HP Designjet Z3200ps 44 in User Manual

							3.If lines are too thin or missing, print the Image Diagnostics Print. See The Image Diagnostics
Print on page 163.
4.Try aligning the printheads. See 
Align the printheads on page 172. After alignment, you may wish
to reprint your job in case the problem has been solved.
5.Go to the front panel and press the View loaded paper key to see the paper advance calibration
status. If the status is RECOMMENDED, you should perform paper advance calibration: see
Recalibrate the paper advance on page 148.
If the problem persists despite all the above actions, contact your customer service representative for
further support.
Lines appear stepped or jagged
If lines in your image appear stepped or jagged when printed:
1.The problem may be inherent in the image. Try to improve the image with the application you are
using to edit it.
2.Check that you are using appropriate print-quality settings. See 
Printing on page 45.
3.Select the custom print-quality options in the driver dialog (Mac OS Print dialog), and turn on the
Maximum detail option.
4.If you are using the PCL3 driver for Windows, you can change your image rendering resolution to
300 ppi or 600 ppi depending on your printing needs. You can find the Max. application
resolution option in the driver dialogs Advanced tab, under Document Options > Printer
Features.
Lines print double or in the wrong colors
This problem can have various visible symptoms:
●Colored lines are printed double, in different colors.
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							●The borders of colored blocks are wrongly colored.
To correct this kind of problem:
1.Reseat the printheads by removing them and then reinserting them. See 
Remove a printhead
on page 117 and Insert a printhead on page 119.
2.Align the printheads. See 
Align the printheads on page 172.
Lines are discontinuous
If your lines are broken in the following way:
1.Check that you are using appropriate print-quality settings. See Printing on page 45.
2.Reseat the printheads by removing them and then reinserting them. See 
Remove a printhead
on page 117 and Insert a printhead on page 119.
3.Align the printheads. See 
Align the printheads on page 172.
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							Lines are blurred
Humidity can cause ink to soak into the paper, making the lines blurred and fuzzy. Try the following:
1.Check that your environmental conditions (temperature, humidity) are suitable for high-quality
printing. See 
Environmental specifications on page 190.
2.Check that the paper type you have loaded corresponds to the paper type selected in the front
panel and in your software. To check on the front panel, use the View loaded paper key.
3.Try changing to a heavier paper type, such as HP Heavyweight Coated Paper, HP Super
Heavyweight Plus Matte Paper or Digital Fine Art paper.
4.Select a paper type that is slightly thinner than the paper you have loaded; this will persuade the
printer to use less ink. Here are some example paper types in ascending order of thickness: Plain
Paper, Coated Paper, Heavyweight Coated Paper, Fine Art Paper, Super Heavyweight Plus Matte
Paper, Thick Fine Art Paper (>250 g/m²).
5.If you are using glossy paper, try changing to a different type of glossy paper.
6.Select the custom print-quality options in the driver dialog (Mac OS Print dialog), and turn on the
More passes option.
7.Align the printheads. See 
Align the printheads on page 172.
The Image Diagnostics Print
The Image Diagnostics Print consists of patterns designed to highlight printhead reliability problems. It
helps you to check the performance of the printheads that are currently installed in your printer, and
whether any printhead suffers from clogging or other problems.
To print the Image Diagnostics Print:
1.Use the same paper type that you were using when you detected a problem.
2.Use the View loaded paper key on the front panel to check that the selected paper type is the same
as the paper type loaded into the printer.
3.
At the printers front panel, select the Image Quality Maintenance menu icon 
, then Print
diagnostic image.
It takes about two minutes to print the Image Diagnostics Print.
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							The print is divided into two parts, both of which test printhead performance.
●Part 1 (top) consists of rectangles of pure colors, one for each printhead. This part represents the
print quality that you will get from each color.
●Part 2 (bottom) consists of small dashes, one for each nozzle on each printhead. This part
complements the first, and aims more specifically to detect how many faulty nozzles each printhead
has.
Please look carefully at the print. The names of the colors are shown above the rectangles and in the
center of the patterns of dashes.
First look at the upper part of the print (part 1). Each colored rectangle should be a uniform color without
any horizontal lines across it.
Then look at the bottom part of the print (part 2). For each individual colored pattern, check that most
of the dashes are present.
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							If you see horizontal lines in part 1 and also missing dashes in part 2 for the same color, the printhead
responsible needs cleaning. However, if the rectangles look solid, do not worry about just a few missing
dashes in part 2; these are acceptable because the printer can compensate for a few clogged nozzles.
Here is an example of a light gray printhead in a good state:
And here is an example of the same printhead in a bad state:
The gloss enhancer (E) cannot be seen when printed on its own, because it is a clear fluid. To make it
visible in the Image Diagnostics Print, it is printed over gray ink (G).
●In part 1 (top), the gloss enhancer is seen as a slightly different gray inner section of a gray
rectangle. On some papers the inner section may look darker, on other papers it may look lighter.
●In part 2 (bottom), the small dashes of gloss enhancer, one for each nozzle of the printhead, are
seen as small lighter gray dashes on top of a gray area.
On most plain and coated papers the gloss enhancer can barely be seen, so such papers are not suitable
for troubleshooting the gloss enhancer.
Corrective action
1.Clean any faulty printheads (see Clean the printheads on page 169). Then reprint the Image
Diagnostics Print to see whether the problem has been solved.
