HP Officejet Pro 8500A User Manual

							
9 Solve a problem
The information in Solvea problem suggests solutions to common problems. If your
printer is not operating correctly and those suggestions did not solve your problem, try
using one of the following support services to obtain assistance.
This section contains the following topics:
•
HPsupport
•
Generaltroubleshootingtipsandresources
•
Solveprintingproblems
•
Solveprintqualityproblems
•
Solvepaper-feedproblems
•
Solvecopyproblems
•
Solvescanproblems
•
Solvefaxproblems
•
SolveproblemsusingHPWebsitesandservices
•
SolveHPDigitalSolutionsproblems
•
Solvememorydeviceproblems
•
Solvewired(Ethernet)networkproblems
•
Solvewirelessproblems
•
Configureyourfirewalltoworkwithprinters
•
Solveprintermanagementproblems
•
Troubleshootinstallationissues
•
UnderstandtheSelfTestDiagnosticPage
•
Understandthenetworkconfigurationpage
•
Clearjams
HP support
If you have a problem, follow these steps
1. Check the documentation that came with the printer.
2. Visit the HP online support Web site at 
www.hp.com/support. HP online support is
available to all HP customers. It is the fastest source for up-to-date printer
information and expert assistance and includes the following features:
• Fast access to qualified online support specialists
• HP software and driver updates for the HP printer
• Valuable troubleshooting information for common problems
• Proactive printer updates, support alerts, and HP newsgrams that are available when you register the printer
For more information, see 
Obtainelectronicsupport.
3. Call HP support. Support options and availability vary by printer, country/region,
and language. For more information, see 
HPsupportbyphone.
Solve a problem  87
 
						

							
Obtain electronic support
To find support and warranty information, go to the HP Web site at www.hp.com/
support. If prompted, select your country/region, and then click Contact HP for
information on calling for technical support.
This Web site also offers technical support, drivers, supplies, ordering information and
other options such as:
• Access online support pages.
• Send HP an email message for answers to your questions.
• Connect with an HP technician by using online chat.
• Check for HP software updates.
You can also obtain support from the HP software for Windows or Mac OS X, which
provide easy, step-by-step solutions to common printing problems. For more
information, see 
Printermanagementtools.
Support options and availability vary by printer, country/region, and language.
HP support by phone
The phone support numbers and associated costs listed here are those in effect at
time of publication and are applicable only for calls made on a land line. Different rates
may apply for mobile phones.
For the most current HP list of telephone support numbers and call costs information,
see
www.hp.com/support.
During the warranty period, you may obtain assistance from the HP Customer Care
Center.
NOTE: HP does not provide telephone support for Linux printing. All support is
provided online at the following web site: 
https://launchpad.net/hplip. Click the  Ask
a question  button to begin the support process.
The HPLIP Web site does not provide support for Windows or Mac OS X. If you
are using these operating systems, see 
www.hp.com/support.
This section contains the following topics:
•
Beforeyoucall
•
Phonesupportperiod
•
Telephonesupportnumbers
•
Afterthephonesupportperiod
Before you call
Call HP support while you are in front of the computer and the printer. Be prepared to
provide the following information:
• Model number (for more information, see 
Findingtheprintermodelnumber)
• Serial number (located on the back or bottom of the printer)
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88 Solve a problem 
 
						

							
• Messages that appear when the situation occurs
• Answers to these questions:
•Has this situation happened before?

• Can you re-create it?

• Did you add any new hardware or software to your computer at about the time
that this situation began?

• Did anything else occur prior to this situation (such as a thunderstorm or
moving the printer)?
Phone support period
One year of phone support is available in North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin
America (including Mexico).
Telephone support numbers
In many locations, HP provides toll free telephone support during the warranty period.
However, some of the support numbers might not be toll free.
HP support 89
 
						

