Imagine printing an important document or photo and realising there are horizontal streaks or lines. Those unwanted yellow, black, magenta, cyan, or black horizontal lines instead of a crisp clean print can upset and panic you. However, printer printing lines or streaks in a single or different colour are quite common. Whether it’s an inkjet or a laser printer, troubleshooting such streaks is pretty easy with strategic approaches. Let’s find out what you can do to get your prints looking perfect again.
Why is Your Printer Printing Lines or Streaks?
Before diving into dedicated solutions, let’s understand the root causes of the instance – your printer printing lines. According to Printer Repair Dubai experts, horizontal lines or streaks typically arise on papers due to the following reasons.
Clogged or Dirty Nozzles or Print Heads
For inkjet printers, streaks or lines are more likely to appear because of blocked or dirty print heads. Since print heads are responsible for distributing the ink onto the paper, the flow can be interrupted if they are dirty or malfunctioning. Horizontal or uneven blank lines are often linked with print head or nozzle issues.
Low Ink or Toner Levels
The consistency of the ink flow can be at stake when the printer is low on ink or toner. Typically, such instances are more common among inkjet printers. However, yellow lines on every print can occur in laser printers too when the toner level is low.
Improper Printer Settings
Reportedly, horizontal lines can be evident on printed papers due to incorrect printer settings. Using the wrong print quality settings or incompatible paper type can make the ink or toner spill unevenly. As a result, you might encounter the Brother dcp l2540dw black lines issue.
Damaged or Worn Printer Parts
Is your older HP printer printing lines? Over time, your printer withstands much wear and tear. Consequently, they can reflect on drum units, rollers, or belts. And, they may face issues while transferring the ink or toner to the paper. Because of uneven ink application, horizontal lines or streaks on printed pages are quite common.
Paper Jams or Misfeeds
Are you sure that you have fed papers properly into the printer? For your information, a paper jam or misfeed can also trigger uneven pressure on the paper. And, it can lead to printer printing lines. If the paper is stuck or fed through the printing device unevenly, the toner or ink application might not be uniform.
Driver or Software Issues
Incompatibility or corruption issues with your printer driver or software can give out black or yellow lines on every print. Outdated drivers can lead to misalignment and that’s why you might face improper ink distribution or streaky prints.
Environmental Factors
Did you know that external or environmental factors can influence your printing experience? Humidity and temperature fluctuations can force the ink or toner not to transfer accurately on the paper. As a consequence, you see horizontal lines or even missing streaks.
Proven Solutions to Handle Yellow Lines on Every Print (or Whatever the Colour is)
Now that you are familiar with why your printer printing lines, it’s time to troubleshoot them. Let’s find out how to tackle the Brother dcp l2540dw black lines or Canon devices printing horizontal yellow lines.
Clean the Nozzles or Print Heads (for Inkjet Printers)
If it’s your inkjet printer that gives out horizontal lines or streaks, try cleaning the print heads or nozzles. Typically, modern inkjet printers feature a self-cleaning option. So, check out whether your inkjet printer has any. Access the self-cleaning feature through your device’s control panel and see if it does the job.
However, for manual cleaning, you need to pursue the steps below:
- Use a cotton swab or cloth.
- Dampen the swab or cloth in distilled water or rubbing alcohol.
- Next, access those clogged or dirty print heads and clean them using the damp cloth or swab.
Furthermore, run a few cleaning cycles to see if the horizontal lines fade away. If the situation doesn’t improve, you might need to replace the print heads. Especially when they are clogged for too long.
Inspect Ink or Toner Levels
Here comes another simple yet overlooked cause of HP printer printing lines – low ink or toner levels. When the printer runs out of ink or toner, all you can expect is poor print quality. So, see if your printer is low on ink or toner.
Most printers use their control panels or dedicated software to show the ink or toner levels. If you find the toner or ink level too low, replace the cartridge with a new genuine one. High-quality compatible ink or toner cartridges are always reliable and they help you avoid further problems.
Moreover, refer to the printer manufacturer’s guidelines while inserting new ink or toner cartridges. As shared by Printer Repair Dubai experts, this will keep the alignment issues out of the scene. Again, stay away from cheap third-party cartridges.
Alter Printer Settings
On a related note, incorrect printer settings can also drive poor-quality prints including suddenly appearing lines and streaks. The incompatible paper type, print quality settings, or even wrong orientation can cause an uneven distribution of ink or toner.
Here’s what Printer Repair Dubai professionals recommend to prevent streaks or lines from appearing on your printed papers.
- Make sure that you have chosen the right paper type using your printer settings. For example, select ‘glossy’ if you use such type of paper for printing.
- Additionally, keeping the printer in draft mode can give you compromised results even yellow lines on every print. So, switch to the best quality or anything relevant to avoid such silly mistakes, especially while printing important documents or photos.
- Also, verify that your printer settings match the paper orientation (like portrait or landscape) according to the page size and type.
Besides, check your printer manual for specific instructions on how you can modify these settings properly.
Clean Your Printer Rollers
Is your printer printing lines, still? Chances are that something is wrong with the feeding mechanism. It’s time to pay attention to the printer’s rollers. Worn-out or even dirty rollers can interfere with your device’s print quality.
However, you can rectify the situation with the steps below.
- Power off your printer and unplug it from the outlet.
- Now, go through your printer’s user manual and see how you can access the rollers.
- Take a clean lint-free cloth and lightly dampen it with water.
- Then, use the cloth to clean the printer’s rollers.
Make sure you don’t use any harsh chemicals for cleaning. If those rollers appear to be damaged, consider hiring Printer Repair Dubai pros to replace them.
Update Printer Drivers
Since incompatible or outdated drivers are responsible for Brother dcp l2540dw black lines or similar issues, you can update them and see if it improves the condition. However, updating your printer’s drivers is not a trouble at all.Â
Now, let’s check out how to confirm that your printer’s driver software is up to date.
- Gather information about your printer such as the model and build number. For reference, check the printer’s user manual.
- Go to the computer to which the printer is connected. Open a web browser on the computer.
- Then, visit the manufacturer’s website and look for the newest driver updates for your printer model.
- Download and install the updated drivers. Ensure you follow the on-screen directions.
Finally, restart your computer and printer. See if the issue of printer printing lines persists.
Give Your Printer a Reset
Has none of the above solutions worked for your HP printer printing lines? Well, temporary software issues can bog your device’s performance down. To steer clear of them, you can try a printer reset.
Typically, this takes the following steps. You can also refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Turn off your printer and keep it unplugged for 10 minutes or so.
- Then, reconnect the printer and bring its power back on.
Next, test whether your printer printing lines problem is still there.
Additional Workouts
Damaged drum unit, corona wire, fuser, or printhead – anything can mess up with the printer’s mechanism. And, you can see yellow lines on every print. For quick and reliable solutions, consider professional intervention.
Only a Printer Repair Dubai expert can tell what’s wrong with the printer’s internals. Additionally, they can repair or replace the component.Â
Signing Off…
Hopefully, the guide helped you with the HP printer printing lines instance. If not, reach out to Printer Repair Dubai and restore your device’s capabilities. Besides repairing, they can advise you on the maintenance of the printer. So, you can keep your machine pristine for years to come.