Printer problems

ripplyuk

I have an Epson XP-422 and I can’t get it to print anything properly. I’ve tried all the troubleshooting options including head cleaning,  alignment etc. Everything comes out with big chunks missing, not lined up correctly and often blurred. Does anyone know any way to fix this? 

I have a coat to return and the company requires me to print the label. There’s nowhere local that offers a printing service so if I can’t fix this, I’m going to have to buy a new printer. This is an example of the mess that comes out. 

Neil_Jones

Do you see the same effect if you print a nozzle check?  Do you see all the segments happily on the nozzle check?  Does this affect everything and not just this image?

That effect looks similar to double spaced text printing, except on an image, obviously.

It almost looks like something is sitting on the rollers inside the printer and covering that part of the page when you print, going round with the roller.

I'd attempt the so-called "etch-a-sketch" fix first - turn the printer off, take all the paper out, unplug the printer and then turn it upside down and give it a good shake.  You never know.

Also get a piece of A4 card (not too thick, only slightly thicker than a sheet of A4, think photo paper) and see if you can manually feed it from the bottom of the printer back upwards.  It should go through easily.  You may have to force and guide it slightly but it should pass through.  If there's anything in the way to cause this effect it should come out with it.  Again, you may be surprised.

ripplyuk

@Neil_Jones When I print a nozzle check I get this tiny little box of faint lines on the top left of a blank sheet 

ripplyuk

Another example. This is what it should print: 
And this is what it actually prints: 

ripplyuk

Putting card through from the bottom is almost impossible. The rollers are really tight. I can get part of it in but then it takes such force, the card just ends up bending. 

Shaking it hasn’t helped. 

cymruchris

https://download.epson-europe.com/pub/download/3789/epson378944eu.pdf

Have you done everything from P79-82? (at least twice)

And has it been standing a long time with no printing? How old are the cartridges? (And how full?) 

Neil_Jones

The nozzle check implies there is a blockage in the heads.  This is almost always caused by the printer not being used for a while so you get a glob of ink that's dried out at the bottom of the cartridge/print head where it feeds out to the paper and because it won't shift (as it would have effectively solidified by now), the printer is effectively printing round it.

The only real solution if you haven't done so already is to either:  Print your document in super high quality mode (this may help initially with the packing slip you need) as it can help to clear the blockage, replace the cartridges if you haven't done so already in the hope that the blockage is in the bottom of the cartridge and not the print head itself), or keep doing head cleaning.  Eventually if you print in super high quality often enough it should eventually clear.  But it may take a while, this is part of the issue with inkjets if they're not regularly used unfortunately.

Forget what I wrote about cardboard, its irrelevant now.  The issue is between cartridge and paper.

ripplyuk

That must be the problem. I rarely use this printer. It has sat idle for at least a couple of months, maybe more. Normally as long as I do the head cleaning/alignment it will fix itself but not this time. I’ve tried all those things at least 3 times today. It has plenty of ink. That cartridge was replaced the last time I used the printer but I’ll try another new cartridge anyway. 

How do I print in high quality? The only options I can find are colour or black&white. 

Neil_Jones

ripplyuk said:

That must be the problem. I rarely use this printer. It has sat idle for at least a couple of months, maybe more. Normally as long as I do the head cleaning/alignment it will fix itself but not this time. I’ve tried all those things at least 3 times today. It has plenty of ink. That cartridge was replaced the last time I used the printer but I’ll try another new cartridge anyway. 

How do I print in high quality? The only options I can find are colour or black&white. 

Print your document in the normal way and there should be a button somewhere Printer Properties.  That will open up the Epson control software and you can change the print quality there.  Note that this only affects the quality for as long as you stay in the program you're printing from, because otherwise it goes back to the default.

Depending on the software you get a choice of five printing options, draft through  to "Best quality"/Photo.  These all work on normal A4 paper and the idea is it'll go over the unprinted area multiple times (as if it were doing a photo) and it should get you out the hole you need to get your label done. 

J_B

Try this

Get a saucer -  put some strong spirit (vodka?)  in saucer - soak heads of cartridges for a while - wipe clean - try again ...

🤔

getmore4less

There was a post recently where someone had used a £10 cleaning kit and got a head cleared(found it).
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6164154/printer-shortages/p3

not going to help in the short term.
that printhead test it looks like the blue might be working best could try the image you want to print in blue and see if that is any better