partially color blind printer

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My HP DJ 840C has started to print only yellow/green/light blue colors. It prints all shades of red and purple as shades of yellow and green.

I am operating WIN 98 and Office 97 and I print a lot of color graphs/charts in Excel97 and some colored headings in Word.

I changed both the color and black ink cartridges but it didn’t help.
I uninstalled the printer and re-installed but it didn’t help.

When I print a test page from the installation CD it shows the full range of colors but when I go into start > definitions > printers > properties > print test page the outcome is that the orange of the windows logo shows yellow.

Can anybody help?

Louis

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Just checking I understand the problem:
Are you saying that under some circumstances, the correct colours are being printed, but not under others?
What do you get if you print out the attached?
What operating system?
Any new software installed recently?
Does it only affect graphics? or fonts? or both?

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Leif

I can’t try the attachment at the moment as I am not in my office where the problem is. I’ll try it Tuesday a.m. and get back to you.

OS is WIN98. No new software installed recently.

The problem involves colors only not fonts. It seems to me that some colors in the spectrum don’t print at all (reds and purples or deep blues) not even when they appear as such on the screen. All I get is shades of yellow and green or very light blue. The only time I get the full range of colors is when I print the example page from the manufacturer’s installation CD.

Will be in touch again Tuesday with results of your test.

Louis

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Leif

I printed out your attachment. On screen the color distribution was fine. The print out was not.

Across the top all the colors were shades of blue/turquoise.
Down the left side the colors ranged from blue/turquoise at the top left to green/light green at bottom left.
The lower edge was from light green at bottom left to yellow from bottom center to right and fading to light yellow and white going from bottom edge upwards towards center of palette.
The right side of the palette ranged from blue/turquoise at top right to yellow at bottom right. From center point of right border going left towards middle of palette was white.

By the way colored diagrams generated on my computer and not printing properly with all the colors on my printer were transferred to another computer in the office and printed fine.

Louis

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From what you are saying, it sounds like no red is being printed.
My suspicion would be an electrical/electronic failure within the printer causing this.
But:
You mention that “it shows the full range of colors” in your first post – do you mean that red is being printed during the installation setup?
If so, it points to software.
If not, it sounds like mechanical. Check the cleanliness of the contacts on the cartridges and the integrity of the flexible ribbon cable to the printer head. I doubt if there is much more ‘user servicable’ action you can take.

Can you try the printer on a different PC? That might narrow it down.

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Leif

Will try later today to switch the printer to another PC. Thanks for the suggestion. It can’t be a question of mechanics in the printer since the installation test print comes out fine.

Louis

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I’d be leaning towards a software / driver issue. It sounds like the ‘colour matching’ feature has gone, shall we say, wonky. Almost like a setting (somewhere) where a slider for the red colour has been turned way, way, down.

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You could try uninstalling/deleting the printer and remove files no longer required if and when prompted. Then re-install the printer.

I’ve used this trick to fix problems with the print queue, so it may work in your case.

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Leif (and others who contributed helpful suggestions)

I had already uninstalled the printer and re-installed (twice) which didn’t help.

I was also leaning in the direction of a software problem.

I followed the advice of Leif –
First I disconnected my HP 840C from my PC and installed on my PC another printer – a HP 690C and this printed the same coloured documents fine (including Leif’s attached palette).

Then I connected my problematic HP840C to another PC, did not install the specific 840 drivers but ran it as a HP550C which is usually a good default choice. IT DID NOT PRINT THE COLOURS IN THE RED RANGE but gave identical results to those attained on my PC.

So, my conclusion is that we are talking hardware fault. (Leif I carried out your cleaning checks earlier).

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Louis

I followed Leif’s advice

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The flat cable that attaches to the ink cartridge cradle probably has a fatigued/broken wire that carries the red signal. Have seen this on inkjets before.

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That would be my best guess too, but doesn’t explain the full colour installation test print being OK

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I wonder if when the printer was uninstalled, did some of the dlls and other configuration files get left behind?

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Maybe.

How could I tell?

Louis

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Now this is just a guess… but with my HP Deskjet 1000, the majority of the installed files are hpw*.*.

I’d try uninstalling the printer again, searching the HD for these files, and deleting them. It may be worth while to rename them, and try your other programs first to ensure they haven’t been affected.

If the other programs are okay, try a re-install of the printer, and test it.

Again, this is only a guess… but since when isn’t tech support a game of guesswork?

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Chris

I’m away from the office now for a long weekend so I’ll try your suggestion at the beginning of next week.

Louis

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Following on from Chris’s suggestion:

Printers > Properties (right click on printer required)
Print Test Page

usually dumps a list of driver files.

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Leif

I know how to print a test page but don’t understand your comment about dumping driver files

Louis

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Did I beat Leif to this one???

When you print the test page (using the one from the printer’s properties –> General –> Print Test Page, not the HP test page), it will list the drivers, and their location on your computer.

Well, did I beat him to it?

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Well, yes you di this time.
But only because I got hooked playing Snood again.

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Does SWMBO know you got hooked?

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Unfortunately, yes.

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A long weekend away from the office is good because I stopped thinking printers.

Now I’m back and the problem hasn’t gone away.

I uninstalled the HP840 again and located printer files which remained on my HD and deleted them manually. Then reinstalled the printer. Then I printed the example page from the installation PC and got full colour. Next, out of curiosity I printed the test page (Printers -> Properties -> print test page) and got the full range of colours in the WINDOWS logo.

Then I tried Leif’s palette again and it didn’t print the reds. From this point it didn’t print anything else with the reds.

Is it a faulty (inconsistent) piece of hardware (i.e. the flat cable connected to the ink cartridges) that occasionally does and sometimes doesn’t print the red signal or a software conflict?

Meanwhile I’ve given my HP840 to my secretary who prints out letters and rarely needs colours. The HP840 has the same problem on her PC. I’ve taken her old HP690 which works perfectly on my PC. So I’ve “solved the problem” by side-stepping it.

What’s the world coming to?

Louis

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I know it has been a long time but did you replace the printer or try for a cable repair?

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Bought a new printer for myself. I only use it for color graphs and diagrams since my main printer is an excellent laser HP4050.
I gave the problematic printer to my secretary who was due a new one anyway. Since she only prints out black and white documents she is pleased with the arrangement.

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