Faint Print – 5 Steps
Article updated 20/05/2019
Is your printer printing too light even though it has ink / toner?
Faint print or faded text is one of the most common printer issues and at one time or another we’ve all sent something to the printer, only to be left frustrated and irritated when something like this faded prints example comes out at the end…
Naturally, for many of us, the first reaction will probably be to assume that our ink/toner levels are low, and of course sometimes your instinct could be absolutely correct, you might need new ink or toner cartridge, but there could be something else that’s throwing a proverbial spanner into the workings of your printer and causing faint prints or faded text.
If your printer has ink but prints faded, or your Epson, Canon, Oki, Brother or even Xerox printer is printing too light or printing faded, we’re going to help you to find out why and help you to fix it and we’ll do it without costing you the earth or you needing to buy a new printer! We will give more detail each of the following causes lower down but here are the most common causes of a printed printing faded text or images:
- Low ink or toner levels
- Toner sticking to the fuser roller or problems with the transfer roller.
- Low ink or toner density settings
- Low or high humidity
- Inkjet print head is clogged.
If you’re short for time, get your faint print cheat sheet here otherwise keep on reading…
The 5 most common causes of light or faded prints:
1. Low ink and toner levels
As mentioned above, your cartridges could simply be empty or running low, so give them a check. You can do this on your PC by going to the control panel and looking at your printer properties / cartridge status.This will tell you exactly how much ink or toner is left in the cartridges and whether they are causing a problem. Also for inkjet printers, check that the nozzles on the cartridges aren’t blocked and don’t have dried material preventing the flow of ink. If they do, clean them with a lightly dampened cloth (making sure your printer is turned off and cartridges is removed first).
If you have a laser printer, it’s also worth giving your toner cartridge a shake (make sure you don’t do this with an ink cartridge or you might end up spilling ink on yourself or your surroundings). This redistributes the toner powder around the cartridge, giving you quite a few more pages before you need to replace it. Just grab the cartridge with both hands and gently shake it from side to side, and up and down, for about 10 seconds. Then pop it back into your printer and try printing.
Just remember, if you get asked to “shake it,” don’t do either of these:
2. Toner sticking to your fuser roller or problems with the transfer roller
Problems with the fuser roller – Ghosted images on the page
In your laser printer, the fuser is the part that heats the toner powder, helping it to stick and seal the paper to create a print. (Find out more about how laser printers work). Occasionally, toner can stick to a fuser’s upper roller. This could well be your problem if you can see a ghosted image of your print out somewhere else on the page. This occurs because the last thing that was printed out leaves toner particles that weren’t completely melted stuck to the fuser, when the next thing is printed it then transfers onto the paper and gives the effect of a faint ghostly picture over the top of the new print out.
Ghosting is a sure sign of a problem with the fuser. Try removing your fuser unit (after unplugging your printer) and check to see if the upper roller has toner stuck to it. If it does, then it’s probably worth replacing it with a new one which you should be able to buy online and get one delivered pretty quickly.
Image courtesy of Lexmark
Problems with the transfer roller
Your transfer roller uses its electrical charge to get the toner from your cartridge’s drum unit onto the page. Sometimes, it may be incorrectly positioned in your printer, causing those light prints. Carefully remove it using the hooks it comes with and try inserting it again. When properly inserted, it should look nice and flat. (If you’re having trouble removing it, don’t break out the tools or try and rip it out! Ask a technician for assistance).
Alternatively, it could have something on its surface that’s having a detrimental effect on its electrical charge and, thus, its ability to transfer toner properly onto your page, causing a faint print. Try not to touch the surface with your hands as this could make it even worse! Either wipe the surface with a dry cloth or use a can of compressed air to blow it clean.
3. A low ink/toner density setting
Some printers allow you to change the density settings of your ink and toner. Unbeknownst to you, your default setting could be low, causing you to get those faint prints. If your printer does have ink/toner density settings, you should be able to find them once you’ve clicked on your printer in ‘Devices & Printers.’ If it looks like you’re printing at a low density, increase it slightly and then try printing.
Image courtesy of HP
4. Your printer might be located in an area of low or high humidity
We covered this a while ago, but the humidity in your office can actually affect the performance of your printer. Each ink or toner cartridge and also the paper you use has an optimum operating humidity rating and if the humidity is too high, problems can quickly occur. If your printer is in a room that’s got a low humidity level, ink can have a pretty tough job being able to set and dry properly on the page, causing prints that look faint and light. The best place for your printer to be is somewhere that’s neither too humid or not humid enough! And remember that humidity levels will differ depending on the time of year.
Another reason for faint prints caused by high humidity in your office is that the paper you are printing on can get damp or absorb water in the air around it causing the paper to slightly ripple and become uneven. Then when you try to print, the ink or toner is distributed unevenly across the page and you get poor quality faded print outs. A good tip is to move any spare paper into a dry non-humid area where you know it can be kept in tip top condition.
