Black Vertical line on Photo prints

[Calamity_Coyote]

I have a Photosmart eStn C510 All-In-One priter that I've had for some time now. When I originally got the printer, I did some test Photo prints on 4" x 6"  (Tab) premium HP paper and they looked great. Since then, I've mainly only done standard document printing and such on 8 1/2" x 11" paper.

Today I tried to print some more photos. I installed all new HP genuine cartridges purchased from Wal-mart before I even tried. Immediately on my first print I got a vertical black line on the left side. The image seems to overlap about 1/4" and leaves a blank area on the right before the tear off tab. Thinking this was just a glitch, I tried again. Same vertical line in the exact same spot. The photo paper has been in the printer since I last printed and I saw a post saying this is not a good thing and that you should keep in in a sealed package. So I opened a new package of photo paper and tried again. Same line in same location again. So I tried a print head alignment. Although it was suppose to do this already with installation of the new cartridges. Again, same line in same location.

At this point, I am at a loss. Printing the same image on standard 8 1/2" x 11" paper prints with no problem. However, for some reason when I print on Genuine HP Photo paper, the image overlaps about 1/4" on the left causing a black line and does not print all the way to the right. I am attaching a couple of scanned copies of the images I was trying to print to show what I am talking about. Anyone, Please, help me figure this out.

[sandytechy20 · Accepted solution]

@Calamity_Coyote

Welcome to the HP Forums. I would be happy to help you with your HP Photosmart eStation - C510a Printer. I understand that you that you are getting vertical lines while printing photos and you have already done some preliminary troubleshooting.

Don't worry though as I have a few steps to determine the issue and find a solution as well,

Clean the printhead.

1. Touch Menu () on the top left side of the printer control panel. A list of menu options displays.

2. Touch Settings, and then touch Tools. The Tools menu displays.

3. On the Tools menu, touch Printer Maintenance, and then touch Clean Printhead. The printer cleans the printhead automatically.

• If these steps resolved the issue, there is no need to continue troubleshooting. The following precautions might help avoid the issue in the future.

  • Avoid leaving unprotected cartridges out of the printer for an extended period of time.

  • Always use the Power button to turn the printer off. This protects the cartridges from exposure to air.

Align the printer.

1. Touch Menu () on the top left side of the printer control panel. A list of menu options displays.

2. Touch Settings, and then touch Tools. The Tools menu displays.

3. On the Tools menu, touch Printer Maintenance, and then touch Align Printer. The printer aligns the cartridges and prints an alignment page.

Make sure that the cartridges are properly vented and seated correctly.

Print and evaluate a Print Quality Report.

Check the print settings.

Click here and refer the document to perform the above steps.

Let me know if that helps.

Cheers.

[Calamity_Coyote]

Thank you for the reply. I had already done the alignment and that did not work. I went ahead and tried cleaning the print head although I felt it was not the issue. To me, it looked like it was not advancing the paper properly. To my surprise, that worked. It is now printing perfect again. Thank you so much.

[sandytechy20]

@Calamity_Coyote

Thanks for the reply.

I appreciate your time and effort.

Good to know that issue is resolved.

Feel free to contact us in feature if you need assistance.

Cheers.

[barb2U]

Hi I have the same problem, but I do not have the menu items as described so I ran all the tests & alignments from the HP ap.

The first test paper came out great, but when printed on the expensive photo paper (I've been through several so far) , the lines are still there.

[praveen196]

@barb2U Welcome to HP Community!

Don't worry though as I have a few steps to determine the issue and find a solution as well,

Clean the printhead.

1. Touch Menu () on the top left side of the printer control panel. A list of menu options displays.

2. Touch Settings, and then touch Tools. The Tools menu displays.

3. On the Tools menu, touch Printer Maintenance, and then touch Clean Printhead. The printer cleans the printhead automatically.

• If these steps resolved the issue, there is no need to continue troubleshooting. The following precautions might help avoid the issue in the future.

  • Avoid leaving unprotected cartridges out of the printer for an extended period of time.

  • Always use the Power button to turn the printer off. This protects the cartridges from exposure to air.

Align the printer.

1. Touch Menu () on the top left side of the printer control panel. A list of menu options displays.

2. Touch Settings, and then touch Tools. The Tools menu displays.

3. On the Tools menu, touch Printer Maintenance, and then touch Align Printer. The printer aligns the cartridges and prints an alignment page.

Make sure that the cartridges are properly vented and seated correctly.

Print and evaluate a Print Quality Report.

Check the print settings.

Click here and refer the document to perform the above steps.

Keep us posted,
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