HP inkjet printer printing shadow text and images (blurry)

[bjc222]

HP inkjet printer is printing all letters in shadow in both Word doc and Word docx and any images inserted into Word doc/docx and any textbox text, AND any image and any image which contains text embedded in the image from MSPAINT.  This was all working fine, up until I changed only the black ink cartridge, and while the color cartridge was still at about 50%.  Note: this only happens to the text when printing in color; reset print properties to print in black text only allows any typed-in text to be clear.  I have:  re-aligned several times, removed and reinserted both cartridges, hard reset the printer per the instructions, cleaned the printheads multiple times through the printer software and the PC's HP tools AND cleaned the printheads advanced which uses up tons of ink!  And set the Word doc advanced properties to unchecked: "discard editing data", and the Word doc EXE properties' Compatibility tab to override high DPI scaling (no difference either way set, nor for Program DPI).  My test images and textboxes were NOT resized, and the textboxes were either in-line with text or tight aligned or in front of text which also made no difference.  I have attempted other solutions as from your HP support forum and NOTHING has worked.   Cartridges were purchased from Office Max.  Is the cartridge's physical chip so out of alignment that it can't be aligned? 

[Echo_Lake]

@bjc222

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.

Check the print settings to make sure they are appropriate for your print job.

1. In the software application you are trying to print from, click File, and then click Print.

   The Print window opens.

2. Open the Properties dialog box.

   Depending on the software application, the button might be Properties, Options, Printer Setup, Printer, or Preferences.

3. Depending on your print job, you might consider modifying the following settings:

   • Paper Type: If you are printing on photo paper, select the type of photo paper you are attempting to print on.

   • Print Quality: If you are dissatisfied with the quality of your printouts, increase the print quality. To print more quickly, decrease the print quality. These options typically include Best, Normal, and Draft modes.

   • Paper Size: If you are printing on a different size of paper than you normally print on, select the correct paper size.

   • Black and White: If you want to print in black and white only, select the grayscale option.

4. After selecting the print settings, click OK to apply the settings, and then click Print.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[bjc222]

Sorry, already tried that; didn't help at all.  It appears that the shadows print only when printing in color.  Setting properties to black&white only print fine.  But the color printing also shadows any black in images (all jpg, png, gif, etc).  Test print and the printed alignment sheets are fine.  (1) it's either the chip on the ink cartridge that is out of whack and won't align; or (2) please could HP get with Microsoft and tell them to fix their software!  I suspect that it's Word and Paint and Paint.net that could also be the culprits - ALL Microsoft products!  Yes I've cold booted, updated, and tried every suggestion anyone has listed on the internet.   Note, I do not print heavy office use, only occasional personal use, AND this printer HP Officejet 4500 printed fine without issues until I replaced only the black ink cartridge.  The last time this happened, I had replaced only the color cartridge.  I ended up throwing them both out - which were practically FULL - and replacing with new cartridges which is ridiculously expensive!  So I think it's both the cartridge chip and Microsoft contributing to this problem which I see a LOT of complaints across the internet for the same problem and no one has found a solution.

[Echo_Lake]

@bjc222

Thank you for posting back. 

As we have limited support boundaries in the support community as of now.

I would request you to contact our Support and our Support Engineers should be able to sort this out. HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link:  www.hp.com/contacthp/

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance. Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[bjc222]

I went to the support engineers site as you suggested, but all I could do was go around in circles and never was able to actually find out how to contact anyone at HP.  This is so infuriatingly ridiculous.  Why would a print print test prints and alignment sheets and only text directly-typed into any document just fine, but for any PDF, image, or textbox it is shadowed and ghost images.  There are hundreds of people online who are having the same issues and it's across many printer models, not just this one.  Why can't HP fix this?  It has to be how the image or pdf is transmitted to the printer.  Replacing cartridges does not help; following all the support steps does not help; constantly cleaning and aligning does not help.  Repairing isn't going to help if the regular text printed is fine, but only pdfs and images are not.  It's how the HP printer was manufactured; there is something wrong there.  Please can you look at some of the other similar issues that this community people are having and pass on this very common problem to your engineers, because they are elusive to your website.

[paulah81]

I am having the same issue with my HP F4440 printer. It just started happening a few months ago, and I also have tried everything. I'm even hooked up to a different laptop now and still having the same problem.