How to Fix a Light Or Streaky Prints?
(for HP OfficeJet 8600 Series printers, Officejet Pro 8610, 8615, 8616, 8620, 8625, 8630, 8640, and 8660 All-in-One printers.)
The printer is working, but the quality of a printed document or photo is not as expected. You may occur light or streaky printouts, ink streaks or smears, and other print quality problems. Don’t worry, this article will help you.
First print a print diagnostic test page, then identify and fix the specific print quality issues. Perform the following steps to get a diagnostic test page.
①Load plain white paper into the input tray.
②On the printer control panel, press the ‘Setup’ button.
③Select ‘Print Report’.
④Select ‘Print Quality Report’, Press ‘OK’
If the patterns on the test page are streaked or are missing some part, perform the basic troubleshooting.
①Check the ink cartridges are properly installed.
②Examine the vent area on the top of the cartridge. If the vent is clogged, clean the clogged vent with a pin.
③If the cartridge still has the ‘pull-tab’ attached, pull to remove it.
The above troubleshooting are eliminated, start Examine Test Pattern 1.
Examine Test Pattern 1
Test Pattern 1 with white gaps in the columns, follow the steps to align the printhead.
①Load plain white paper in the input tray.
②On the printer control panel, open the ‘Setup’ menu.
③Open the ‘Printer Maintenance’ or ‘Tools’ menu.
④Touch ‘Align Printhead’.
⑤After the printer prints the alignment page, touch ‘OK’.
⑥Print another ‘Print Quality Diagnostic Page’ to see if the issue is resolved.
If there are still dark lines or white gaps where the arrows are pointing in Test Pattern 1, continue to calibrate the linefeed.
①On the printer control panel, touch the Setup icon ().
②Swipe the display to scroll to Tools, and then touch Tools.
③Touch ‘Calibrate Linefeed’
④After the printer prints a test page, touch ‘OK’.
⑤Print another Print Quality Diagnostic Page to see if the issue is resolved.
Examine Test Pattern 2
If the lines in Test Pattern 2 are not straight and connected, please align the printhead.
①Load plain white paper into the input tray.
②On the printer control panel, Press the ‘Setup’ button.
③Select ‘Tools’.
④Select ‘Align Printhead’.
⑤After the printer prints the alignment page, touch ‘OK’.
⑥Print another ‘Print Quality Diagnostic Page’ to see if the issue is resolved.
Examine Test Pattern 3
If any of the color blocks in Test Pattern 3 show white lines or are faded or missing completely, the printhead could be clogged. You might need to clean the printhead several times to restore print quality.
①Load plain white paper into the input tray.
②On the printer control panel, Press the ‘Setup’ button.
③Select ‘Tools’.
④Select Clean ‘Printhead’. (There are three cleaning stages. The test pages prints between each cleaning stage are different from the Print Quality Diagnostics.)
⑤Wait while the printer cleans the printhead.
⑥Print another ‘Print Quality Diagnostic Page’ to see if the issue is resolved.
If you have completed all of the troubleshooting steps above and are still experiencing a problem, please replace the printhead.