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HP Deskjet 3300, 3400, 3500, 3700, and 3900 Series Printers - Horizontal Streaks or Lines in the Printed Image
Issue
The product is working, but the printout shows streaks or lines. The lines are perpendicular to the direction the paper moved through the product and parallel to the movement of the cartridges during printing.
Figure 1: Streaks or lines in the printout, with the direction the paper moved through the product shown with the arrow
Solution one: Make sure the paper is appropriate for the print job
Many papers have printing and non-printing sides. Load the paper with the printing side down.
Use the correct paper type for the project. For everyday documents, plain paper works well. For documents with dense printing, such as high-contrast graphics or photographs, use HP Advanced paper for the best results.
If these steps do not help, try a different paper. Ink might not bleed as easily on heavier paper. Paper that does not accept ink well is also prone to bleeding and smearing. HP designs its inks and papers to work together.
Solution two: Check the ink levels
|
NOTE:
|
Ink level warnings and indicators provide estimates for planning purposes only. When you receive a low-ink warning message, consider having a replacement cartridge available to avoid possible printing delays. |
The Ink Status window appears each time the product prints a file. The window
automatically displays the approximate ink level of each print cartridge. To close the Ink Status
window, click Close
.
Figure 2: Ink Status Window
A cartridge might be running out of ink even if the graphic shows ink remaining. Lines or streaks always appear in printouts when the cartridges begin to run out of ink. Replace print cartridges that are out of ink or low on ink.
If this feature is not be available in your operating environment, it is likely that it was turned off, or the product was installed via the Microsoft Add Printer option.
If you previously chose not to show the Ink Status window but now want it to appear
when you print, follow these steps:
Depending on your operating system, do one of the following to display the printers installed on the computer:
Windows 2000: Click Start
, click Settings
, and then click Printers
.
Windows XP: Click Start
, and then click Printers and Faxes
.
Right-click the icon representing the product, and then click Properties
. The printer Properties
dialog box appears.
Click the Device Settings
tab.
For Display Ink Status Window, click On
, and then click OK
.
|
NOTE:
|
If you have installed a refilled or remanufactured print cartridge, or a cartridge that has been used in another product, the ink status window will be inaccurate or unavailable. |
Solution three: Check the print settings
In the program being used for printing, click File
, and then click Print
.
The Print
window opens.
Make sure the appropriate product is selected, and then click Preferences
or Properties
.
The Preferences/Properties
window opens.
Click the Printing Shortcuts
tab.
Consider modifying some or all of the options in the Printing Shortcuts
menu to increase print quality.
Print quality
: If the quality of the printouts is not acceptable, try increasing the print quality. To print more quickly, try decreasing the print quality.
Paper type
: If one of the options matches the paper type exactly, select it instead of Automatic
.
Paper size
: Make sure that this option matches the paper loaded in the product.
To see additional options, click the Advanced
tab, and then click Advanced Features
.
The Advanced Features
window opens. Consider changing the following option:
Ink volume
: Adjust the amount of ink that prints on a page. For lighter images (less ink), drag the slider to the left. For darker images (more ink), drag the slider to the right. The lighter the ink volume, the more quickly the printout dries.
Solution four: Check for defects using a diagnostic page
Follow these steps to print a diagnostic page and review it for potential defects.
Step one: Print a diagnostic page
Press and hold the power button ( 
). Figure 3: Power button
Raise and lower the product cover four times.
Figure 4: Raise product cover
|
Figure 5: Lower product cover
|
Release the power button (
), and the self-test page prints.
Step two: Note which cartridges printed which areas of the diagnostic page
Step three: Check for defects using a diagnostic page
In general, if the product and print cartridges are working correctly, the bars should be solid and unstreaked. Also, the colors of the bars should be approximately the same as the color dots on the print cartridge label.
|
NOTE:
|
Do not compare the colors on your diagnostic page to the colors on this Web page. Unless your monitor is calibrated, the colors will not be correct. Instead, compare the colors on the page to the colors dots on the print cartridge label. While the color dots may not be perfectly accurate, they are likely to be more accurate than the colors on the monitor. |
Missing lines or streaked bars
If a bar is streaked, that print cartridge is not functioning correctly. If ink levels are low, the color bars will often be streaked.
Figure 6: Streaked color bar indicates that the tri-color cartridge is not functioning correctly
Color mix
If any of the colors of the bars are very different from the color dots on the cartridge label, the cartridge is not functioning correctly.
Figure 7: One of the bar colors is very different from the color dot on the cartridge - the tri-color cartridge is not functioning correctly
Missing colors
If any of the color bars is entirely missing, the cartridge is not functioning correctly.
Figure 8: Missing colors
Ink smears
If the self-test page shows smeared ink, you may need to clean your cartridges.
Figure 9: Smeared ink
Step four: Continue troubleshooting
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Printable version
