Printing problems in the form of bad print quality is not always easy to track. To help you, we in this article have listed many of the most common problems that printer owners have.

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Print Quality and Printing Problems Guide

This article deals in printing problems where the print quality is bad. If no paper is coming out of the printer when trying to print, please go to the Printer Problems Troubleshooting Guide instead.

Tracking the source of print quality problems can be hard. The guide below only deals with printing problems that are applicable to printers in general, more specific printer model related problems are not taken up in this article.

We recommend that you restart your printer and do a test printout before reading the rest of the article. The reboot resets the software controlling the printer which might solve your printing problems.

If you want to print a test page while going through all steps, read our test print page guide on how to do this!

Print Quality Questions:
» Are strange characters or badly formatted text being printed out?
» Is part of the printed characters missing or have incorrect colors?
» Is the text faded or fuzzy?
» Is the printout smeared?
» Does your printout contain horizontal lines or white spots?
» Are vertical lines misaligned or do you see light/dark horizontal banding?
» Are your printouts missing colors, lack shadows or contrast?
» Are your printouts blurry?
» Are your printouts grainy/pixelated?
» If nothing helped so far...

Are strange characters or badly formatted text being printed out?

You printing problems might be related to your printer driver. You can read more about what a printer driver is and also find a link on where to download a new version of your printer driver by going to our printer driver page.

Is part of the printed characters missing or have incorrect colors?

The ink cartridge or printhead nozzles might be clogged or the printer cartridge may be running out of ink or toner.

Most printers have a cleaning program for the printheads, if you are not sure on how to start the program please check your printer manual for instructions. Run the cleaning program and check if the print quality has been improved. (inkjet printers)

Printers normally indicate if they are running low on ink or toner by a blinking or non green lit indicator lamp. You can always check this manually by opening up your printer and taking out the cartridge color that you have problems with. The ink level in an ink cartridge is normally easy to see while the toner level might be harder to spot. Try shaking your toner cartridge and put it back into the printer to see if the print quality has been improved.
(inkjet and laser printers)

Is the text faded or fuzzy?

One or more of the ink or toner cartridges are probably almost empty. Refer to the question above for instructions on how to check the levels on your cartridges.
(inkjet and laser printers)

Is the printout smeared?

This might be due to several printing problems.

1. Check that the paper setting for the printer matches the quality of the paper in the printer. As an example, high gloss paper printer settings should not be mixed with plain paper. (inkjet and laser printers)

2. Your printhead might need to be cleaned or aligned. If you are not sure on how to start the program please check your printer manual for instructions. Run the cleaning program and check if the print quality has been improved. (inkjet printers)

3. The fuser in your laser printer might be broken or dirty and need an replacement. (laser printers)

Does your printout contain horizontal lines or white spots?

This print quality problem indicates that a printhead nozzle is clogged, this is especially true if your printer has been inactive for some time.

Most printers have a cleaning program for the printheads, if you are not sure on how to start the program please check your printer manual for instructions.

Run the cleaning program and check if the print quality has been improved. Please note that you might need to run the cleaning program several times to get best possible result. (inkjet printers)

Are vertical lines misaligned or do you see light/dark horizontal banding?

This print quality problem probably indicates that a printhead is out of alignment.

Your printer most likely has a printhead alignment program that will correct this problem. If you are not sure on how to start the program please check your printer manual for instructions. (inkjet printers)

Are your printouts missing colors, lack shadows or contrast?

1. Printers normally indicate if they are running low on ink by a blinking or non lit green indicator lamp. You can always check this manually by opening up your printer and taking out the cartridge color that you have a problem with. The ink level in an ink cartridge is normally easy to see while the toner level might be harder to spot. (inkjet and laser printers)

2. Your ink could be old if they have been in the printer for a long time. Try replacing the color cartridge that you have a problem with. (inkjet printers)

3. Are your color cartridges in the right place? Make sure you have not loaded a black cartridge in the slot where the cyan cartridge should go and so forth… (inkjet and laser printers)

4. You could have a clogged nozzle in one of the printheads. Most printers have a cleaning program for the printheads, if you are not sure on how to start the program please check your printer manual for instructions. (inkjet printers). After the cleaning program is finished, try printing again to see if the print quality has improved.

5. If your printout don’t have any contrast or shadows at all, your black cartridge probably needs to be replaced. (inkjet and laser printers)

Are your printouts blurry?

This print quality problem may be a paper problem more than an ink or toner problem.

1. Check that your paper is not damp. (inkjet and laser printers)

2. Is your paper loaded correctly into the paper tray? Most papers are designed to be printed on one side which usually means the shinier side of the paper. (inkjet and laser printers)

3. Is the paper setting correct for the quality of your paper? As an example, high gloss paper printer settings should not be mixed with plain paper. (inkjet and laser printers)

Are your printouts grainy/pixelated?

1. Start by cleaning and aligning your printhead in the printer. Most printers have a cleaning and aligning program, if you are not sure on how to start the program please check your printer manual for instructions.

2. Your print resolution setting might be set to low. Resolution for a printer is measured in DPI which stands for Dot Per Inches. If this setting is set to low, your printouts may look grainy or pixelated. Try resolve this by setting your printer to print at a higher print quality setting. Please note that printing at too high resolutions are not good since this will drain your cartridges and also lead to longer printing times. 

3. What type of paper are you using? If you are using plain paper, try exchanging it to a paper type of higher quality or the paper type recommended by the printer manufacturer.

4. Are you trying to print a picture? The picture resolution (not measured in DPI but in PPI-Pixels Per Inch) might be too low in relation to your printer print quality setting. This leads to a bad print quality where pixels becomes clearly visible. Try resolve this by printing at a lower print quality setting or by getting a picture with a higher resolution. Go to this page to find a quality mapping table between pictures and printed images.

If nothing helped so far...

Links to most printer manufacturers can be found on our printer manufacturer list. Try visiting your printer manufacturers website since the printing problems you have might be specific to your printer model. Some printer makers have their own forums and Q&A guides where you can find answers to the most common print quality related printing problems.

Also try running some more specific internet search queries including your printer brand, series and model number. Example of questions could be:

• <printer brand series model> printing problems
• <printer brand series model> print quality
• <printer brand series model> <print quality symptom e.g. grainy picture>

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If you think we could improve this Guide, please feel free to contact us. We appreciate your comments!