New LaserJets Print Avery Labels off alignment. Prints too far up and inconsistently

dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-13-2012

Hi,

Printers:

HP LaserJet M1212nf MFP

HP LaserJet P1606dn

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

I am completely frustrated with this problem. I have tried finding a solution, and it seems like I've stumbled across a few people having this problem, but no concrete solution; yet it seems to be something that would have been addressed by HP, Avery, or Microsoft by now.

We print a lot of labels at work. Mostly Avery 5160s, sometimes 5963, 8667, and others. We use Microsoft Word templates, and it has always printed just fine, exactly like the preview. My old LaserJet 4050 at work broke down, so I had to go get a new one. I went and purchased a HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP, and it was fine until I realized that when I tried to print labels, the labels would be pushed too far up, and sometimes to the left. It actually seemed like it would be crooked sometimes when printing multiple pages. I spent an hour on the phone with HP support. I could tell the guy didn't know the problem, and after an hour just told me the margins were wrong. Unfortunately, I can't accept that answer, as (1) [I][B]all of our other LaserJets print them fine[/B][/I], and (2) we print too many labels on too many different media to have to set margins every time, and then have to set them for new computers depending on which printer they're printing too... it just isn't gonna work.

I began to think maybe it was because this was an all-in-one printer, so I returned the printer and purchased an HP LaserJet P1606dn. Of course, when I hooked it up, I experienced the same exact problems. What's the deal? Do new LaserJet printers not print labels correctly?

For both printers, I had updated to the latest drivers.

The print previews look fine, and when I send the document to one of our other laserjets in the office, it prints correctly as previewed.

dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-13-2012

Some of the other printers around the office that work fine are LaserJet P2015, P2035, 1018, and 4050.

The problem only occured with the two new printers I bought.

dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-14-2012

bump... hopefully someone from HP can address why their new printers are doing this. I don't know if this is just a problem with new HP LaserJets, or all brands

dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-14-2012

I tried a few different drivers. UPD, as well as the old 4050 drivers... none of them fixed the problem. But I'm starting to think that the problem lies in the way some of these new laserjets feed paper... they have trays like inkjets with a small paper guide, rather than trays you pull out like drawers. Sometimes, the labels get printed out skewed a little crooked, with it going diagonally up from left to right.

Shane_R · ‎12-14-2012

According to the specs for the M1212nf, it doesn't support label printing. I'll link the specs below.

HP LaserJet Pro M1130 and M1210 Multifunction Printer Series, and HP HotSpot LaserJet Pro M1218nfs M...

The P1606dn should be able to print on labels though. First thing to do is make sure it's got the latest version of the firmware installed. I'll link the utility below. Let me know what happens.

HP LaserJet Firmware Update Utility

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dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-14-2012

Unfortuantely, the firmware was already up to date. I had made sure to update it. It still doesn't print correctly.

Shane_R · ‎12-14-2012

Even though the printer is new, there may be some dust on the pickup roller causing it to slip, which is skewing the labels. Do solution 3 in the paper feed document below to see if cleaning the pickup roller will help. Let me know what happens.

Printer Does Not Pick Up or Feed Paper

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dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-17-2012

Not only was it clean, but following the instructions in Solution 3 did not help the problem.

Shane_R · ‎12-17-2012

The only other information I could find about page skewing came from this document. All it had left to suggest was putting less paper in the paper tray. That might help if you are putting a full ream in at a time, but if you are just putting in a few sheets, it shouldn't be the problem. I'll have to do a bit more research on this problem. As soon as I come up with something, I'll let you know.

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dEaFTOLiGhT · ‎12-17-2012

There is not much paper in there, so this couldn't be the problem. I know you said the MFP I had before was not compatible with labels; however, the skewing problems were exactly the same. I wouldn't be surprised if many of your newer printers had this problem. I don't know if it has to do with a poorly made mechanical feed mechanism, or a driver issue.