The Image Quality Print helps you to determine whether you have image quality problems, and if you do, what is the cause of the problem and how to resolve it. The print contains patterns that are designed to highlight any image quality problems.

printhead status check

Before printing and analyzing the Image Quality Print, it is recommended that you use the front panel to check the status of each printhead. Select the icon, then Printhead Info, then the printhead color, and the front panel will display the printhead status.

• If the printhead needs replacing, see how do I remove printheads?
• If the printhead needs recovering, see how do I perform printhead recovery?

A printhead that needs recovering is probably out of warranty and approaching the end of its life. You do not need to replace it immediately, but you should at least make sure that you have a replacement printhead ready. See ordering ink supplies.

how to print the image quality print

Before you print the Image Quality Print you must ensure that you have A2- or C-sized printing material (or larger) loaded into the printer.

To print the Image Quality Print, use the front panel. Choose the icon, then Utilities > Test Prints > Image Quality Print > Page1, Page2, Page3, Page4 and press the Enter key.

how to use the image quality print

1. Use the same media type and image quality setting as you were using when you discovered the image quality problem.
2. Study each of the test patterns in the order that they are shown; that is, 1 through 4.

The Image Quality Print should look like this:

analyzing the image quality print

test pattern 1: primary colors

The purpose of this particular part of the Image Quality Print is to test the overall quality of the document with regard to dense colors.

The colored stripes are in the same order as they appear on the printer as if you are facing it, that is, from light cyan on the left to black on the right.

Each pair of colors is printed by only one printhead. So it's easy to find the root cause of the image quality problem.

This array of colored stripes is designed to check for certain defects with the printer. It should not be used to check for color consistency or accuracy.

If your printer is functioning correctly, this part of the print will have no problems. There is no banding in any of the colors.

However, if you do see problems with this print and the image quality is not acceptable, you will need to perform some corrective action.

Banding

Banding occurs when you see repetitive horizontal bands within the printed image. They can appear as light or dark bands.

Banding is caused by problems with:

• the printheads
• media advance

Problems with the printheads

Banding caused by problems with the printheads will be apparent in the Image Quality Print because the banding does not appear in all colors. In this case, the colored strip that has banding was caused by the printhead of the same color. The colored stripes are in the same order as they appear on the printer as if you are facing it; that is, from light cyan on the left to black on the right.

For example, the Image Quality Print shown below was printed with a printer that has a cyan printhead problem.

corrective action

1. Perform printhead recovery if you have not already done so.
2. If there is no improvement in print quality, replace the printhead that causes the problem.

problems with media advance

If the printer has media advance problems you will see banding in all the colors.

For example, the Image Quality Print shown below was printed by a printer that has a media advance problem.

Note: The bands appear light because the roller has advanced too much. Alternatively, the bands could appear dark because the printing material has not advanced sufficiently.

In high quality modes, media advance problems might not appear as lines of banding, they might appear grainy instead. The banding or graininess will appear in all the colors.

corrective action

1. If the image is grainy, this could also be a symptom of problems with the bi-directional alignment. Refer to test pattern 3: bi-directional alignment (below). If this pattern is OK, go to step 2.
2. Perform the accuracy calibration with the same printing material with which you experienced unacceptable image quality.
3. Perform the banding calibration with the same printing material with which you experienced unacceptable image quality.
4. If there is no improvement in print quality, contact HP.

It is also possible that this kind of banding was caused because you were using printing material not supported by HP. In this case, try using HP-supported printing material and see whether the problem is solved.

test pattern 2: color-to-color alignment

If the printer has color-to-color alignment problems then the Image Quality Print in test pattern 2 (shown below) will have misaligned colors.

corrective action

1. Perform printhead alignment with the same printing material with which you experienced unacceptable image quality.
2. If there is no improvement in print quality, contact HP.

test pattern 3: bi-directional alignment

If a printer has bi-directional alignment problems, lines are fuzzy or not straight. The pattern seen below is designed to highlight this kind of problem. Check the lines on this test pattern, if they have any defects like the ones described above, perform the corrective action.

corrective action

1. Perform printhead alignment with the same printing material with which you experienced unacceptable image quality.
2. If there is no improvement in print quality, contact HP.

test pattern 4: vertical line straightness

If a printer has vertical line straightness problems, lines are fuzzy or not straight. The pattern seen below is designed to highlight this kind of problem. Check the lines on this test pattern, if they have any defects like the ones described above, perform the corrective action.

corrective action

1. Perform printhead alignment with the same printing material with which you experienced unacceptable image quality.
2. If there is no improvement in print quality, contact HP.

no defects found in the image quality print

If the entire Image Quality Print contains no defects and you still experience image quality problems, listed below are some things to check:

• Perhaps the print mode in the printer is incorrect; see how do I change the print quality?
• Check the driver you are using to print. If it is a non-HP driver, go to http://www.designjet.hp.com/ and click on technical support to find and download the correct HP driver.
• Perhaps the settings in the non-HP RIP are incorrect. Refer to the documentation which came with the RIP.
• Perhaps the software applications you are using have the wrong settings.