5. Inkjet print heads are blocked or air bubbles are trapped in the ink well.
For inkjet printer owners, over a period of consistent use the mechanism that transfers the droplets of ink on to the paper called the print head can become blocked or clocked and cause faint or missing areas of print on the paper. Another cause for faded areas of print can be air bubbles trapped in the ink cartridge well. The air bubbles are pushed out of the ink cartridge instead of the ink droplet and you get missing areas of print on the paper.
The solution or fix to each of these problems is to get a very lightly dampened cloth and to clean the ink cartridges where the ink comes out. Remove the ink cartridges before you do this and be careful not to get any ink on your skin or clothing as it can be very difficult to remove.After you have cleaned the cartridges, run the print head cleaning process from your printer menu or PC. To clear out any air bubbles that may be trapped inside, after the first print head clean process, wait 2 hours and run another clean process and repeat until 3 to 4 cleaning processes have been done with 2 hour break in between. It’s important to wait a few hours in between or you may make the clogging of the print head worse.
Bonus – OKI printers with LED heads
Some OKi laser printers have what’s referred to as LED heads located under the top cover of the printer / above the toner cartridges when the cover is closed. Each time you replace a toner cartridge you get a cleaning cloth that you are meant to use to gently wipe down the LED heads. If these become dirty over time, they can cause faint print, faded text and black smudged lines on the page. See the image below to give you an idea of how to clean the LED heads.
Hopefully your prints should now be as crisp as a new bank note!
Lastly, there have been a few comments mentioning faded prints when attempting to print PDF’s off. It seems that some PDF’s have their own settings for density of print and it is possible withing the advanced PDF settings to change this for a better result.
If you’re still having problems with faint prints, leave a comment below or tweet us @TonerGiant – we’d be delighted to help or simply tell us about your tips on how you fixed a faint print problem.
Xerox printers – Colour Density setting
Some Xerox laser printers have a menu setting that allows you to control the colour density (darkness of the prints). If your Xerox printer is printing faded, try to find the setting by visiting Menu > Calibrate Colours > Print Reference page.
This will allow you to see what the current density setting is for each colour and how dark the printer is able to print. If you wish to change the density of a colour visist Menu > Claibrate Colours > Adjust colour (eg. if you want to change the black it would say ‘Adjust Black’). Select that option for the colour you wish to change, and use the arrow keys to adjust the setting.
Remember, when you change the toners, you may need to reset the settings as a new toner will naturally print darker than an older toner.
About Stuart DeavallStu is the Digital Marketing Manager at TonerGiant.co.uk and is a big fan of gadgets, technology, and being creative!
Hi.
I am not sure if you can help us but we need a printer that can handle around 100 sheets of A4 per day BUT (here’s the catch) the printer needs to be able to effectively turn 200-300gsm white card into something that LOOKS like it is a sheet of black card, printed in white both sides.
Oddly, we have found a few printers that (at a push) can handle the thickness (An ancient HP 3550 for example with the back door open) but after about two acceptable prints, the solid black starts to become “greyish black”.
We are printing small quantities of “game cards” in house and because the numbers are small (that 100 sheets is 10 copies each of 10 different designs) it is not viable to get them printed commercially.
I think we are perhaps after a “small commercial digital printer” but just wondered if you could suggest (and/or supply) a laser printer that could do this. Speed is NOT at all important and we do not need colour.
An 8PPM B&W printer would be fine if it could handle DENSE black (about 90% coverage) and thickish card.
In fact the only requirement is at LEAST 250gsm card and it must be able to print DENSE black happily on upto 100 sheets per day (which will be turned over and put back through to do the other side).
If it would make the printer happier, we could even use this to print the “white cards too” which would mean it would print 10 white sheets, then 1 black sheet – repeat 10 times and then flip the whole lot over and print the backs.
Ideally, as we will be using a boat load of toner, it would help if the machine ise easily refilled with toner from a bottle – but I am guessing I am starting to dream now 🙂
We looked at using black card and a white toner printer – but struggling to find one that will handle at least 250gsm and has toner that isn’t a silly price.
Are there any ultra resilient workhorse laser printers that can handle this sort of 90% toner coverage per page?
Thanks for your time
Kind Regards
Mark
Hi Mark, that sounds like quite a task at hand. I’ve had a look through our database and checked with suppliers….The Brother HL-3170CDW can apparently take 300gsm paper or card through the manual paper feed but I don’t know any that will take the card through the automatic feed and unfortunately I don’t know what the results will be like. There are also a few suggestions of inkjet printers on this forum Daisy Chain
If you are set on laser printer then most of the high range OKI machines will print on 300gsm card but unfortunately the toner will be expensive. I don’t think there are any printers that can be refilled with a toner bottle that would be suitable.
thanks
Stu
Hi,
I’m trying to print a very simple .pdf document which shows a plan for a new large garage which is about to be built. The document comes out fine on my Brother office printer, but when I try to print on the home printer, an Epson Photo Stylus T50, there appears to be almost nothing on the page that is easily read anyway.
