Smeared printing on Officejet 6978

[Nina951]

When I print in color, it comes out smeared and with stripes. HP has repaced the printer and I have cleaned the printhead and put in new ink cartridges. I reinstalled the driver. I think it may be software related, but I don't know where to start. I'm asking for support here before I go back to HP for help.

[Betty0610]

@Nina951

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Does this happen while copying too?

Let's perform the steps below:

1. Load plain white paper in the input tray.

2. From the printer control panel, open the Setup  menu.

3. Open the Printer Maintenance or Tools menu.

4. Touch Clean Page Smears or Clean Smear.

   The printer might make some noise for approximately one minute.

5. Wait until the page is out of the printer before you remove it.

1. Load plain white paper in the input tray.

2. From the printer control panel, open the Setup  menu.

3. Open the Reports or Tools menu.

4. Touch Print Quality Report.

Let me know how this report looks.

If the issue persists, please perform the remaining steps from this document: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-6970-all-in-one-printer-series/8289585/model/1...

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!

[Nina951]

Betty,

Thanks for your advice. Before I even got to try what you suggested, I saw that I could print photos directly from the HP Smart app. When I tried printing from there, it printed beautifully!!! So it is not the printer, but my software setup that is messed up I think. Sometimes the printer properties setup does not give a color option, but an on/off to Black and White. If I turn that off, I get color. But if there is much color in the photo it streaks and smears. Could that be the problem? I guess I could print photos and documents through the HP Smart app. I'm just thrilled that I finally got a photo printed.

[Betty0610]

Let's try to do a root uninstall and reinstall of the software:

Unplug any USB cable, if any, before doing this.

1.) In Windows, search for and open Programs and features

2.) Select your HP Printer

3.) Select Uninstall

4.) In Windows, search for and open Devices and printers

5.) In the Devices and Printers windows look for your HP printer. If you see it listed right-click on it and choose 'Delete' or 'Remove Device'

6.) Open up the run command with the "Windows key + R" key combo.

7.) Type printui.exe /s and click Ok. (Note: there is a space in between “printui.exe” and “/s”)

8.) Click on the "Drivers" tab

9.) Look for HP Printer driver. If you see it Click on it and click Remove at the bottom

10.) Select Ok

11.) Select Apply and Ok on the Print Server Properties windows

12.) Close Devices and Printers

13.) Open up the run command with the "Windows key + R" key combo

14.) Type c:/programdata and click Ok. Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.

15.) Restart the computer.

Once done, please download and install the software from here:

https://support.hp.com/in-en/drivers

Let me know if this helps.

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

Thanks!