HP Envy 5055 skipping lines when printed in black

[HelpMeP]

I have owned the HP Envy 5055 for 3 years.  Just right after I moved it from the living room to the kitchen, it started to skip lines when printed in black.  It still prints well in colors (I changed the font color from black to dark blue to see if color-only printing would work).  I tried the copy function, and the same thing happened.  It works fine if I print the document with dark blue fonts only.  However, it skips lines if I try white and black.

I followed all recommended steps.  I reinstalled the driver (HP Smart), and tried the page smear function & cartridge cleaning function.  I have used genuine HP ink cartridges only.  Ink levels are high for both cartridges (ran Printer Status Report to confirm).   I am using the white papers I have used for the last 3 years.  

When I ran the print quality diagnostic report, there was no alignment problem (i.e., the arrow and green box were fine; all lines and boxes looked good, although instruction #5 was skipped).  However, the first line was cut.  So the report starts with "2.  Check media and settings".  All color blocks were okay, but the black block wasn’t.  It was cut in half and also had a white line (so the letter "Black" was skipped, and the upper half black block was missing).

I manually cleaned the area around the ink nozzles.  I made sure not to touch any metal part (i.e., nozzle plate and ink cartridge contacts).  The black ink cartridge was actually very clean.  I could see some inks on the color ink cartridge.  Color-only printing works well before and after the cleaning.  I made sure to wait at least 30 mins before reinstalling the cartridges.

I am not sure if it is related, but I tried a single-cartridge mode by removing the black cartridge.  The printer did not accept this.  I tried to leave the black cartridge in and remove the color cartridge.  It did not work again.  The printer says it's jammed.  So apparently, the single-cartridge mode is not working.

Given that I have the same issue with both printing and copying functions, I think this is probably not a simple problem.  However, there is nothing else I can do more, and I cannot reach HP tech support.  Could somebody please help me?

 

[Rainbow23]

Hi @HelpMeP,

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

As you have already tried the troubleshooting steps, this could be a hardware issue with the unit and may need repair. 

I have sent you a private message with the required information to talk to HP Support. 

In order to access your private messages, click the Private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP Community profile Next, to your profile Name, you should see a little blue envelope, please click on it or simply click on this link