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frankthetank966 · Dec 6, 2006, 12:38 PM

Sometimes when I go to print some forms from websites, word, excel it only prints partially of what is actually on the form. For example I printed directions from mapquest and the map was not complete. It did not print all the lines for the roads and it did not print all the road names. This happens with other forms to. Does anybody know what the problem could be. I have tried different printers and have sucesfully printed from my Windows computer.

Sherman Homan · Dec 6, 2006, 01:03 PM

You didn't give us much detail to work with, but it is probably printer drivers. Go to Printer Setup Utility and delete the printer. Go to the printer's web site and download the driver. Add it again.

frankthetank966 · Dec 6, 2006, 01:07 PM

What else do you want me to tell you? When I print forms they are missing a lot of images or printed wierdly with streaks and stuff.

Big Mac · Dec 6, 2006, 01:40 PM

What kind of printer? OS version? Driver version? Even then, it's hard to say much about what you're seeing unless people have a lot of experience with the printer you're using. I can tell you that OS X does not "print weird" (or weirdly for that matter), and I have never heard of the problem you're describing.

frankthetank966 · Dec 6, 2006, 01:54 PM

HP Photosmart C3100. I have the driver

JKT · Dec 6, 2006, 03:30 PM

It'd also help if you told us what browser you were using and what preferences you have selected for your browser printouts (e.g. have you selected to print background images at all?). Also, rather than printing out directly, click Preview in the Print dialogue and check if what you see in the PDF is what you expect and whether or not it differs from the physical printout.

I've just tested Mapquest in OmniWeb and Safari and I didn't have any problems.

Sherman Homan · Dec 6, 2006, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by frankthetank966

What else do you want me to tell you? When I print forms they are missing a lot of images or printed wierdly with streaks and stuff.

"What else do you want me to tell you?"

Cute. Real cute.

frankthetank966 · Dec 6, 2006, 08:39 PM

Okay I was using safari. I have the printer set to fast (draft). And I printed from mapquest from Safari. I just click apple key+p and printed.

JKT · Dec 6, 2006, 09:24 PM

Draft will always have the potential to be streaky - it is only meant to be a quick and dirty print to give you an idea of how something will layout on the page. If you want to have a reasonable quality print, choose one of the higher quality settings (e.g. Normal, Better, Best). If you want to reduce the amount of ink used, rather than picking draft, choose to use a lighter density of ink instead.

Wrt to lines being absent from the print out, what do you see if you repeat the print job but Preview it first? Are they absent from the Preview as well?

CharlesS · Dec 7, 2006, 01:57 AM

I before E, except after C, except when sounded like "a", as in neighbor or weigh.

Unless it's weird.

frankthetank966 · Dec 7, 2006, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by JKT

Draft will always have the potential to be streaky - it is only meant to be a quick and dirty print to give you an idea of how something will layout on the page. If you want to have a reasonable quality print, choose one of the higher quality settings (e.g. Normal, Better, Best). If you want to reduce the amount of ink used, rather than picking draft, choose to use a lighter density of ink instead.

Wrt to lines being absent from the print out, what do you see if you repeat the print job but Preview it first? Are they absent from the Preview as well?

how do i change the ink density? is that by selecting one or two stars on the printer?

JKT · Dec 7, 2006, 05:04 PM

For my HP AIO, it is under the Paper Type/Quality pane in the Print dialogue:

frankthetank966 · Dec 8, 2006, 09:16 AM

what is a good setting to put it at? I want to get good printing at ecomonical use.

allblue · Dec 8, 2006, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I before E, except after C, except when sounded like "a", as in neighbor or weigh.

I always thought the rule was: 'i before e except when it isn't'!

JKT · Dec 8, 2006, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by frankthetank966

what is a good setting to put it at? I want to get good printing at ecomonical use.

Normal print quality with Light ink density, print two pages to a sheet (if your eyesight is good enough).

Not so good if you want your best ever quality images, but more than adequate.

If you set it up the way you want, click the Presets menu and save it as a Preset. Note, I'm not sure if the ink density setting is preserved by this (HP drivers and software on the Mac have not always been very well behaved) so check a few times before you print anything after selecting your preset.

