Hardware - - Patients is wearing thin!

beth313 · #1 05-25-2008, 12:32 AM

Hi all,

My HP photosmart 7900 series crapped out on me. It started printing horribly grey images. So, I have researched and researched and researched to no avail. I went to a store yesterday and the guy talked me into the HP D7460 printer. Well folks, it prints exactly the same as my old. Really grey over tone. I printed strait from my camera card, no adjustments. I also took the camera card to a local drug store and they printed directly as well. The store copy is beautiful. Both HP prints are awful.

Any suggestions on a new printer? I would like to upgrade to a large format printer, but it’s not as important to me as quality and speed. I have been researching theHP Photosmart B8350 Pro Photo Printer
Epson Stylus R1400 or R1900

They both seem to have 50/50 reviews. The only downside to any Epson I have read is it seems as though the ink cartgriges clog often. Other than that, they are all getting fantastic reviews. But with 2 prior HP’s, I am wondering if HP changed their ink chemistry to suddenly start printing so grey? Anyone experience this or know if they changed their ink quality?

Please help me before I crack!
Thanks,
Beth

Swampy · #2 05-25-2008, 07:40 AM

Beth,

The only downside to any Epson I have read is it seems as though the ink cartgriges clog often.

I have two Epson printers (1800 and 900N). The 900N is 8 years old!. It has never clogged. I don't use it every day, but I do keep it turned on so that when I boot my system it goes through it's short cleaning routine at start up. I also use only Epson inks, no substitutes. Yes, the inks are expensive (aren't they all) and yes, I waste a little ink on that start up cleaning process, but it has paid off.

The Epson 1800 wide format is also a work horse. It's too big to keep at my work station, but I do plug it in once a week and do a through head check. It's still chugging along after 3 years.

mistermonday · #3 05-25-2008, 07:50 AM

Beth, your problems are most likely not your HP printers but your settings and how you are managing color in your workflow. What software are you using to prepare and print your photos? Typically when you set up your print settings you chose whether your s/w manages the color conversions or your printer does. You also need to specify the type of media you are printing on. If both printers are giving you the same poor results, there is most likely something wrong with the settings. You may want to investigate further before going to Epson because it has the same issues. If the settings are not correct, the prints get ugly very quickly.
Regards, Murray

Kraellin · #4 05-25-2008, 09:37 AM

Quote:

My HP photosmart 7900 series crapped out on me. It started printing horribly grey images.

there is most likely nothing wrong with your printer, especially the second one, the newer one. but there might be something wrong with one of the ink cartridges. if you are printing directly from a camera memory card, all of the color matching shld be done internally in the printer and you shld be getting decent prints. my first instinct would be to check each ink cartridge and make sure it's in the correct slot and that it's seated properly and next i would pull every one of them and make sure the tape had been pulled from the ink cartridge head. it sounds very much like one of your color ink cartridges is not feeding ink properly.

i also know a tiny bit about the D7460. it uses the new 02 inks. these are exceptional inks at a remarkably lower price than the older HP inks. i have a printer which uses these and they are really quite remarkable. so, i'm very suspicious here of the installation of the inks. i believe the D7460 uses six cartridges. if any one of them is empty or not installed properly, you could get that gray toning. so, you're going to need to check each and every ink cartridge here. make sure there is no tape over the head. make sure the cartridge is in upside right and fully seated with the locking arm fully clicked down over the cartridge and that each cartridge is in the proper slot. putting the yellow in the magenta slot, for instance, is going to screw things up. i know all this sounds a bit patronizing and such, but it's something you need to do anyways.

and, if none of that works, try using HP's online tech support. they are generally pretty good. i've used them before and it was generally pretty painless

and come to think of it, the 02 inks dont have a sticky tape over the cartridge head, so that bit would only apply to the older printer.

and, if that doesnt do it, take the printer back to the store and have them print something there with that printer.

beth313 · #5 05-25-2008, 12:08 PM

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I did look at my settings prior to buying a new one. I thought the same thing as well. So with the new printer, I have set the color management/settings to every possible way and it's not changing anything. I printed from Microsoft Digital Image 10 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. Both software's are printing grey pictures. Any other suggestions? My printer drivers and graphics card is up to date as well. That's why I was wondering if it wasn't the actual ink...if HP changed the chemistry of the ink perhaps since it's happening with both printers. They are both printing ugly grey tones.