Uneven ink I cant get my hpf380 to print evenly dark across the whole page. I put a new ink cartridge in and only the first two or three lines are dark, after that its gray and then seems almost blue or purpleish. I have tried restarting the printer, unplugging it, increaseing the printing volume. But nothing works! I have vista, could that be part of the problem? Thank you!

Did the dark lines start after the change? If so, maybe the drum on one of the cartridges is damaged. (Since you mentioned dark, I'd suspect the black cartridge.) Try replacing cartridges.

If that doesn't fix it, you can send it in for repair if it's under warranty. If it's outside warranty, I'd probably just replace it, unless you want to learn a lot about the innards of a laser printer.

Definitely a partial clog. Remove your ink cartridge and take it to your microwave. DO NOT PUT IT IN THE MICROWAVE. Fold up some paper towels and apply enough water to the towels to get wet and damp but not dripping. Heat the wet towels in the microwave to get very hot (about 30 seconds). Now, place the cartridge on the steamy hot paper towel and let the steam and hot water dissolve the dried ink. After the towel cools drag the ink contacts across the wet paper towel and look for a smooth and even line of ink. One smooth wide line for black and three smooth lines for the color . Try the drag test on some dry paper towels for the final test. If necessary repeat the whole process again. For stubborn and very old cartridges let set on the wet towel for several hours and recheck. Good Luck.

Hi
Replace the ink cartridge with another

A technique to improve print quality is to try and clean the cartridge nozzles. You may clean the cartridge by following the steps given below:
1. Go to the "Lexmark solution center." This can be done by clicking on "Start," go to "Programs" and Lexmark printer group. Click on the "Lexmark Solution center." Next click on the "Maintenance" Tab.
2. Select "Clean and Fix Horizontal streaks." Click on "Print". This will produce a printed page.
The colors that you should see here are black, yellow, magenta (a reddish purple) and cyan (a dark sky blue). You should notice the diagonal lines above and below the solid horizontal lines. These diagonal lines should be solid from left to right with no gaps.
If there are gaps in the lines or the print diminishes across the page, you should run the "Clean Print Nozzle" page a couple more times to try and clear it up. If you still have gaps at the top and bottom, you should "wick" the cartridges by following the steps given below:
1. Please open the "Solution center" again and go to the "Maintenance" Tab.
2. Select "Install color/black cartridge" and remove the cartridge or cartridges from the printer.
3. Get a damp paper towel.
4. Set the ink cartridge right side up on the damp paper towel so that the ink nozzles are against the towel and hold the cartridge in this position for about 15 seconds.
5. Now wipe the print head (on the bottom where the ink comes out) across in one direction only (left to right) until it looks clean.
6. Next dab the cartridge on the towel to make sure that the ink is flowing.
7. Snap the cartridges back into the printer.
8. On your computer, select "Old Cartridge install."
9. Repeat the "Clean Nozzle Page" one more time. If this fails to address the problem the entire procedure may need repeating.
Good Luck!!!!

Checked ink cartridge's, two had dried out, still had ink in them but the exit apertures were blocked.
So new set of ink cartridges and problem fixed.
Thank you
Jim

it prints fine using the new hp 15 black ink cartridge. But when I print with the new color 17 cartridge, it comes out with uneven 'cross lines' of color, like sliced sideways.

A technique to improve print quality is to try and clean the cartridge nozzles. You may clean the cartridge by following the steps given below:
1. Go to the "Lexmark solution center." This can be done by clicking on "Start," go to "Programs" and Lexmark printer group. Click on the "Lexmark Solution center." Next click on the "Maintenance" Tab.
2. Select "Clean and Fix Horizontal streaks." Click on "Print". This will produce a printed page.
The colors that you should see here are black, yellow, magenta (a reddish purple) and cyan (a dark sky blue). You should notice the diagonal lines above and below the solid horizontal lines. These diagonal lines should be solid from left to right with no gaps.
If there are gaps in the lines or the print diminishes across the page, you should run the "Clean Print Nozzle" page a couple more times to try and clear it up. If you still have gaps at the top and bottom, you should "wick" the cartridges by following the steps given below:
1. Please open the "Solution center" again and go to the "Maintenance" Tab.
2. Select "Install color/black cartridge" and remove the cartridge or cartridges from the printer.
3. Get a damp paper towel.
4. Set the ink cartridge right side up on the damp paper towel so that the ink nozzles are against the towel and hold the cartridge in this position for about 15 seconds.
5. Now wipe the print head (on the bottom where the ink comes out) across in one direction only (left to right) until it looks clean.
6. Next dab the cartridge on the towel to make sure that the ink is flowing.
7. Snap the cartridges back into the printer.
8. On your computer, select "Old Cartridge install."
9. Repeat the "Clean Nozzle Page" one more time. If this fails to address the problem the entire procedure may need repeating.

A technique to improve print quality is to try and clean the cartridge nozzles. You may clean the cartridge by following the steps given below: 
1. Go to the "Lexmark solution center." This can be done by clicking on "Start," go to "Programs" and Lexmark printer group. Click on the "Lexmark Solution center." Next click on the "Maintenance" Tab.  2. Select "Clean and Fix Horizontal streaks."  Click on "Print". This will produce a printed page. 
The colors that you should see here are black, yellow, magenta (a reddish purple) and cyan (a dark sky blue). You should notice the diagonal lines above and below the solid horizontal lines. These diagonal lines should be solid from left to right with no gaps. 
If there are gaps in the lines or the print diminishes across the page, you should run the "Clean Print Nozzle" page a couple more times to try and clear it up. If you still have gaps at the top and bottom, you should "wick" the cartridges by following the steps given below: 
1. Please open the "Solution center" again and go to the "Maintenance" Tab.  2. Select "Install color/black cartridge" and remove the cartridge or cartridges from the printer.  3. Get a damp paper towel.  4. Set the ink cartridge right side up on the damp paper towel so that the ink nozzles are against the towel and hold the cartridge in this position for about 15 seconds.  5. Now wipe the print head (on the bottom where the ink comes out) across in one direction only (left to right) until it looks clean.  6. Next dab the cartridge on the towel to make sure that the ink is flowing.  7. Snap the cartridges back into the printer.  8. On your computer, select "Old Cartridge install."  9. Repeat the "Clean Nozzle Page" one more time. If this fails to address the problem the entire procedure may need repeating.

Try pushing the reset button for about 5 seconds. This has worked for me.

Are the lines ink? Either you have to keep cleanng the heads until they work correctly or find out where the ink is coming from, if not from dirty heads.(dirty heads means that the ink had drived and you may have to remove them and clean them with rubbing alcohol . What color are they? Replaced any of the ink  cartridge yet?
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