[SOLVED] HPLIP printing issue - photos

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hello everyone,

Kubuntu 18.04 here. Just installed. Previously on Linux Mint.

For some reason, when I print photos, they now come out with thin, vertical lines/streaking. I'm using an HP Envy 5030 and have installed HPLIP on Kubuntu. I have tried all "print quality" and "output mode" listed on the HPLIP Toolbox (except for "pixel resolution"), to no avail. At first I thought that the HP needs cleaning, but after running a number of self-clean options, the problem is still there - and it only occurs when printing photos on photo paper: any kind of print, text or image, on plain papers, comes out perfectly clean - no marks, lines, or the like.

I'm still wondering if dirt has accumulated somewhere in the printer and it only affects photo papers, for some reason. I will ask the HP customer service. Before I do that, I was wondering, could it be a drivers issue of some kind? I'm asking as - and I don't really know if this is relevant at all - I printed on photo paper using HPLIP on Mint till the other day, and it was all good.

Any idea? Please let me know if you want me to provide more info, etc.

thanks!

[claydoh]

As Mint is Ubuntu 18.04 as well, ie using the exact same drivers, hplip software, etc, looking at the hardware is the logical first step. As it prints fine on normal paper, this makes it more likely it is a printer issue. I wonder if it could be a paper issue, an off batch? is there any specific setting in the software for paper selection?

Are you using third party inks?

[Snowhog]

How 'old' is the printer too?

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the printer is 10-month old.

claydoh: good point about the paper quality, batch, etc. I will try and use a new batch and see how it goes. Failing that, if definitely it's not a drivers issue, I'll contact the HP customer service.

I won't mark this as solved for a while, just in case someone can think of something else. Thanks in the meantime!

sorry, forgotten to say that I'm using original HP cartridges

[GreyGeek]

Several years ago I purchased an HP printer specifically to print color photos using photo paper. I encountered the same issue. I burned through a $58 set or color cartridges and more money on photo paper, trying to find the right settings to eliminate the streaking problem so that I could save money and print my own color photos. To no avail. That printer is setting on a shelf in the storage room of my garage, wrapped in plastic. I replaced it with an HP Laserjet P1606dn monochrome duplex printer. To get color photos of my color images I save them to a USB stick and take them to Walmart.

A good friend of mine needed to print manuals in color and asked what I'd recommend. I told him a Brother laser color printer. He's happy with it. Oh, stay away from Lexmark and Cannon.

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sorry to hear about your experience, GreyGeek. On my end, I'm happy to report that it was definitely a case of photo paper gone bad (go figure, it was practically new...).