I’ve followed ALL your advice re density changes (mine is now set to +14) and all the other tips (the humidity info. is very interesting), but nothing makes any difference.
Do you have any clues as to what it could be? I use good quality paper and genuine cartridges.
Much appreciation for what you’ve written.
Thanks and regards.
Hi David, thanks for your comment. I haven’t actually come across this issue before but it could be something to do with either the print heads being dried up or damaged (if print is fine but just very light this is unlikely as this would cause smudges or missing areas of print), or it could be something to do with settings. There is a photo enhance option that could be on, try switching that off and see how you get on.
hi,
i am saheb i have a problem in my printer hp1606dn the printer print well as normal paper but the leeter head in(glossy paper 90gsm) print will fade or the ink has run out the paper. what is the problem of my printer.also i change the teflon and pressure roller.
Hi Saheb, your printer is a laser printer and glossy paper is meant for inkjet printers so the heat from the fuser that seals the toner will melt the gloss on the paper and not work correctly. I hope this helps! Stu
Hello:
I have a basic HP1210 series printer and recently purchased some inexpensive generic 56/57 cartridges from an on-line seller. They print very light! Is there anything I can change or adjust to use these cartridges? Thanks for any help, or suggestions…
Hi Keith,
if the cartridges you were using before you installed these were fine and you haven’t changed any settings then unfortunately it’s likely an issue with the cartridges.
Sometimes the printer can be set to print in draft or economy mode or sometimes the font you use can do that but if you haven’t changed anything then it will be the cartridges.
Stu
Hi Stuart,
Do you know if generic replacement cartridges are voltage sensitive?
I have a Brother printer that runs on 220V and takes a Brother TN 450 toner cartridge. I’ve seen some TN 450 compatible replacements online that mention 110V in their specifications. I’m not sure if this means there are 110V and 220V variants of the TN 450 cartridge.
Thanks!
Hi Vikram, in my experience I’ve never come across different voltage variants. The voltage has more to do with the fuser unit or maintenance kit which is the part that heats the wire and melts the toner sealing it to the paper. The toner should really match the specs of the printer unless it differs internationally due to the specs of plug sockets. I’m sorry I don’t have a great answer for you there! Stu
Hi
My printer(hp M125a) prints faded despite changing the tonner and drum
Hi Derrick, this could be a number of reasons and there are a few things you can check on. The Paper or media type can affect this (if you are using a type of paper that is absorbing the toner or not fusing to the paper correctly), so you could try some different paper. There is also an econo mode on the LaserJet pro M125a models. Here’s how to disable it:
Go to your control panel / printers and devices on your PC, and then click the printer name in the list of results.
HP Printer Assistant opens.
Click Print, and then click HP Device Toolbox.
Click the System tab, and then select the Print Quality page.
In the Economode area, select Off from the drop-down menu.
Print another page to see if the issue is resolved.
Thanks
Stu
Hi . I am using a zenerick k88 mini thermal printer which doesn’t use ink but it prints very feint. I can hardly see anyvhing
Hi. I’m sorry I’m not familiar with thermal printers! It sounds like it could be something to do with either settings or the heat filament (if that’s how it works)! Stu
As you seem so helpful I’m going to ask you a question too.
I have an Epson Workforce 7610. It prints perfectly when I print from Photoshop. However if I try to print a PDF, word document or direct from my browser it prints much fainter and makes words hard to read/colours look dull etc.
Any suggestions why this would be and how to remedy it?
Hi Nicola,
it sounds like the printer may be printing in draft mode. Draft mode is a setting that can normally be changed on the printer menu or on your computer settings and it’s purpose is to save the ink or toner that’s being used when you don’t need a high quality print. Photoshop would likely ignore the setting as it’s a photo editing software. Try and navigate through the settings on your printer and you should be able to switch draft mode off if it’s on.
My Brother 4040CDN has not been able to print red for a year now and I feel like I’ve tried every possible thing. Began with getting new magenta (now know that yellow is the issue is red won’t print, also replaced yellow); cleaned all of the rollers with both the integrated cleaner thing that slides along a wire for each colour and with alcohol swab; replaced the transfer roller (had to do anyhow as something adhesive from label stuck in one spot and showed up on every printout); changed settings within print properties to enhance red; and more. I’m at a loss 🙁 Any ideas?
