Printing 4x6 margins incorrect, chops off half the photo.

[EmmaClaire]

Have just installed the HP Photosmart 7520.  Went to print using the photo tray with 4x6 photo paper, however when the photo prints, it chops off the top half of the photo and leaves a white margin at the bottom of the paper of almost 2cm.  Have tried to Google this, and have tried selecting the Print Borderless option, tried putting the paper in further to the left so that it wasn't hard right to see if that made any difference, but it then chopped off the bottom of the photo and left the white margin at the top.... 😞

[Malibu84]

I've got this same issue with my brand new printer too. Seems as though it's a problem across their whole line and with most models! I hope we both get answers soon!

[EmmaClaire]

I have stuffed around with this printer for longer than anyone should have to again this morning but managed to make slight progress. Firstly I found out it wasnt just the photo tray but also the A4 tray that was cutting off the right side of the page. Basically rendering the printer useless.

Upon playing around with some settings I found it was set to print "from the right and down". I changed this to print "from the left and down". If you go to your control panel, right click and select printing preferences, click the advanced button and then where it says 'pages per sheet layout', change it to the left then down. I found that it will print the whole photo on the page, with a small white border all around (Even though I selected print borderless), but it fixed it for both A4 pages and 4x6 prints.

Still isn't perfect but at least it leaves you with a usable photo. Let me know if that works for you!

[RickeeD]

Did not work for me. Not using A4, but 8.5 x 11 (US). Still have added 1/2" margin on left side.

[James_Oh]

{PROBLEM SOLVED] (For me, anyway. Skip to the last line if you don't want all the details, just the solution.)

I see that this thread is two years old, and still no solution has been posted.

I had the SAME problem. Image prints fine on 8" x 11", but only about half prints on 4"x6"glossy  photo paper. The orientation is correct, but the print heads start to "print" a few inches before the leading edge of the paper gets under the heads. So only part of the image is on the paper, and my printer gets a bunch of ink inside which streaks the next print.

And just to make things more frustrating, SOMETIMES the page would print correctly.

Maybe I should mention that I'm an Electrical Engineer working as an Automation Programmer. I tried every technical solution I could find in all the different forums. Reload the driver, check for driver updates, change the margin settings, change the paper size settings. Specify margins in the Printer "Advance" settings. Nothing worked.

But then I looked more closely at what was happening. The print job failed the same way almost every time, but the location where the image printed would vary a little from one page to the next.  What made the most sense was that the paper was being advanced by the printer to the leading edge sensor, then the paper SHOULD advance about three more inches to where the print heads are located, and the printing starts. Keep in mind, this paper is slick, and only a few inches wide, (so there's less of it to grip). In addition to that, the paper is also rather stiff, and it has to be drawn 180 degrees around a “turn around” roller.

The paper was slipping.

The rollers turn enough times to advance the leading edge to the print heads, but they spin without getting traction for a few inches before the paper would draw up, around the "turn around" and back toward the front of the printer.

To make it easier for the printer, I dragged the paper across the edge of my desk to "curl" the front edge just a little. Now when the paper is in the paper feeder, the front edge curves upward just a little. (Sitting flat on my desk, it lifts about one quarter inch off the desk.) The paper now feeds in, is ALREADY curved to go around the rollers, and it goes right in. I've printed over a hundred pages now without a single failure.

So, short answer:

The paper might be slipping at the turn-around rollers.  Curl the front edge so it curves upward, which guides it into the turn it needs to make in the paper path.

[alpsinan]

I searched through all the answers written by HP team, the other users and tried most of them. I was thinking to take the all-in-one 4640 to the service. And your answer saved a lot of time for me. You are genius. How come all the HP staff cannot think of how and why actually their product fail to work properly, I cant understand.

There are hundreds of HP photo print failure questions over the web and there is no definitive answer anywhere. Yes paper is slippery and poorly designed HP printers cannot catch it. EPSON can, Canon can every other printer you name it can but HP printers, even HP photosmart  printers cannot. Unbelievable!

By the way, James_Oh what do you think of using a matte paper? Would it be of better result? Poorly designed HP machines could grasp the matte paper?

HEY HP STAFF AND EVERYONE ELSE!   Here is the best solution why the HP printers fail to print on glossy photo papers while they can print on regular paper. Read above and the trick works perfectly! 

Hey HP staff and HP gurus, I saw that most of the questions for "the partial photo print problem" go unanswered  or could not be solvedon HP support forum. It takes a diligent guy to pass this solution to the other threads. I have read all the other threads where this problem was mentioned. This question was asked by many people but until now was not answered properly.  

Thanks!