							
For the most current list of telephone support numbers, see www.hp.com/support.
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After the phone support period
After the phone support period, help is available from HP at an additional cost. Help
may also be available at the HP online support Web site: 
www.hp.com/support.
Contact your HP dealer or call the support phone number for your country/region to
learn more about support options.
General troubleshooting tips and resources
NOTE: Many of the following steps require HP software. If you did not install the
HP software, you can install it using the HP software CD included with the printer,
or you can download the HP software from the HP support Web site (
www.hp.com/
support).
Try these when you begin troubleshooting a printing problem.
• For a paper jam, see 
Clearjams.
• For paper-feed problems, such as the paper skew and paper pick, see 
Solve
paper-feedproblems.
• Power light is on and not blinking. When the printer is turned on for the first time, it takes approximately 12 minutes to initialize it after the ink cartridges are installed.
• Power cord and other cables are working, and are firmly connected to the printer. Make sure the printer is connected firmly to a functioning alternating current (AC)
power outlet, and is turned on. For voltage requirements, see 
Electrical
specifications.
• Media is loaded correctly in the input tray and is not jammed in the printer.
• All packing tapes and materials are removed.
• The printer is set as the current or default printer. For Windows, set it as the default in the Printers folder. For Mac OS X, set it as the default in the Print & Fax
section of the System Preferences. See your computer's documentation for more
information.
• Pause Printing  is not selected if you are using a computer running Windows.
• You are not running too many programs when you are performing a task. Close programs that you are not using or restart the computer before attempting the task
again.
Solve printing problems
This section contains the following topics:
•
Theprintershutsdownunexpectedly
•
Alignmentfails
•
Theprinterisnotresponding(nothingprints)
•
Printertakesa longtimetoprint
•
Blankorpartialpageprinted
•
Somethingonthepageismissingorincorrect
•
Placementofthetextorgraphicsiswrong
Solve printing problems 91
 
						

							
The printer shuts down unexpectedly
Check the power and power connections
Make sure the printer is connected firmly to a functioning alternating current (AC)
power outlet. For voltage requirements, see 
Electricalspecifications.
Alignment fails
If the alignment process fails, make sure you have loaded unused, plain white paper
into the input tray. If you have colored paper loaded in the input tray when you align
the ink cartridges, the alignment fails.
If the alignment process fails repeatedly, you might have a defective sensor or ink
cartridge. Contact HP support. Go to 
www.hp.com/support. If prompted, select your
country/region, and then click  Contact HP for information on calling for technical
support.
The printer is not responding (nothing prints)
There are print jobs stuck in the print queue
Open the print queue, cancel all documents, and then reboot the computer. Try to print
after the computer reboots. Refer to the Help system for the operating system for more
information.
Check the printer setup
For more information, see 
Generaltroubleshootingtipsandresources.
Check the HP software installation
If the printer is turned off when printing, an alert message should appear on your
computer screen; otherwise, the HP software provided with the printer might not be
installed correctly. To resolve this, uninstall the HP software completely, and then
reinstall the HP software. For more information, see 
UninstallandreinstalltheHP
software.
Check the cable connections
• Make sure both ends of the USB cable or Ethernet cable are secure.
• If the printer is connected to a network, check the following: 
•Check the Link light on the back of the printer.

• Make sure you are not using a phone cord to connect the printer.
Check any personal firewall software installed on the computer
The personal software firewall is a security program that protects a computer from
intrusion. However, the firewall might block communication between the computer and
the printer. If there is a problem communicating with the printer, try temporarily
disabling the firewall. If the problem persists, the firewall is not the source of the
communication problem. Re-enable the firewall.
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92 Solve a problem 
 
						

							
Printer takes a long time to print
Check the system configuration and resources
Make sure the computer meets the minimum system requirements for the printer. For
more information, see 
Systemrequirements.
Check the HP software settings
Print speed is slower when you select high print-quality settings. To increase the print
speed, select different print settings in the printer driver. For more information, see 
Print.
Blank or partial page printed
Clean the printhead
Complete the printhead cleaning procedure. For more information, see 
Tocleanthe
printheads. The printhead may need to be cleaned if the printer was turned off
incorrectly.
NOTE: Incorrectly turning off the printer can cause print quality problems like
blank or partial pages. Printhead cleaning can solve these problems, but turning off
the printer correctly can prevent them in the first place. Always turn the printer off
by pressing the  Power button on the printer. Wait until the  Power light goes out
before unplugging the power cord or turning off a power strip.
Check the media settings
• Make sure you select the correct print quality settings in the printer driver for the media loaded in the trays.
• Make sure the page settings in the printer driver match the page size of media loaded in the tray.
More than one page is being picked
For more information on paper-feed problems, see 
Solvepaper-feedproblems.
There is a blank page in the file
Check the file to make sure there is no blank page.
Something on the page is missing or incorrect
Check the Print Quality Diagnostic page
Print a Print Quality Diagnostic page to help you decide whether to run any
maintenance tools to improve the print quality of your printouts. For more information,
see
UnderstandtheSelfTestDiagnosticPage.
Check the margin settings
Make sure the margin settings for the document do not exceed the printable area of
the printer. For more information, see 
Setminimummargins.
Solve printing problems 93
 
						

