Incorrect or garbled characters
Incorrect margins
Printout has a slight slant
Inverted image
Blank pages print
Printed side is smeared or scuffed
Printing is too slow

• Clear any stalled print jobs from the Spool Manager (Windows Me and 98 SE).
  See Canceling Printing

• Turn off the printer and computer. Make sure the printer’s interface cable is securely plugged in.

• Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it.
  See Uninstalling the Printer Software

Top

• Check the margin settings in your application. Make sure that the margins are within the printable area of the page.
  See Printable area

• Make sure the printer driver settings are appropriate for the paper size you are using.
  For Windows, check the Main window.
  For Mac OS X, check the Page Setup dialog box.
  See the printer driver online help for details.

• Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it.
  See Uninstalling the Printer Software

Top

• If Fast Economy is selected in Paper & Quality Options in the Advanced window in your printer driver (for Windows), or in Print Quality which is available when you select Advanced mode in Print Settings (for Mac OS X), change it to Economy.
  (Fast Economy is only available when the paper type is plain papers.)

• Make sure that the paper is loaded into the sheet feeder correctly.
  See Loading Paper

Top

• For Windows, clear the Mirror Image check box from the Page Layout window of your printer driver, or turn off the "Mirror Image" setting in your application.
  For Mac OS X, clear the Mirror Image check box in Print Settings in the Print dialog box of your printer driver, or turn off the "Mirror Image" setting in your application.
  For instructions, see the online help for your printer driver or for your application.

• Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it.
  See Uninstalling the Printer Software

Top

• Make sure the printer driver settings are appropriate for the paper size you are using.
  For Windows, check the Main window.
  For Mac OS X, check the Page Setup dialog box.
  See the printer driver online help for details.

• Check the Skip Blank Page setting by clicking the Speed & Progress button on the Maintenance screen of the printer driver. If it is selected, blank pages in your data are not printed (for Windows only).

• Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it.
  See Uninstalling the Printer Software

After trying one or more of these solutions, run a printer operation check to check your results.
See Running a printer operation check

Top

• If the paper is curled toward the printable side, flatten it or curl it slightly in the opposite direction.

• Clear the High Speed check box in the settings from your printer driver.
  For Windows, check the Advanced window.
  For Mac OS X, check the Print Settings dialog box from the Print dialog box.
  See the printer driver online help for details.

• Run the Paper Guide Cleaning utility.
  See Cleaning the Paper Guide

If the problem persists, ink may have leaked inside the printer. In this case, wipe the inside of the printer with a soft, clean cloth.
See Cleaning Your Printer

• Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it.
  See Uninstalling the Printer Software

Top

• Make sure the paper type selected in the printer driver is appropriate for the type of paper loaded in the printer.
  See Selecting the Correct Paper Type

• For Windows, clear all customized settings and select Text as the Quality Option from your printer driver's Main window.
  For Mac OS X, clear all customized settings and select Automatic as the Mode and move the slider to Speed in the Print Settings dialog box from your printer driver's Print dialog box. See the printer driver online help for details.
  See Accessing the printer driver for Windows.
  See Accessing the printer driver for Mac OS X

• Close any unnecessary applications.

• In rare cases, the paper may temporarily stop feeding or the ink cartridge holder may pause for a while. This is to slow down the printing speed and prevent the printer mechanism from overheating and being damaged. If this happens, you can continue to print, but we recommend stopping and leaving the printer for about thirty minutes with the power on. (The printer does not recover with the power off.) After you restart, the printer will print at normal speed.

• Uninstall the printer driver, then reinstall it.
  See Uninstalling the Printer Software

If you try all of the methods above and cannot solve the problem, see the following:
Increasing the Print Speed (For Windows Only)

Top