any computer printer wizards out there?

[yomama]

I have a HP Officejet 5610xi All in One printer. It's seen better days, but still prints good. My problem is, I can't get it to print a picture without some lines running through it. I just recently bought and installed new ink cartridges, black and colored, and went through and cleaned the cartridges, according to the manuals directions. I've done a printer test, and even though the test came out a little better than before I cleaned the cartridges, when I go to print the picture, it is showing even more lines on it. I've tried it on glossy photo paper, matte photo paper and just regular paper, all with the same results. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do to remedy this? Thank so much!

 

[ambrosia]

...maybe clean the printer head itself? I have three dogs in the house, and numerous cats coming and going and all it takes is one little piece of "gunk" and the printer fusses....

 

[heritagebirds]

Yes, cleaning the printheads(on the cartridge in the HP) might help... Saw that you did that. I also clean the electrical contacts on the printer(unplugged)VERY LIGHTLY and on the cartridge, HP suggests using a dry swab.

 

[Lothiriel]

Yeah, I would try cleaning the printer head. The option for that is usually in the printer "Toolbox" (on your computer).

 

[yomama]

Quote:
I did this already, no improvement.

heritagebirds:
"Yes, cleaning the printheads(on the cartridge in the HP) might help... Saw that you did that. I also clean the electrical contacts on the printer(unplugged)VERY LIGHTLY and on the cartridge, HP suggests using a dry swab."
Just because it's been a very long day,

, I'm assuming the electrical contacts on the printer are where the cartridges come into contact with the printer, inside?(they are white with copper colored bumps all over it, for lack of technical terms,lol)

 

[heritagebirds]

Quote:
I did this already, no improvement.

heritagebirds:
"Yes, cleaning the printheads(on the cartridge in the HP) might help... Saw that you did that. I also clean the electrical contacts on the printer(unplugged)VERY LIGHTLY and on the cartridge, HP suggests using a dry swab."
Just because it's been a very long day,

, I'm assuming the electrical contacts on the printer are where the cartridges come into contact with the printer, inside?(they are white with copper colored bumps all over it, for lack of technical terms,lol)

Yep, that's them! I would clean them on the printer and on the cartridge.

 

[yomama]

Quote:
I did this already, no improvement.

heritagebirds:
"Yes, cleaning the printheads(on the cartridge in the HP) might help... Saw that you did that. I also clean the electrical contacts on the printer(unplugged)VERY LIGHTLY and on the cartridge, HP suggests using a dry swab."
Just because it's been a very long day,

, I'm assuming the electrical contacts on the printer are where the cartridges come into contact with the printer, inside?(they are white with copper colored bumps all over it, for lack of technical terms,lol)

Yep, that's them! I would clean them on the printer and on the cartridge.

I already did on the cartridges, but I will try the ones inside the printer. Thank you!

 

[heritagebirds]

Good luck...printers can be a bugger.

 

[fuzziebutt]

You did take the tape off the bottom of the cartridges, right?

 

[yomama]

Quote:
Lol, yes, I did do that. The picture is almost printing good. All the colors are there. Its just a faint strip goes across the middle, and across the top of the picture that almost looks like a rainbow. It's also a tad fuzzy. I wish I could post a pic of it on here. It appears to me that it would be the color cartridge, because the strips look like a mini version of the test print page. Ugh, if I didn't need to print a family pic for a Christmas present, I wouldn't be so frusterated by this.

ETA: I did some more print tests and noticed that there were streaks on the test page in the same part of the paper that there were on the pic when it printed. Could this mean that there is something wrong or dirty where the paper is guided through?