documents.

I followed your instructions on disconnecting the printer, draining the power and plugging back into a mains socket with no extension or surge protector. The result is that the printer now prints a torrent of code every time I try to print a document or test page.

I followed the link to download and install a firmware update but on entering my printer serial number, I get a webpage saying "sorry, we can't find that page".

I now have a completely non-functional printer with urgent things to print. Can you please tell me how to solve this problem?

Many thanks.

[Washand]

So I followed the power drain process once again and the printer now at least prints an image, still with ghosting down the page. The ghosting image is all colours and is separated from the bold image at the top of the page by about 19 cm. The software used for printing does not make a difference and a test print has the same problem.