Is your printer producing the wrong colours?

If your printer is printing dodgy colours read on…

There are a number of reasons why this can happen. The most common being print head issues, the print heads can become clogged or misaligned.

The number one cause of an inkjet printer producing the wrong colours or any other sort of low quality printed document is clogged print heads. When your inkjet printer prints, coloured ink flows from the ink cartridge through tiny holes in the print heads before reaching the paper. The ink which remains stuck in the print heads can dry up and plug these small holes.

Fortunately, modern printers come with software that you can use to clean the print heads. You do this by selecting the cleaning option in the printer settings, and then your printer manufacturer’s software will tell the printer to attempt to clean the print heads.

A misaligned print head could also be the cause of blurred images or pink grass. The print heads need to be properly aligned with each other so you printer can properly produce images and colours that come out looking crisp and sharp. Your printer manufacturer’s software should also be able to help you fix alignment issues.

How do I unclog or realign the print heads?

1. On Windows, click the start menu and open the Control Panel.

2. Open the printer’s folder, then right click on your printer and select “Printing Preferences”.

3. When your printer manufacturers utility comes up, look for the option to clean or re-align the print heads.

4. If you choose to clean the print heads, your printer will fire a small amount of ink from the ink cartridges into the print heads and attempt to wet and loosen the ink blocking up the print head holes.

5. If you choose to realign your print heads, follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Your printer may print a test document and this will help ensure the alignment is correct.

6. After you have finished all of the above, try using your manufacturer’s software to print a test page. This should allow you to see if the problem is fixed.

Dried up or empty ink cartridges

Some inkjet printers use separate cartridges for Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. These colours are combined to create other colours. For example, blue and yellow creates green. So if you notice your printer is producing a very yellow shade of green, there may be a problem with the Cyan ink cartridge. Your printer manufacturer’s software should inform you if one of your ink cartridges is empty, so make sure you check your printers utility to view the status of your ink cartridges. Unfortunately if your printer uses one ink cartridge that contains all three colours (Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta) you may have to buy a new cartridge.

Laser toner cartridge colour problems

There is no risk of clogged print heads if you have a laser printer as they do not have print heads and they contain no liquid so there is no chance of dried ink. If your colour laser toner cartridge is printing poor colours, it is likely the cartridge needs replacing.