Printer prints off center

[burbles]

Whenever I print a page, not matter from what program, it prints off center, even though the left and right margins are set the same.

The left margin prints slightly shorter than the distance I have selected and the right margin slightly wider. I have turned off "booklet" and other settings to do with printing with gutters.

What might be causing this and what can I do to remedy it?

My printer is an HP Officejet All-in-One 7310 and my OS is Windows 7 Home Premium.

This problem only started occurring recently. I don't recall making any changes that may have triggered this.

[MissTeriLynn]

Hi burbles,

Welcome to the HP forums!

I'm sorry to hear your Officejet 7310 hasn't been printing correctly but I'd be happy to help you determine what the problem is and see if we can get it fixed

I will suggest that you first test the hardware of the printer. Are you able to print a Self-Test Report (press Setup, press the down arrow until you see Print Report, press OK, and then the down arrow again until you see Self-Test Report and press OK to print it) with the margins looking normal, or do the margins look the same as when you print from the computer? If it looks normal can you also make a copy just to be 100% certain the hardware is working fine?

If the test report also appears to be having an issue with the margins please follow the steps within this 'Press OK to align cartridges' Error Message Displays on the All-in-One document as it will walk you through running the alignment and such.

Let me know how things go for you!

[burbles]

I just wrote a detailed reply but it seems to have been deleted! Sorry if you get this twice. Here is an abridged version.

I did the Self-Test but it appears to print the text and test patterns the same as before, i.e. further to the left of the page, rather than centered, although the horizontal marker bars on each side of the page appear centered. The vertical marker bars are not centered.

Would it help if I give you thje Alignment Settings that come with the report?

I tried going through all the alignment steps in the article you linked but wasn't able to clean the cartridge nozzles because I don't have distilled or bottled water right now. The alignement printout appears fine, except that it too is very close to the left side of the page and has a lot of white space on the right side. I don't know if this is normal or not.

I'm wondering if I should just uninstall and reinstall the entire software. I noticed that I cannot open the Print Toolbox when I click on it.

What to from here?

[MissTeriLynn]

Hi burbles,

Thanks for the reply!

As I suspected, it's not an issue with the software, it's an issue with the hardware of the printer. With both the self test and the alignment page being off as well that indicates the issue is with the hardware, as those tests don't require any use of the software.

At this point I will recommend that you follow the steps in this 'Out of Paper' Error Message Displays and the Product Does Not Pick Up or Feed Paper document to clean the rollers (I realize the HP documents say to use distilled or bottled water, but it's really a recommendation so you can use just tap water if that's all you have) and such. Once the rollers are clean, if the printer isn't already, I would recommend that you plug the printer directly to a wall outlet to make sure it's getting adequate power.

If the problem still persists after those steps, please try Performing a Partial Reset on the printer. Once the reset completes try printing that self test report and the alignment again and see if they still look off center. If they do, then it's going to be time to look into upgrading the printer to something newer. You can do this via HP Tech Support for your area if you'd like to see what (if any) deals they have to offer at this time.

Let me know how things go, have a good one!

[burbles]

I cleaned the rollers as per the instructions. I checked the printer power cord and it is plugged into the surge protector which is plugged into the wall, so I assume this should ensure adequate power and protection as well.

The problem persisted so I did a Partial Reset. The Self-Test Report and Alignment pages printed OK colorwise but the contents were not centered on the page. I did notice that after the Partial Reset, the Alignment Settings were all zero, whereas on the earlier Selt-Test Report they had been a variety of numbers from -12 to +6. I don't know if this is significant or not.

A friend who is well acquainted with printers suggested that I might need to upgrade the firmware, but I could not see a place to do this. The reason he suggested this is that when I turn on the printer, it goes through the usual setting up process, but the white plastic "ribbon" that usually slides across to the left and back to the right doesn't seem to be doing this now. He thought that this might indicate an issue with the firmware. If that is possible, how do I go about updating the firmware?

I'm not in a position to spend money on replacing the printer right now so would prefer to keep seeking a solution if I can.

Thanks.

[MissTeriLynn]

Hi burbles,

Thanks again for the reply!

I can certainly understand why your friend would suggest the firmware, and I would have suggested it myself except there is no firmware update available for your printer.

I believe this issue is a hardware one, which I believe more so now that you've said the white plastic ribbon behind the carriage doesn't seem to be working 100%. At this point I don't have anything else to suggest as it's the hardware of the printer that's the problem. You can certainly seek out the assistance of others who may have some more hints for tinkering with the hardware of the printer or something of that nature for further assistance.

Hope you can find a resolution burbles 🙂