Alas, the words economical and inkjet do not go well together. They are tremendously expensive things.

frankthetank966 · Dec 8, 2006, 05:36 PM

Yea I never really noticed how expensive ink was until I got a printer of my own. Secondly I love how you can have multiple presets it is a great option. I appreciate all the great help everyone!!!

tooki · Dec 8, 2006, 06:14 PM

FYI, for printing from Google Maps (and other map sites), always use the Print link in the web page rather than the one in the browser's menu. The map sites will then serve a print-optimized version of the map/directions.

tooki

frankthetank966 · Dec 8, 2006, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

FYI, for printing from Google Maps (and other map sites), always use the Print link in the web page rather than the one in the browser's menu. The map sites will then serve a print-optimized version of the map/directions.

tooki

what do you mean by print ink in websites?

frankthetank966 · Dec 8, 2006, 11:01 PM

Okay, so i fooled around with the setting. For my economic setting i put the quality of the printing to normal, the ink to high quality and the ink density in between low and normal. I still got the streaks in the fonts. The only way i do not get them is if i print in color.

mchladek · Dec 8, 2006, 11:18 PM

Have you tried cleaning the printer heads? You should probably also print a test page (your printer's manual will tell you how to do it). The test page will let you know if it's an issue with your printer or with your Mac. If there are streaks in the test page it means your print heads are either dirty or faulty.

JKT · Dec 9, 2006, 06:38 AM

Hmmm, you are right, streaky print outs (under a normal or better setting, especially) are indicative of blocked print heads in the ink cartridge... another of the hidden expenses in inkjet printers is that if you don't use them often enough, the print heads will block and no matter how much you try to clean them, they won't unblock a good 90% of the time... you might need to buy some new cartridges.

Also, the paper quality can affect the print out. Are you using a poorer quality paper?

frankthetank966 · Dec 9, 2006, 01:50 PM

My paper quality is good. It works well with other printers. I am going to print a test page and then I will get back to ya'll. Thanks

NeilCharter · Dec 9, 2006, 02:16 PM

Yup ink jet printers are not cost effective at all. I've had two. The last one (a Lexmark) was free with a mac purchase. The print resultion was supposed to be good buyt it could never print skin tones faithfully. After a while the print heads started playing up. Cleaning didn't help after a while and even after buying new cartridges it wasn't long before it blocked up again.

Luckily my old Laserwriter Select is still working after 12 years or so. I'm only on the second toner cartridge and it works well for day to day use. Not color of course but that's not a big deal for me.

If you're just looking for a B/W printer consider a laser printer. They're a lot cheaper now (I paid $1200 back in 1995) and they are easer to maintain.

NeilCharter · Dec 9, 2006, 02:20 PM

Even a color printer like this is pretty cheap!

JR.com: SAMSUNG CLP300 Compact Color Laser Printer in Laser Printers:

CharlesS · Dec 9, 2006, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by JKT

Hmmm, you are right, streaky print outs (under a normal or better setting, especially) are indicative of blocked print heads in the ink cartridge... another of the hidden expenses in inkjet printers is that if you don't use them often enough, the print heads will block and no matter how much you try to clean them, they won't unblock a good 90% of the time... you might need to buy some new cartridges.

I have to clean the heads on my inkjet pretty much every time I use it. Fortunately, the cleaning usually works, but it's still extremely irritating to have to do that every time.

frankthetank966 · Dec 9, 2006, 06:05 PM

Does anybody know how to print a test page on the HP Photosmart C3180?

mchladek · Dec 9, 2006, 08:09 PM

This is from the manual for the C3180 from HP's website that I downloaded here. It's on page 23 under Troubleshooting and Support.

1. Press and hold "Cancel" on the control panel.
2. While holding "Cancel," press "Start Copy Color."

frankthetank966 · Dec 10, 2006, 12:06 AM

thanks my man... btw there was no page 23 in troubleshooting. in the basics manual

frankthetank966 · Dec 10, 2006, 12:14 AM

what is the control panel?

man I should have never gotten a mac I have no idea how to use it

CharlesS · Dec 10, 2006, 12:31 AM

I can see page 23 in the basics manual fine. The control panel it is referring to is the one on the printer itself, not on your computer. There should be a bunch of buttons on top of the printer, on the left. That's the control panel. Hold down the "Cancel" button you see there, and then press "Start Copy Color" while it's down to print a test page.

frankthetank966 · Dec 10, 2006, 10:31 AM

Okay thanks dude.

jfelbab · Dec 10, 2006, 11:02 AM

OP: Please tell us if the detail that is missing prints out when normal or best is selected.

If you go to the link on the Mapquest page that says "Printer-Friendly" does the page print properly?

Have you gone to the HP.com site and downloaded the most current printer driver? Version 7.9.1 released 8.2006?

Have you tried this in maps.yahoo.com? Do you get the same results?

Jim

tooki · Dec 10, 2006, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by frankthetank966

what do you mean by print ink in websites?

I didn't say "print ink". I said the Print link (with an L). That is, a link on the page itself that says "Print" (e.g. Google Maps) or something similar (like the "Printer Friendly" link on Mapquest). The point of those is to get the website to give you a printer-optimized (as opposed to screen-optimized) version of the page.

