Ink levels fine - but faded or striped printing

[lstecik]

I have an HP Photosmart Plus B209 Series (less than one year old) and have been having trouble with the print quality.  Though my ink levels are full or half full, when I go to print- the pages come out faded or striped - as if the ink levels were low.  I have switched out the cartridges- and still no improvements.  Sometimes when I turn the printer off and then on again- the first page printed will be perfect- but shortly after that- subsequent pages are faded or striped- as if the ink cartridge is low or the printer is having some problem distributing the ink correctly on the page.  Has anyone else had this problem?  Are there any solutions?

[Ciara_B]

Hi, as you already know the ink levels are fine a couple of things you could try are cleaning the printheads and checking the cartridges are vented properly. Lots more detail in this document. I hope this helps... 

[PrinterHelper]

Try to replace the Ink Cartridge anyway as sometimes the cartridge may just be faulty and it can cause the problems which you've said in your message

[ausrasul]

Before you try anything, make sure you installed the latest HP software and driver.

In my case I had full cartridges, windows automatically detected the printer, had striped photo printed.

After downloading the HP software 117MB, the photos came much slower from the printer with much higher quality and no fading or stripes.

Deskjet F2480.

[LightningChild]

I HAVE THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM WITH THE SAME EXACT PRINTER!! I think it's the printer!! It's so annoying because ink is very expensive and I sometimes go a long time without it because of that reason! -__- I hope you have found a soloution, I need to know as well. 

[ausrasul]

The thing about Deskjet F2480 is that it doesn't have nozzels, the ink cartridge itself has its own so once you changed the ink all mechanical problems (almost) are isolated.

The software let the ink injection/destribution adapts to different paper type which explains the stripes you get although everything else is fine.

To be sure you have the software correct, you should have some icon in the bottom right corner of your screen besides the clock, if you click there and it shows the printer info AND THE INK LEVELS, then you're sure the software is no problem.

Then for what it worth, check the program you're using to print, not sure if that is related but try Word or Powerpoint if you were using something else.

You probably done that, but check the printing options if you select the right paper type.

That software/driver solved it for me, it prints really good now.

P.S if you didn't and don't want to try replacing the ink, try to clean it, dip half or quarter the cartridge in warm water for a minute then wipe it and see if it helps.

[ausrasul]

Oh, by exact same printer you mean in the original question HP Photosmart Plus B209 Series, then ignore my answer ^_^

[johnwells]

how do you correct this problem?????