Printer printing slowly

[MelP19]

I have a hp printer 4650. It has started printing really slowly. I have tried all of the troubleshooting ideas and nothing works. 

[Bob_Headrick]

Is the printer slow when making copies as well as printing from the PC?

Watch the printer as it is printing a page.  Does the printer make a swath of the printhead, then wait 10-15 seconds, then another swath?  Or does the printer make many many swaths across the page with only minimal paper movement between swaths?

If the printer is delaying 10-15 seconds between swaths it is likely an ink cartridge that has failed.  Try the following:  remove the color cartridge, then send a print job to the printer (copy will probably not work, will need to be a print from the computer).  If the printer now prints at near normal speed the color cartridge was at fault and should be replaced.  If the printer is still slow replace the color cartridge in the printer and remove the black cartridge.  Now print a page.  If the print is now near normal speed the black cartridge is at fault and should be replaced.

If the printer is making many passes across the page check the paper/quality settings in the driver.  Make sure the proper media type is selected.  If you print on plain paper with photo paper selected the print will be very slow.