Help with HP7960

[john y.k. lee]

I have spent a year printing with the HP7960. However, recently, I

am experiencing some serious problems with color. Nothing matches.

I never profiled my screen, because the colors out of the printer

were close enough to the monitor, and I'm not a professional.

 

Recently, however, NOTHING matches. It is disgusting. I thought it

was Microsoft XP SP2, and thus I removed it. I uninstalled the

software and drivers and reinstalled them. This has not helped.

What can I do? I just want to get back to my prior situation.

[beauh44]

Hi John, I believe you've asked about this before?<P>

 

<I>I never profiled my screen, because the colors out of the printer were close enough to the monitor, and I'm not a professional.</i><P>

 

You don't have to be a professional to profile your display John. You just need about $150 bucks for a Spyder or something similar. It only takes a few minutes and would go a long way towards sorting out your problem. It's quite possible that your monitor has "drifted". Many people find they must calibrate their displays once a week for them to remain accurate and consistent.<P>

 

Another possibility - although I wouldn't recommend it until you get a Spyder or something similar - is having a custom profile made. Cathy's Profiles can do this for you and it will cost you $40 per profile for each type of paper you plan to use.<P>

 

Finally,, I don't believe you've described how you use the HP print driver. Are you using ICM and paper profiles? This is the best way to go but it assumes you're using Color Management and without a calibrated display, your results are likely to be poor. Good luck!

[tom_halfhill]

Try running your printer diagnostics. It's possible that one of the print nozzles is clogged or one particular color is empty.

 

I am using an HP 7960 printer with Windows XP Home and SP2 without the problems you describe. I have never color-profiled my system. I'm using the out-of-the-box drivers. My only complaint with color printing is the colors are sometimes oversaturated for my taste.

[john y.k. lee]

Ah ha! I think I found the problem. I think it is a faulty cartridge. I recently changed the HP 57 cartridge, and this has caused all the color problems. I just printed a black and white and there was no problem!

 

I purchased the HP57 from www.walgreens.com for a lower price. Perhaps it was a cheap refill?