2.If the problem remains, clean the printheads again, and reprint the Image Diagnostics Print to see
whether the problem has been solved.
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							3.If the problem remains, consider cleaning your printheads manually (see Clean the printheads
on page 169). You could also try reprinting your current print job, in case it now prints satisfactorily.
4.If the problem remains, try cleaning the printhead drop detector. The printer normally notifies you
when this is necessary, but it may be worth trying even if the printer has not suggested it. See
Clean the printhead drop detector on page 170.
5.If the problem still remains, replace any persistently faulty printheads (see 
Handling ink cartridges
and printheads on page 112), or contact HP Support (see Contact HP Support on page 185).
If you still have a problem
If you still experience print-quality problems after applying the advice in this chapter, here are some
further things that you can do:
●Try using a higher print-quality option. See 
Printing on page 45.
●Check the driver you are using to print with. If it is a non-HP driver, consult the driver vendor about
the problem. You could also try using the correct HP driver, if feasible. The latest HP drivers can
be downloaded from 
http://www.hp.com/go/z3200ps/drivers/.
●If you are using a non-HP RIP, its settings may be incorrect. See the documentation that came with
the RIP.
●Check that your printers firmware is up to date. See 
Update the firmware on page 129.
●Check that you have the right settings in your software application.
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							14 Troubleshooting ink cartridge and
printhead issues
●Cannot insert an ink cartridge
●
Ink cartridge status messages
●
Cannot insert a printhead
●
The front-panel display recommends reseating or replacing a printhead
●
Clean the printheads
●
Clean the printhead drop detector
●
Align the printheads
●
Printhead status messages
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							Cannot insert an ink cartridge
1.Check that you have the correct type of cartridge (model number).
2.Check that the colored label on the cartridge is the same color as the label on the slot.
3.Check that the cartridge is correctly oriented, with the letter or letters marking the cartridge label
right-side up and readable.
CAUTION:Never clean inside the ink cartridge slots.
Ink cartridge status messages
These are the possible ink cartridge status messages:
●OK: The cartridge is working normally, with no known problems.
●Missing: There is no cartridge present, or it is not correctly connected to the printer.
●Low: The ink level is low.
●Very low: The ink level is very low.
●Empty: The cartridge is empty.
●Reseat: You are recommended to remove the cartridge and then reinsert it.
●Replace: You are recommended to replace the cartridge with a new cartridge of the correct type
for your printer.
●Altered: There is something unexpected about the cartridges status.
●Expired: It is past the cartridges expiration date.
Cannot insert a printhead
1.Check that you have the correct type of printhead (model number).
2.Check that you have removed the two orange protective caps from the printhead.
3.Check that the colored label on the printhead is the same color as the label on the slot.
4.Check that the printhead is correctly oriented (compare with the others).
5.Check that you have correctly closed and latched the carriage lid, see Insert a printhead
on page 119.
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							The front-panel display recommends reseating or
replacing a printhead
1.From the front panel, turn the power off then on.
2.Check the front-panel display message, if it shows the ready message, the printer is ready to print.
If the problem remains continue with the next step.
3.Remove the printhead, see 
Remove a printhead on page 117.
4.Clean the electrical connections on the backside of the printhead with a lint-free cloth. You can
carefully use de-ionized or distilled water if moisture is needed to remove residue. Do not use water.
CAUTION:This is a delicate process and may damage the printhead. Do not touch the nozzles
on the bottom side of the printhead, especially not with any alcohol.
5.Reinsert the printhead, see Insert a printhead on page 119.
6.Check the front-panel display message. If the problem remains, try a new printhead.
Clean the printheads
As long as the printer is kept turned on, an automatic cleaning is performed periodically. This ensures
there is fresh ink in the nozzles and prevents nozzle clogs, which ensures color accuracy. If you have
not already done so, please see 
The Image Diagnostics Print on page 163 before proceeding.
To clean the printheads, go to the front panel and select the Image Quality Maintenance menu icon
, then Clean printheads. If you have gone through the Image Quality Diagnostic print process, you
know which colors are failing. Select the pair of printheads which contain the failing colors. If you are
not sure which colors to clean, you can also select to clean all printheads. Cleaning all printheads takes
about 10 minutes. Cleaning a single pair of printheads takes about six minutes.
NOTE:Cleaning all printheads uses more ink than cleaning a single pair.
If you have cleaned the printheads using the Clean printheads procedure from the front panel and are
still experiencing image quality problems, you can try cleaning the printhead nozzles manually using the
following procedure.
CAUTION:This is a delicate process and may damage the printhead. Do not touch the electrical
connections on the backside of the printhead.
First, remove the printhead, see Remove a printhead on page 117, and then use a lint-free cloth to clean
the bottom of the printhead until the residue is removed.
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							Clean the printhead drop detector
The printhead drop detector is a sensor that detects which nozzles on the printheads are not printing in
order to substitute them for good printing nozzles. If particles, such as fibers, hair or paper pieces, block
the sensor print-quality is affected.
When the front panel displays a warning message that the clean process is needed, you are
recommended to clean the printhead drop detector. If you do not clean the printhead drop detector
immediately, the printer continues working normally, however, the front panel display continues to show
the warning.
TIP:Wear gloves to avoid getting ink on your hands.
1.Turn off the printer at the front panel.
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