hp deskjet 840c strange bands

[Simon]

Hi there,
I've had my HP Deskjet 840C printer for a few years and it's been fine.
In the last couple of days there has been an odd problem. When I print
a full page jpg I get different bands of quality. i.e. a few
centimetres where the colour is perfect, then a thicker band of partly
faded colour, another band of badly faded colour, then a perfect
strip, and so on.
If I create a word document with different colour strips for the whole
length of the page, this prints fine.
Any clues?

Thanks

Simon

 

[mark_digital©]

Hi there,
I've had my HP Deskjet 840C printer for a few years and it's been fine.
In the last couple of days there has been an odd problem. When I print
a full page jpg I get different bands of quality. i.e. a few
centimetres where the colour is perfect, then a thicker band of partly
faded colour, another band of badly faded colour, then a perfect
strip, and so on.
If I create a word document with different colour strips for the whole
length of the page, this prints fine.
Any clues?

Thanks

Simon

You wouldn't happen to have an ionizor (air filter) close by do you?

 

[Simon]

You wouldn't happen to have an ionizor (air filter) close by do you?

That sounds interesting, but no I don't. I don't think anything has
changed with my setup recently.

 

[mark_digital©]

You wouldn't happen to have an ionizor (air filter) close by do you?

That sounds interesting, but no I don't. I don't think anything has
changed with my setup recently.

 

[Tony]

Hi there,
I've had my HP Deskjet 840C printer for a few years and it's been fine.
In the last couple of days there has been an odd problem. When I print
a full page jpg I get different bands of quality. i.e. a few
centimetres where the colour is perfect, then a thicker band of partly
faded colour, another band of badly faded colour, then a perfect
strip, and so on.
If I create a word document with different colour strips for the whole
length of the page, this prints fine.
Any clues?

Thanks

Simon

What does the internal sample page look like?
With the printer turned on press and hold the RESUME button until the printer
starts printing, then release the button.
You can also run an internal diagnostic on this printer.
With the printer turned on press and hold the POWER button.
Press the RESUME button four times.
Release the POWER button.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Bob Headrick]

Hi there,
I've had my HP Deskjet 840C printer for a few years and it's been fine.
In the last couple of days there has been an odd problem. When I print
a full page jpg I get different bands of quality. i.e. a few
centimetres where the colour is perfect, then a thicker band of partly
faded colour, another band of badly faded colour, then a perfect
strip, and so on.

Most likely you have either a defective cartridge or an interconnect issue.
Try printing a nozzle diagnostic test as shown in solution 3 at
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...oduct=59868&rule=16525&docname=bpd07098#N1008

If the nozzle pattern shows regular missing sections then try cleaning the
cartridge contacts as shown at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&rule=16525&docname=c00058182

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Simon]

Most likely you have either a defective cartridge or an interconnect issue.
Try printing a nozzle diagnostic test as shown in solution 3 at
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...oduct=59868&rule=16525&docname=bpd07098#N1008

The diagnostic test printed some grey boxes, then a cyan, magenta &
yellow box. The last item in the text was:
Error Code: 90020101. I had a look at the HP website, but couldn't
anything useful about this.

If the nozzle pattern shows regular missing sections then try cleaning the
cartridge contacts as shown at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&rule=16525&docname=c00058182

I ran this and everything looks ok. I tried printing another large
picture, but again only got a few inches of good colour before it
faded out.

 

[Adrian]

I once had a very resembling problem due to a bad printer RAM module.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, the RAM is not (easy) replaceable for
you printer model.

 

[Simon]

I once had a very resembling problem due to a bad printer RAM module.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, the RAM is not (easy) replaceable for
you printer model.

In the end I replaced the cartridge and that solved the problem. The
old cartridge obviously still had ink in it and all tests would run
fine, but just couldn't handle full page pictures. Odd :-/