Deskjet- Skewed printing

[Larry B.]

I have a Deskjet 970cxi. Out of the blue it now prints just a little
crooked. Paper feed and path are fine, its just a little crooked. I thought
that this was unique until a friend of mine said that her last HP Deskjet
did that and she bought an Epson instead. It must be some electronic issue
or adjustment (almost smacks of built in obsolescense). Though I have had
my 970 for a few years, it has seen less than 1500 pages of use.

Is there a history with HP DJ's doing this and is there a fix for it? To
spend the money to have it fixed by HP (certainly at least $75 or $100)
makes little sense.

Thank you, Lar

 

[Henry]

I have a Deskjet 970cxi. Out of the blue it now prints just a little
crooked. Paper feed and path are fine, its just a little crooked. I thought
that this was unique until a friend of mine said that her last HP Deskjet
did that and she bought an Epson instead. It must be some electronic issue
or adjustment (almost smacks of built in obsolescense). Though I have had
my 970 for a few years, it has seen less than 1500 pages of use.

Is there a history with HP DJ's doing this and is there a fix for it? To
spend the money to have it fixed by HP (certainly at least $75 or $100)
makes little sense.

Thank you, Lar

I have a 960c that does the same thing. The paper seems to feed in fine,
but the right side of the text is just a couple of millimeters higher that
the left. The rollers are clean, and the paper path seems straight. Even
when the printer is testing the paper type with the blue light, the paper
seems straight in the printer. It's not enough to throw the thing out, but
it is irritating.

Henry

 

[Guest]

I have a Deskjet 970cxi. Out of the blue it now prints just a little
crooked. Paper feed and path are fine, its just a little crooked. I thought
that this was unique until a friend of mine said that her last HP Deskjet
did that and she bought an Epson instead. It must be some electronic issue
or adjustment (almost smacks of built in obsolescense). Though I have had
my 970 for a few years, it has seen less than 1500 pages of use.

Is there a history with HP DJ's doing this and is there a fix for it? To
spend the money to have it fixed by HP (certainly at least $75 or $100)
makes little sense.

Thank you, Lar

It's dirty. Get some of the sticky cleaning sheets.

 

[Larry B]

It's dirty. Get some of the sticky cleaning sheets.

Got me on that one. Do major stores like Best Buy carry those??

 

[Jay]

Take this info on the caution, but I just get some good 24 pound paper,
spray a single sheet across the top (about 4 inches from the top down the
page - alll the way across) with a bottle of Windex - not soaked but wet.

Then I remove all the paper, insert the wet end first and press the paper
feed. I hold onto the end of the paper and "resist" the roller feed just
slightly and then release it and let it pass through. Also, using a
Windexed cloth across the rubber platen can remove a lot of build up.

There is probably a lot of adversity to this method, but with care I have
found it to work quite well.

 

[Larry B.]

It's dirty. Get some of the sticky cleaning sheets.

Cleaning sheets did not work. Still crooked by 2.5mm (bottom is further to
the right than the top).

 

[SteveB]

All of that generation of HP's were rather prone to minor skewing on
frequent occasion. I bodged my 930 by blu-tacking a coin to one side of the
paper feed to 'counter skew' the paper on it's way in. My later 5550 is
rather better in this respect because the paper is held more securely in the
tray.

 

[Larry B.]

Thanks for the tip. It is odd that it did not do it for years, then one
day....skewed. Sounds electronic, as if the input signal gets distorted by
the printer before it gets sent to the printheads. Again the paper is going
in and out perfectly. Time to "bodge"!