Common print-quality problems
Missing color
One ink cartridge may be empty, clogged, incorrectly seated, or disabled by a driver setting.
Streaks
Streaks can come from clogged nozzles, dirty rollers, low toner, or a damaged imaging drum.
Faded black
Check black ink or toner levels, print quality mode, paper type, and whether the printer is using composite black.
Blank page
Confirm the document is not blank, remove protective cartridge tape, check ink or toner, and run the printer cleaning utility.
Misalignment
Look for skewed borders, clipped edges, or shifted crosshairs, then check paper guides, scaling, and alignment utilities.
Wrong colors
Driver color settings, paper profile, low ink, clogged nozzles, or browser color conversion can cause unexpected colors.
Banding
Repeated horizontal bands often indicate nozzle clogging, low ink, toner distribution issues, or print-head movement problems.
If you have not printed a diagnostic yet, start with the color test page, black and white test page, or alignment test page.