HP LaserJet Print Quality Issues

John_Getzke · ‎11-06-2018

Print quality issues usually boil down to a few common areas:

- HP vs 3rd party toner cartridges

- Paper quality

- Application settings

- Driver settings

- Color profiling

The first step is to confirm if you are using HP original cartridges or not. If not then you need to work with your 3rd party reseller on print quality issues. It sounds silly, but the printers are only calibrated for OEM cartridges when color quality issues arrise. 3rd party can often do a passable job, but artists and designers like yourself will notice the difference in certain situations where color quality is important.

After that you will want to verify the quality of the paper you are printing on. A mismatch of the paper settings can account for variations in print quality. The printer needs to understand what is loaded in the trays so that it can adjust the heat and electrical charges used to attract the toner to the paper. Perhaps all you have to do is tell teh printer you are printing on "glossy" paper instead of plain.

Application settings are where things get tricky. Design heavy applications like Photoshop and Indesign are highly adjustable and customizable compared to a more simple application like Windows Photo Gallery. Try printing a diagnostic or demonstration page directly from the control panel of the printer to confirm if the quality issues are application specific or something on the printer. If the printer prints fine from the control panel then try printing from a few different applications to compare and see if the issue is isolated to your Adobe products or not. Consult Adobe if it is for color profiling options.

Driver settings, or rather the driver language used to send print jobs to the printer. A simple swap from PCL6 to PostScript can have a big impact on your output as some print languages are better able to handle high design print jobs than others. Feel free to dabble in the various model specific drivers HP offers on thier Support Site. Your printer is also compatible with HP Universal Print Drivers if you care to venture out that way and experiment too.

Finally, there is good old fashioned ICC Color Profiles. This one takes some trial and error. In a nutshell, it is a configuration process that helps you calibrate what you see on your screen to what is physically printed from the printer. Lots of info out there on ICC color profiling with a quick Google search.

Jeet_singh · ‎06-02-2019

@Aaaaahh,

Thank you for posting your query on HP Community,

What happens when you try to print the print quality diagnostics page from the printer?

Are you able to make a copy from the printer?

Let's try these steps here:

Perform a Hard reset on the printer and make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

Remove all the ink cartridges and then try to perform a hard reset on the printer.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Now insert the ink cartridges and then try to print a test page and check if it works.

Let’s first try and make a “photocopy” to determine whether the issue is with the printer or not. Place a document on the scanner glass and choose “Copy” option. If the printer is making a good copy, then the printer hardware is fine.

Alternatively, you can try to Print the Print quality diagnostic page from the printer:

Make sure to load the input tray with plain, white paper.
On the printer control panel, swipe the display to the left, and then touch Setup.
Touch Tools.
Swipe up on the display, and then touch Print Quality Report.

Examine the test page.

If the print quality is unacceptable, touch Clean Again to continue the next level of cleaning. If necessary, repeat these steps for the third cleaning cycle.
You may follow the steps suggested in this support document for - HP Printers - Black or Color Ink Not Printing, Other Print Quality Issues

Let me know how it goes for further assistance.

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Aaaaahh · ‎06-02-2019

Many thanks for the suggestions.

Carried out the hard re-set; printer is powered directly from the wall socket. The quality issues are also present when taking a copy of a A4 sheet.

print quality report

I have scanned the print quality report and it looks as above. The black block is accurately reflected in the image; lined rather than solid black. The smeary text with smudged lines between the letters is also accurately picked-up by the image above. Colour blocks are all perfect.

Jeet_singh · ‎06-02-2019

@Aaaaahh,

As you have tried to make a copy as well as print the Print quality diagnostic page and both seems to have failed.

This clearly indicates a possible hardware failure with the printer. I would personally suggest you contact our HP support team for further assistance.

HP support team can be reached on this link.

Let me know if you need any further assistance. I'll be more than happy to help you.

Take care and have a great day!

Thank you 🙂