Originally Posted by frankthetank966

what is the control panel?

man I should have never gotten a mac I have no idea how to use it

I don't think the problem is that it's a Mac!

tooki

frankthetank966 · Dec 10, 2006, 12:10 PM

so I printed the test page. All of the colors printed well with no streaks. Is there anything else I look at? I also connected my MB to another printer and it did the same thing. It may be the Macbook. What do I do now?

NeilCharter · Dec 10, 2006, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by frankthetank966

so I printed the test page. All of the colors printed well with no streaks. Is there anything else I look at? I also connected my MB to another printer and it did the same thing. It may be the Macbook. What do I do now?

How did the black ink print look? Wasn't that the problem you were having?

Do you have the same problem with different printers?

Your problem could be that Safari or Preview isn't handling the pages / forms properly. Sometimes I have to use Firefox or even the dreaded IE for certain pages / sites. Also for PDF forms try Acrobat Reader since most forms are generated using Acrobat.

Sad to say that we live in a windows dominated world and a lot of sites only optimize their pages for IE. IE has a reputation not sticking to the rules for web browsing. So even though it is said that Safari, Firefox etc adhere to the web standards a lot more than IE, sometimes those apps fail becuase the sites code is doing something IE specific.

frankthetank966 · Dec 10, 2006, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by NeilCharter

How did the black ink print look? Wasn't that the problem you were having?

Do you have the same problem with different printers?

Your problem could be that Safari or Preview isn't handling the pages / forms properly. Sometimes I have to use Firefox or even the dreaded IE for certain pages / sites. Also for PDF forms try Acrobat Reader since most forms are generated using Acrobat.

Sad to say that we live in a windows dominated world and a lot of sites only optimize their pages for IE. IE has a reputation not sticking to the rules for web browsing. So even though it is said that Safari, Firefox etc adhere to the web standards a lot more than IE, sometimes those apps fail becuase the sites code is doing something IE specific.

The black ink was fine. I am having problems in Safari and Excel. Maybe it is just those two programs. I hope so. It prints fairly well outside those programs.

TETENAL · Dec 10, 2006, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by frankthetank966

The black ink was fine. I am having problems in Safari and Excel. Maybe it is just those two programs.

In the print dialog of those programs press the "Preview" button and view the preview in Preview.app. Is the preview correct or do you see the problem there already?

ophiochos · Dec 10, 2006, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I before E, except after C, except when sounded like "a", as in neighbor or weigh.

Unless it's weird.

what about 'i before e except after c when sounding in 'ee'.

works better...:-)

Brass · Dec 10, 2006, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

In the print dialog of those programs press the "Preview" button and view the preview in Preview.app. Is the preview correct or do you see the problem there already?

Several people have made this suggestion, and yet we've not heard if this has been tried or not.

NB: On Mac OS X, this is one of the FIRST things to try when troubleshooting such printing issues. It will narrow down the cause significantly. If it looks OK in the preview, then it is NOT an OS or application issue, and is almost certainly a printer driver or hardware issue.

frankthetank966 · Dec 11, 2006, 09:32 AM

When I preview it there are streaks in the object when it is not being printed in color. However when the paper is going to be printed in color, there are no streaks.

what to do now?

TETENAL · Dec 11, 2006, 01:50 PM

Now you save the preview PDF and upload it somewhere so that we can have a look at it.

frankthetank966 · Dec 11, 2006, 04:12 PM

okay i will do it how can i upload it on here?

frankthetank966 · Dec 12, 2006, 11:16 AM

anybody?

TETENAL · Dec 12, 2006, 12:04 PM

One can not attach files in this forum. You need to upload it somewhere else like .Mac or your homepage.

dwoodruff · Dec 12, 2006, 01:41 PM

Your print problems have nothing to do with OSX, rather thay have to do with the inherent differences between the way a web page displays info and the way a printed page displays it.

Trust me, web printing in any browser or platform usually is full of weird issues.

tvalleau · Dec 12, 2006, 05:37 PM

try printing to a pdf first... then print that...

tvalleau · Dec 12, 2006, 05:39 PM

and for unclogging inkjets, use the stuff they sell here for $10, not your ink at $2500 per gallon.... Do-It-Yourself InkJet and Laser Printer Repair (HP, Apple, Epson, and More) - fixyourownprinter.com

frankthetank966 · Dec 12, 2006, 08:16 PM

It is not a printer problem. The streaks appear in the preview when I print in b&w in mac.

jfelbab · Dec 12, 2006, 08:59 PM

Does this only happen when you print in "Fast Draft" mode? What happens in "Normal Draft" mode? What about in "Normal" mode?

frankthetank966 · Dec 12, 2006, 11:51 PM

I have tried all the mode. It only happens in B&W