HP Deskjet 3920 Color Inkjet Printer Troubleshooting

Wrong Colors

This document applies to the following printers:

HP DJ3910, 3920, 3930, 3940, 3940v

Problem

The printer is working, but the colors in the printed output are not the expected colors. The output may look as if only one color has printed, or as if a color has not printed, or as if the wrong colors have been printed.

Step 1: Check estimated ink levels

The Ink Status window appears each time the product prints a file. The window automatically displays the approximate ink level of each print cartridge. To close the Ink Status window, click Close .

Figure 1: Ink Status Window

A cartridge may be running out of ink even if the graphic shows ink remaining. Lines or streaks always appear in printouts when the cartridges begin to run out of ink. Replace print cartridges that are out of ink or low on ink.

If this feature is not be available in your operating environment, it is likely that it was turned off, or the printer was installed via the Microsoft Add Printer option. Click here to continue to the next step and print a self-test page.

If you previously chose not to show the Ink Status window but now want it to appear when you print, follow these steps:

Depending on your operating system, do one of the following to display the printers installed on the computer:
Right-click the icon representing the product, and then click Properties . The printer Properties dialog box appears.
Click the Device Settings tab.
For Display Ink Status Window, click On , and then click OK .

NOTE:If you have installed a refilled or remanufactured print cartridge, or a cartridge that has been used in another product, the ink status window will be inaccurate or unavailable.

Step 2: Print a self-test page

If the Ink Status window is not available or the cartridges are not low on ink, print a self-test page to see if the cartridges are working properly.

Press and hold the power button ( ).
Figure 2: Power button
Raise and lower the product cover four times.
Figure 3: Raise product cover
Figure 4: Lower product cover
Release the power button ( ), and the self-test page prints.

Step 3: Note which cartridges printed which areas of the diagnostic page

The black bar at the top of the self-test page is printed by the right (black) print cartridge.

The colored bars are printed by the left (tri-color) print cartridge.

Step 4: Look for defects

In general, if the product and print cartridges are working correctly, the bars should be solid and unstreaked. Also, the colors of the bars should be approximately the same as the color dots on the print cartridge label.

NOTE:Do not compare the colors on your diagnostic page to the colors on this Web page. Unless your monitor is calibrated, the colors will not be correct. Instead, compare the colors on the page to the colors dots on the print cartridge label. While the color dots may not be perfectly accurate, they are likely to be more accurate than the colors on the monitor.

Missing lines or streaked bars

If a bar is streaked, that print cartridge is not functioning correctly. If ink levels are low, the color bars will often be streaked.

Figure 5: Streaked color bar indicates that the tri-color cartridge is not functioning correctly

If your self-test page shows streaked bars, click here to continue troubleshooting (c00313117) (in English).

Color mix

If any of the colors of the bars are very different from the color dots on the cartridge label, the cartridge is not functioning correctly.

Figure 6: One of the bar colors is very different from the color dot on the cartridge - the tri-color cartridge is not functioning correctly

If your self-test page shows colors that are very different from the colors on the cartridge label, click here to continue troubleshooting (c00313147) (in English).

Missing colors

If any of the color bars is entirely missing, the cartridge is not functioning correctly.

Figure 7: Missing colors

If any of the bars is entirely missing, click here to continue troubleshooting (c00313147) (in English).

Ink smears

If the self-test page shows smeared ink, you may need to clean your cartridges.

Figure 8: Smeared ink

If your self-test page shows smeared ink, click here to continue troubleshooting (c00313140) (in English).

Step 5: If you saw no defects

If no defects appear on the diagnostic page, the cartridges and printer are probably working correctly. Click here to continue troubleshooting (c00211601) (in English).