Colour printing very washed out

[cyphix333]

I have a DeskJet 2620 and I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the new colour ink cartridge I put in it or not (the problem started with a new colour ink cartridge I replaced) but whenever I printed something the colours were really washed out.

Another thing is, for this cartridge, the ink seemed to run out VERY fast - I was printing full page images so I know it was a lot of ink per page, but I think it may have printed maybe 5-6 pages and it used the whole new colour ink cartridge!? I had pretty standard settings (normal quality, not "best", and default DPI).

Since my ink has run out I can no longer print an example to show what I mean, but I found this image online that I believe demonstrates what I am talking about:

Though it may have been even worse than that.

Pretty annoyed I wasted a whole colour ink cartridge and got nothing out of it - have just ordered a new one, it will be interesting to see if that one does it too.

Any idea what the issue is here?

Thanks!

[cyphix333]

Really need help with this please...

[cyphix333]

Why is it so hard to get help with this please?

[Dragon-Fur]

@cyphix333 

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@cyphix333 wrote:

Why is it so hard to get help with this please?

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The simple answer is that there are few of us,  We are volunteers.

There are thousands and thousands of people asking for help... Everyday, day after day, every country, all devices, every level of desperation, panic, and need.

We do what we can.  Smiling.

Here you go...

Discussion / Suggestions / Known Solutions

HP genuine ink regular cartridges are likely to print somewhere between the five-six intense and full covered image prints you describe or maybe 15-20 documents (again depends on density).

Regular size cartridges are not large, in other words.  In my opinion:  Yield tests aside, "real world" printing is not "yield test printing".

Is that the issue?  No idea but low ink will certainly impact quality.

Not sure about "down under" - in the USA, this model is considered a budget printer.  As such, the printer lacks some of the high-end features that many people expect / want in their printing experience.   The printer ink cartridges for budget printers are not less expensive, though, and purchasing XL ink cartridges (if available in your region) has to be a choice that you make.

HP Store / SureSupply Ink and Toner

Change / Tap the Flag at the bottom of the website to change the region.

What else?

Known solutions for quality here:

•  Color or Black Ink Not Printing

and

•  Fixing Poor Print Quality

Reference and Resources – (More) Places to find help, solve problems, and learn how to use your Printer

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When the website support page opens, Select (as available) a Category > Topic > Subtopic

HP DeskJet 2620 All-in-One Printer

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[cyphix333]

Thank you for the response. 🙂

The amount of pages printed is the minor issue here, but on the packaging it states it can print up to 100 pages; now whilst I don't expect anywhere near that printing full colour pages, 5-6 seems very very low - is the 100 estimate for a tiny dot of colour on the page? Rhetorical question, don't expect you to answer that since you're not a HP rep. 🙂 ...but pretty sure I usually get more out of the cartridges than 5-6 pages.

Anyway, as stated, the main issue is the printing quality - I'm aware that it is a "budget printer", but it was printing perfectly fine before, so either there was a problem with the new colour ink cartridge I purchased or something went wrong somewhere else, in the printer itself or the settings, which I never touched.

[Dragon-Fur]

@cyphix333 

You are welcome.

Agreed - so few pages printed is disappointing and no, it doesn't sound right.  

Actually, the "yield" tests are not as bad as you say - but they are not "real world" printing either.  I believe the last time I checked (admittedly a while ago), the test print was at 5% coverage.  More than a dot, but certainly not all that useful for those of us who print photos and full page documents.  Again, the disclaimer:  Personal opinion and all that.

The printer might need cleaning - the print quality document can help with the steps.  Uses some ink to check / diagnose, of course.  Not sure "what" you can clean on the Deskjet - take a look and see whether any of the suggestions make it better. 

HP genuine ink cartridges are pretty tightly controlled for quality - it is possible there is something going on there, but the actual ink head assembly is so small that I never found it useful to peer closely at the cartridges.

We do have a printer hardware "guy" here - let's tag him in and see whether he can help with your Deskjet printer...

@Bob_Headrick 

So, nice little Deskjet is eating Ink and NOT producing quality photos.

Suggested cleaning, of course, but my Deskjet skills fall between slim and not-so-much.

Words of wisdom?

Thanks!

Thank you for participating in the HP Community Forum.

We are a world community of volunteers dedicated to supporting HP technology

[cyphix333]

Thank you for for you time 🙂

5% coverage is pretty disappointing, but 100% coverage 5 pages sounds about right, but sure I have gotten at least 10 out of them before... oh well, hmmm.

I did try doing a clean on it to no avail, I will try some more steps from the document when I install the new cartridge.

I will wait to hear from Bob - cheers! 🙂

Ok, just before replying I decided to try and print a "Print Diagnostic Information" sheet and not sure if it was because the cartridge was empty or not, but I got a weird message I have never seen before:

The cartridge was most definitely a genuine HP cartridge, purchased from a legitimate bricks and mortar store; so assume it's because it was empty.... hmmmm.

[cyphix333]

Well new update, now with another probelm... 😁

Replaced the colour ink, haven't been able to test that properly yet with a full page photo because now the black ink isn't printing properly....

When I installed the new colour cartridge it printed out the diagnostics page, which was mainly ok, but had a few streaks etc.... aligned the cartridges and it printed another, this time all the black ink was missing. 😩

The black ink is lowish, but not being labelled as needing replacement:

I found this solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql5CPAvTaOE

But as you can see it's on a totally different printer type, one where you can actually remove the print heads.

Honestly probably easier just to buy a new printer lol

[cyphix333]

It gets weirder..... seems the printer will print black ink, but only in certain situations.

For example, if I print out the "Alignment Page" it will only print the colours, no black; but if I print out a "Print Diagnostic Information" page it will print out black fine.

It's kind of like it will print black if it's contained in actual words, but not if it's anything else.

Of note, I'm pretty sure I did a driver/software update around the time this started as well... going to try reinstalling older drivers/software and see if it fixes it.

[Bob_Headrick]

It sounds like your black cartridge is empty.  The diagnostic page actually prints black areas using a combination of black and color so the information can be read even if black or color is not printing properly. 

HP (and other printer manufacturers) now specify page yields based on the ISO 24711 standard, see the document here for information.   The standard is based on five letter size pages:

The HP 65 cartridges are rather tiny in terms of ink, the standard HP 65 color cartridge is rated at 100 pages and has 2mL of ink - less than a thimbleful. The HP 65XL color cartridge supplies 7mL of ink, rated at 300 pages. 

If you will be printing mostly photo's you might consider the HP Instant Ink program.  With this program you pay a subscription for a set number of pages per month and ink is automatically shipped to you as needed.  The plan for 50 pages per month costs $2.99 per month, there are other levels available as well.  Savings are typically 50% compared to purchasing retail cartridges, but can be much better savings for printing photo's.  The pages are counted the same if they are simple text or full page photo's.  See here for information.