Black horizontal lines

recharge(with new OPC, PCR and mag roller) or try another cartridge - if problem not solved - fuser film damaged

Fill an old black cartridge with hot water and scan and copy something with a lot of black on it. cleaned out my black ink clog after about 12 copies. Put new ink in and it's working fine. Oh yeah, use a syring minus needle to fill lower o-ring on back of cartridge.

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

To solve the printing problem..


# Hold the cartridge upside down, with the bar-code label facing you and take a damp paper towel.
# Use the towel to wipe the printhead of the cartridge on the bottom (where the ink comes out). Wipe the printhead horizontally in one direction only (left to right).
# Continue doing this until it looks clean.
# Then dab the cartridge on the towel to make sure the ink is flowing.
# Next, look inside the printer and locate the carrier that holds ink cartridges. Caution: Make sure the cartridges are not installed at this point.

1. Look for a shiny piece of metal underneath the contacts at the back of the carrier.
2. Take a damp cotton swab (use water only!) and wipe along the bottom of the shiny metal piece. Note: You may need more than one swab.

# Reinstall the cartridges, making sure you snap them correctly into the printer.


Hope this help. Please Rate My Response! Thanks!

I was so pissed off that so many on the web had this same problem that I spent many hours trying to get it to work. I am sure that this is not how it is designed to work but my envelopes got printed.First I went under File, Print, Properties to Page Set-up for envelope #10. I also ********** print colour images in black and white which someone else had suggested- although it might not be necessary. I selected quick print but normal should probably work too. I then closed out these two windows. Then under tools, I selected Letters and Mailing, then envelopes and labels, typed in the addresses, went under options and changed the feed from automatic to default tray, which automatically changes the feed method to the 4th one out of 6 which wasn't what I wanted but ignore it. Check off face up. Putting the envelope into the printer was bizarre- it has to be inserted very far into the printer until only 2-3 inches of the envelope stick above the horizontal surface of the printer. It must be inserted into the middle of the paper holder, until it is just 2-3 inches sticking up, and then slide it all the way over to the right where the printer indicates the envelope should be- nice and straight against the right margin. Do not use the movable paper holders that they suggest you swing over to the right to hold your envelope- or printing won't occur for some odd reason. Press O.K. on envelopes and labels and then press print. Good luck- it worked for me.

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.

I kicked the **** out of it and it started to print. I don't recommend it if you are afraid you may damage the electronics. The way I saw I spent damn near 70 dollars on some useless print cartidges nothing was wrong with them. The error message kept saying ADD CARTRIDGES. Anyway I'm thinking about a new printer anyhow.

hi, i was having the exact same problem with my printer. and i also tried reinstalling the driver. after reading your post i decided to see if the printing problem occurred when i used the other colors, and it looks like it's only a problem with the black ink. i printed out a sheet with the text in red and another in blue and they came out perfectly. but the black grid that surrounded the blue text, still looked problematic.

so... that means that the black ink is the problem. i haven't tried putting in a new cartridge. did you say that your problem occurred after you put in a new black cartridge, or did you try putting in a new black cartridge and you still had the same problem?

Put plain paper in the printer and try to clean the nozzles.

-Start->All Programs->Lexmark 5400 Series->Lexmark Solution Center->Maintenance->Clean to fix horizontal streaks.

Good luck!
Steve

Have you tried updating the printer driver (first uninstall the existing driver and make sure you have the latest one already saved to your PC before starting). I don't think your current one has mysteriously misbehaved, I suspect that it has been corrupted in some way (a new download may have done something to a critical part of the driver). By deleting and re-installing you are "refreshing" everything. Good luck!