Printed page of text has smeering of every third line of the text.

[Cosmac1802]

For some time the printer has been smearing lines of text. Only black text has this problem. Starting with line 2 every third line following has the smearing. Only the bottom of the text line is only affected. Tried cleaning the print head by HP instructions but no change.

[Betty0610]

@Cosmac1802

Welcome to the HP Forums 🙂 I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. 

Does this happen while copying too?

Follow these steps to print, and then evaluate a print quality diagnostic report.

1. Make sure there is plain white, letter-size paper loaded in the input tray.

2. On the control panel Home Screen, touch the right arrow to view more options.

3. Touch Setup.

4. Touch Tools.

5. Touch Printer Quality Report. The print quality diagnostic report prints.

Let me know how this report looks.

Follow these steps to run a utility to clean the printhead.

1. Click the Windows icon (), click All Programs, click HP, and then click HP Solution Center.

2. HP Solution Center opens in a new window.

1. Click Settings ().

2. In the Print Settings area, click Printer Toolbox. The printer Toolbox opens.

3. On the Device Services tab, click Clean the Printheads ().

4. Click Clean to begin the process.

   NOTE: 

   Mechanical noises during the cleaning process are normal. A test page prints when the cleaning process finishes.

• Sometimes more than one cleaning is required. Repeat this step if improvements are seen in print quality.

If the issue persists, please perform the remaining steps from this document: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-photosmart-plus-all-in-one-printer-series-b209/3777155/model...

Let me know if this helps.

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the Accepted Solution button, that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Thanks!

Have a great day!