Miscellaneous Printout Problems

Incorrect or garbled characters

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

Incorrect margins

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

Check the printer settings on the Main window (Windows) or in the Page Setup dialog box (Macintosh). Make sure the settings are appropriate for the paper size you are using. See the online help for details.

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

Printout has a slight slant

If Fast Economy is selected in Paper & Quality Options in Advanced printer settings (for Windows), or in Print Quality which is available when you select Advanced mode in Print Settings (for Macintosh), 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

Inverted image

Clear the Mirror Image check box in the printer driver, or turn off the “Mirror Image” setting in your application. For instructions, see the online help for the printer driver or for your application.

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

Blank pages print

Check the printer settings on the Main window (Windows) or in the Page Setup dialog box (Macintosh). Make sure the settings are appropriate for the paper size you are using. See the 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

Printed side is smeared or scuffed

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

Turn off the printer, then hold down the ink button and press the power button to turn on the printer.

Clear the High Speed check box in your Advanced printer settings. See the online help for details.

Load plain paper and press the paper button to feed and eject paper several times. 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

Select Thick paper and envelopes in the Printer and Option Information window (Windows), or in the Extension Setting dialog box (Mac OS X). See the online help for details.

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

Printing is too slow

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

Clear all customized settings and select Text as the Quality Option in your printer settings (Windows). Clear all customized settings and select Automatic as the Mode in your printer settings (Macintosh), then move the slider to Speed. See the online help for more information.
See Accessing the printer driver for Windows
See Accessing the printer driver for Mac OS X

If you print continuously for an extended period, the paper may temporarily stop feeding or the print head carriage 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