OfficeJet Pro - Prints are oversaturated

[Digital_Moss]

I'm using an OfficeJet Pro 9015 to print out board games and cards, some PnP (print and play), some of  my own creation. I set up the pages in Inkscape v1.3 and export to PDF to print.

My current issue is the colour is oversaturated. On the page is a bar that is a robin's egg blue but comes out as a dark navy blue. The photos are also noticeable darker. In the first set of prints the colour is OK.

This happened several months ago but I accepted the look of the cards (too much yellow). Recently I printed out a test page and everything printed out exactly as seen on the laptop screen. But today I printed the page a dozen times and no matter what I do, every page is oversaturated.

I've checked the firmware and it is up-to-date.

I printed on HP 20lb paper (I want them on 66lb cardstock).

I tried using PDF 1.4 vs PDF 1.5 for export.

I used an online site to change the page to CMYK.

I even tried printing another document to my B&W laser printer, hoping that the change in use of printers would help.

I've been using Preview but just installed Acrobat Reader and still no change.

I don't want to lighten the pictures and blocks on the page. It printed OK months ago.

[Digital_Moss]

I found a PDF from August 31 from the same game with the same elements and printed it out now on HP 20lb paper at the Best setting (in the print dialog).

The photos are darker but feel richer in colour. OK.

But the blue bar is still navy blue instead of being robin's egg blue. According to Inkscape's CMYK colour palette, the blue I'm using is 100% cyan and 20% magenta. I know Inkscape doesn't really manage CMYK properly. But it looks like the magenta is jumping to 70% and 15% black is added.

There is a red bar but the values seems to be close to what is on screen. (It is actually darker too.)

It appears to be an issue with the printer software adding too much colour.

[Digital_Moss]

I took the files to a computer running Ubuntu 20. It connected to the printer and printed the same thing as from my Mac. We have a third computer with Windows 10, I won't be using it to test. The issue is the printer.

I'm thinking of restoring the printer to factory settings.

I need these files printed and ready for Tuesday.

[Digital_Moss]

I talked to HP support. They said 'I wasn't printing enough', sent a new set of cartridges (the current ones have been in the printer 2 months) and re-imbursed me for most of the failed prints.

I ended up changing the blue to 100% cyan, 1% magenta, reduced the red to 60%.

Colours are still muddy.

No one else having this issue?

[Digital_Moss]

I printed a few pages today to test some new (to me) cardstock.

White 110 lb cardstock from Staples.

It was whiter than the 65 lb cardstock from Pen & Gear. Almost as white as HP's BackToSchool20 (20lb copy paper, worth it).

Prints still feel a bit saturated.

There were some thin lines showing up on pictures on the upper quarter of the prints that did not show up when I used the Best setting in the Print settings.

The light blue bars still have a lot of magenta in them.

[Digital_Moss]

More tests.

Opened an old file from the card batch with the issue. Exported a PDF and printed it out from Preview (I'm on a Mac) as a PDF and PNG and from Adobe Reader as a PDF. In all cases the light blue still printed as a medium/dark blue.

I went back to the Inkscape file and tried different values of 'blue'.

Printed Dark Blue: #00FFFF, #55DDFF, and '100% Cyan' in the colour picker in Inkscape*.

Printed Dull Blue but light: #AFEDD9 and #AAEEFF.

Printed Medium Blue with some green (yellow): #55FFDD.

*I know Inkscape does not work in CMYK but when I printed these files around July-August 2023 the blue was like a sky blue or robin's egg blue.

#AAEEFF is the closest I can get to the light (sky) blue for the cards. It is faint on screen but OK on the page.

I'll need to make copies of all the pages affected, around 11, duplicate them, change the blue bar on each (9 on each page) and re-export them to print. I'll be able to do a mass selection per page to grab all the bars.

Something happened to the print driver between August 2023 and December 2023 that affected the colour in the prints. I don't think it is an issue with Inkscape (even the light blue in a PNG printed dark).

If anyone is reading this, thank you for taking the time.

Question: Would it be worth it to delete the printer and re-install it?

[Digital_Moss]

Thinking that maybe it was a corrupt print driver I deleted the printer from System Preferences and re-added it, then printed a test print of a PDF from Preview.

No change, the blue is still too dark.

OK... time to modify the pages. (I shouldn't have to, I should be able to get as close to the colour I chose.)

[Digital_Moss]

I downloaded a print driver from HP, installed it, did a test print... the printer didn't print anything but did eject all the paper from the paper tray (through the printer). So I deleted that.

Installed Gutenprint but it does not show up. I don't think I have it correctly installed.

Wasting more paper and my HP Instant Ink account trying to get the Cyan not look like Navy blue.

[Digital_Moss]

I tried resetting the printer.

I unplugged the power while it was on, waited 60+ seconds and plugged it in again.

Printed my card/test page.

The light blue is still too dark. It is similar to the blue buttons on this page instead of being a light blue.

I am this close to closing my account, removing the printer and getting an Epson Ecotank.

[Digital_Moss]

Anyone who is reading this, I admire your tenacity.

So this time I tried the process outlined in this document;

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Errors-or-Lights-Stuck-Print-Jobs/Printing-too-dark/td-p/6457...

But after resetting the printing system, restarting and re-adding the printer there was no change to the colours. Just as a reminder: Light blue is printing as a dark blue and photos are over-saturated plus some colour shifting or hues added where not wanted.

>>> I am done. <<<

No one has responded so I guess there is NO SOLUTION.

I'm getting another printer. Another brand that allows for colour management on a Mac.