HP photosmart C4480 prints half lines

[TdC]

Hi folks,

my mum's old printer (an HP C4480) has decided to start printing only half lines of text when printing in normal mode (which it always has done perfectly).

if I set it to "optimal" mode, it prints the whole line of text chars, albeit very slowly. Anyone have a thought? My mum prints *tonnes* so I want it to be a quick and easy procedure for her.

Os is Vista Basic 32b. HP driver version is unknown. Before last week all was well

 

[old.user4556]

New/changed cartridge recently? Cartridge levels?

 

[soze]

Id say try it on another machine first if it works on the other machine its the driver on the first pc. If it's still broke then it seems the setting on the printer could be faulty maybe try a firmware update.

 

[nath]

Done all the usual crap - alignment, cleaning etc? Go to the printer properties menu and there should be a toolbox with all the diagnostic utilities.

 

[TdC]

oh, I forgot to say: she changed the cartridge after it started happening because she thought she was out of ink, but a new cartridge gives the same behaviour.

@Nath: that's the thing, printer properties does not show any commands for alignment/cleaning anywhere :/

 

[Zenith.UK]

The cartridge might be running low?

Best thing to do is use the printer driver software to do a nozzle check.
If the output has a problem, run the procedure to clean the nozzles.
If you still have a problem after that, check that the contacts between the printhead carriage and the cartridge contacts are clean.

The ultimate diagnostic is to buy a new set of cartridges and swap them all out.
PLEASE don't say that she refills cartridges with a syringe.

I can't say where the maintenance and diagnostic features are in the HP printer driver, but for comparison, go to:
Start > Settings > Printers
Right click on the printer and choose "Properties".
Fingers crossed that you have "Printing Preferences" on the first tab. Click that button and you *should* get the device specific settings. Hopefully the nozzle check and cleaning are under "Maintenance" or some similar tab.

 

[TdC]

she doesn't. she gets new ones from the HP shop o0

the printer driver does not show any alignment or cleaning functions. I am going to find HP's latest for the C4480 online and see.

 

[TdC]

hmm the latest seems to be the one she is using. there is a utility called the "HP Printing Diagnostic Utility" that I am going to try.

edit: ok, so that was a *complete* waste of time. on to reinstall the driver.

 

[Malecheon]

You may need to clean the contacts in the printer where the ink cartridge sits:

Uneven Darkness in Black Text HP Photosmart C4480 All-in-One Printer - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

 

[TdC]

cheers Mal, seems a good'un, as the printer also does it on a perfectly new cartridge :/

 

[soze]

Do the Cartridges move all the way across but just stop printing or do they only go over half the page before returning back?

 

[Malecheon]

cheers Mal, seems a good'un, as the printer also does it on a perfectly new cartridge :/

What about the contacts inside the printer though ? The ones on the new cartridge should be fine, but if the contacts inside the printer aren't, then cleaning them may help.

 

[TdC]

Do the Cartridges move all the way across but just stop printing or do they only go over half the page before returning back?

no, they go all the way across, but only print every other pixel line, or the top / bottom half of the letters.

What about the contacts inside the printer though ? The ones on the new cartridge should be fine, but if the contacts inside the printer aren't, then cleaning them may help.

oh, I thought you meant the ones on the inside. I was talking about those, as mum has already tried a new cartridge. knowing my mum, there's a piece of lint the size of a small kitten jammed in there or something :/

 

[TdC]

ok the printer seems to have given up the ghost now: it's also pulling paper through itself at random times. it will only print text in the colour blue if it prints at all regardless of the actual text colour and is making me miserable, because my mum is now calling me every other day to talk about what the printer is magically doing this time around :/


so, anyone got a good printer to recommend? my mums criteria:

• it must be an all in one wonder printer that can scan, fax, print, do the dishes, etc.
• it must be able to print colour
• it must connect to her laptop via USB
• it must be durable: as my mum pretends to not be able to read things off her screen (but has a 99.7% win score in freecell, so I know better) she prints 6000 A4 papers per day on average
• it must be cheap (my mum's dutch eh, it must do all the above and be cheap too)

any help very much appreciated!

 

[caLLous]

Has she tried the HP photosmart C4480?

 

[TdC]

*ban*

 

[Insane]

so, anyone got a good printer to recommend? my mums criteria:

• it must be an all in one wonder printer that can scan, fax, print, do the dishes, etc.
• it must be able to print colour
• it must connect to her laptop via USB
• it must be durable: as my mum pretends to not be able to read things off her screen (but has a 99.7% win score in freecell, so I know better) she prints 6000 A4 papers per day on average
• it must be cheap (my mum's dutch eh, it must do all the above and be cheap too)

any help very much appreciated!

Xerox Phaser 6121MFPV/N
(UK Price £279 ex. VAT)
Copy, Email, Print, Scan, Walkup fax with LAN fax with optional 2 sided printing.

its a freaking laser MFP which does colour
MFP printer with scan, fax, print and copy features - Phaser 6121 by Xerox

Or if you don't trust Xerox, there's a similar HP model

HP Color Laserjet CM1312 Multifunction Printer
CM1312nfi (CC431A) Print, copy, scan, black/white fax
USB and LAN connectivity
(UK Price £319 ex. VAT)
HP Color LaserJet CM1312nfi MFP (CC431A) specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products

two "cheap" colour laser MFPs
(well, cheap compared to the units we have in here )

 

[TdC]

ye gods, the prices

 

[Malecheon]

It's because they're laser jets. If she really is printing a gazillion pages a day, then she must be spending hours waiting for a deskjet to do the job.

I'm sure if you shop around a bit, you can get a half-decent all in one for under £50. A quick search turned up a canon, HP or Epson, all for about £40, but I have no idea whether those models are any good, so I won't link to them.

 

[TdC]

well, I ended up getting her a deskjet, again HP, based purely on the fact that it looked a bit like the old one but is a few models higher up the scale. as it looks the same, and is mostly the same in function, reasoned I, she won't bitch any more than she needs to. her first actual comment was "oh, it's a different colour!" as if that was Very Important!

as to the printing speed, well the photosmart model I got (forget which actually, tis the one under the pro, pro has wireless, this one doesn't. saves about 50 euros!) belts out about 30ppm in black and white, which is completely awesome especially compared to my ancient 850C which does about 1ppm

 

[Malecheon]

Think this covers all your printer problems: Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell To Make Us Miserable - The Oatmeal

 

[TdC]

it is all true

 

[itsmepaul57]

Hp 4480

byebye

 

[TdC]

begone vile spambot!