							
Check the color print settings
Make sure Print in Grayscale  is not selected in the printer driver.
Check the printer location and length of USB cable
High electromagnetic fields (such as those generated by USB cables) can sometimes
cause slight distortions to printouts. Move the printer away from the source of the
electromagnetic fields. Also, it is recommended that you use a USB cable that is less
than 3 meters (9.8 feet) long to minimize the effects of these electromagnetic fields.
Placement of the text or graphics is wrong
Check how the media is loaded
Make sure the media width and length guides fit snugly against the edges of the stack
of media, and make sure the tray is not overloaded. For more information, see 
Load
media.
Check the media size
• Content on a page might be cut off if the document size is larger than the media that you are using.
• Make sure the media size selected in the printer driver match the size of media loaded in the tray.
Check the margin settings
If the text or graphics are cut off at the edges of the page, make sure the margin
settings for the document do not exceed the printable area of your printer. For more
information, see 
Setminimummargins.
Check the page-orientation setting
Make sure the media size and page orientation selected in the application match the
settings in the printer driver. For more information, see 
Print.
Check the printer location and length of USB cable
High electromagnetic fields (such as those generated by USB cables) can sometimes
cause slight distortions to printouts. Move the printer away from the source of the
electromagnetic fields. Also, it is recommended that you use a USB cable that is less
than 3 meters (9.8 feet) long to minimize the effects of these electromagnetic fields.
If the above solutions do not work, the problem may be caused by the inability of the
application to interpret print settings correctly. See the release notes for known
software conflicts, refer to the application's documentation, or contact the software
manufacturer for specific help.
Solve print quality problems
•Generalprintqualitytroubleshooting
•
Meaninglesscharactersprint
•
Inkissmearing
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94 Solve a problem 
 
						

							
•Inkisnotfillingthetextorgraphicscompletely
•
Outputisfadedordullcolored
•
Colorsareprintingasblackandwhite
•
Wrongcolorsareprinting
•
Printoutshowsbleedingcolors
•
Theprintouthasa horizontalbandofdistortionnearthebottomofa borderlessprint
•
Colorsdonotlineupcorrectly
•
Textorgraphicsarestreaked
•
Somethingonthepageismissingorincorrect
•
Printheadmaintenance
General print quality troubleshooting
Check the printheads and ink cartridges
Print the print quality diagnostic page on a clean sheet of white paper. Evaluate any
problem areas, and perform the recommended actions. For more information, see
Printheadmaintenance.
NOTE: HP cannot guarantee the quality of refilled, remanufactured, or non-HP
ink cartridges.
Check the paper quality
Make sure the media meets HP specifications, and try to print again. For more
information, see 
Mediaspecifications.
Check the type of media loaded in the printer
• Make sure the tray supports the type of media you have loaded. For more information, see 
Mediaspecifications.
• Make sure you have selected the tray in the printer driver that contains the media that you want to use.
Check the printer location and length of USB cable
It is recommended that you use a USB cable that is less than 3 meters (9.8 feet) long
to minimize the effects of these electromagnetic fields. You can also try to use
a different USB cable to see if the USB cable has failed.
Meaningless characters print
If an interruption occurs to a job that is printing, the printer might not recognize the rest
of the job.
Solve print quality problems 95
 
						

							
Cancel the print job and wait for the printer to return to the ready state. If the printer
does not return to the ready state, cancel all jobs in the printer driver, power cycle the
printer, and then print the document.
Check the cable connections
If the printer and computer are connected with a USB cable, the problem may be due
to a poor cable connection.
Make sure the cable connections at both ends are secure. If the problem persists, turn
the printer off, disconnect the cable from the printer, turn on the printer without
connecting the cable, and delete any remaining jobs from the print spooler. When the
Power light is on and not flashing, reconnect the cable.
Check the document file
The document file may be damaged. If you can print other documents from the same
application, try printing a backup copy of your document, if available.
Ink is smearing
Check the print settings
• When you print documents that use a lot of ink, allow more time to dry beforehandling the printouts. This is especially true for transparencies. In the printer
driver, select the  Best print quality, and also increase the ink drying time and
reduce the ink saturation, using the ink volume under the advanced features
(Windows) or ink features (Mac OS X). However, note that decreasing ink
saturation might give printouts a "washed-out" quality.
• Color documents that have rich, blended colors can wrinkle or smear when printed using the  Best print quality. Try using another print mode, such as  Normal, to
reduce ink, or use HP Premium Paper designed for printing vivid color documents.
For more information, see 
Print.
Check the media type
• Some types of media do not accept ink well. For these types of media, ink dries more slowly and smearing may occur. For more information, see 
Media
specifications.
• Make sure that the media in the tray matches the media type selected in the printer driver.
Ink is not filling the text or graphics completely
Check the media type
Some media types are not suitable for use with the printer. For more information, see
Mediaspecifications.
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96 Solve a problem