Hi Sarah, it sounds like you’ve tried quite a few things with no luck but from my experience there are a couple of things that you didn’t mention that it could be. The first is to check that your drum units are not damaged at all. The drums are responsible for transferring the toner powder from the toner cartridge onto the page, so if a colour is not passing through, it could well be a damaged drum. The second is that the waste toner cartridge could be full or damaged (this normally collects any toner overspill), if that is full, it may also stop the correct printing process. I’d be surprised if it was these things as the printer would normally let you know they are at fault. I would try to ring Brother support as they would be able to get you to put the printer in maintenance mode and run diagnostics. Thanks, Stu.
I have a Oki C9655 and it ran fine for a few years. However in the last few months I suddenly had problems with the colours printing lightly, except for the black, which prints fine. I checked the settings, enhanced all the colours but the result is marginal at best and not remotely as deep in colour as they used to print. I replaced the drums for the colours as some were near end of life. This did not fix the problem. I cleaned the LEDs as often suggested and no effect. The colours are also slightly uneven across an A4, excluding the black so a background colour will not print consistently the same tone. Also the magenta is slightly off by half a millimeter so text is slightly fuzzy. I am at a loss as to why this occurs.
Hi Michael, it sounds like a very frustrating situation with your printer. I’ve tried to come up with a solution for you but the only thing I could find related to poor colour printing / light printing is that the LED head needs to be cleaned although I’m not sure how to do that. Alternatively I’d contact OKI support here: https://www.oki.com/uk/printing/support/contact-support/form/index.html
Hello dear,
I have color laser printer OKI c5950.
Suddenly it does not print Yellow anymore! Not at all!
I replaced the Yellow toner with a NEW one, but nothing!
I checked its drivers and reinstalled the printer.
Can you please help me with this issue?
Thank you in advance
Hi Jim,
it sounds like you may have an issue with the drum unit, does the cartridge register as installed in the printer / on your computer?
thanks
Stu
Hi!
My name is Affan and I have a small problem in my newly-bought printer. The printer is an HP deskjet 5820 and I’m pretty sure i assembled it correctly, but the cartridges print light colours. I don’t know what the problem is and i have auto-cleaned the cartridges an insane amount of times. The ink-level estimates show that my ink level is zero, even though i just inserted them about 2 weeks ago with barely any use.Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks!
Hi Affan, are you using compatible / remanufactured inks or original HP inks? Also if you could let me know what type of paper you are printing on, that would be great as some different paper types can cause issues with faint print.
Thanks
Stu
Hi. I have a cannon pixma mg3022 I refilled my ink myself I followed directions very carefully it printed but my magenta ink is light. I’m thinking I did something wrong but I honestly don’t know. I’ve cleaned my printer. The ink is not low. Just the magenta prints to light. Any suggestions? Thanks
Hi there, if you haven’t changed any settings since the last ink cartridge was installed then it’s more than likely the quality of the ink that’s the problem.
Refilled cartridges are very temperamental.
Stu
Hi,
We have a Toshiba E Studio 3555c. It has started printing yellow very faint. All other colours are fine it’s just the yellow. Any suggestions?
Hi Linda, if it’s only affecting one colour then it sounds like damage has occurred to the drum unit (may be built into the toner). If it was a general setting issue it would occur to all colours rather than one. I’m not that familiar with this machine so I’m unsure of the replacement consumables / drums or developer units etc…
HI,
I have canon pixma MG3170,it has horizontal streaks in black as well colour printouts.I tried nozzle cleaning,Head alignment,deep cleaning,refilled cartridges but the streaks don’t go and its too fade print outs.
Hi, for an inkjet printer this sort of issue can be caused by problems with the print head. It could be clogged up, especially if cartridges were refilled rather than replaced. Take the inks out and with a damp paper towel (be careful of any spillage) gently wipe the nozzles. If the print head is separate to the inks in your printer, this may need replacing.
Hi, when I print a colour image I’m getting lines of faded ink but only at the top section of the page – I’ve flipped the same image and the colour prints perfectly at the bottom of the page but not at the top, regardless of what’s there. The Yellow toner is getting low, but could it be this – it seems odd that it’s only on a specific section of the page and doesn’t affect the colour everywhere else? Many thanks in advance
This is usually due to the rollers or drum unit, depending on which printer model you have the drum may be separate or built into the toner cartridge. If it’s built in, replacing the toner should fix the issue. If it’s the rollers, cleaning them should also fix the issue.
hello,
i have a canon LBP6030W Printer, when i am taking printer test page by long pressing its button, the printout is fine but taking printout of any pdf file, word file or image comes very faded. i have replaced the toner also but of no help.
Hi there, this is a common issue more to do with the, settings in adobe reader when printing the PDF. Unfortunately I don’t have a clear cut solution for that at the minute.
Newly bought Brother DCP1610W laser result half-faded print. I changed laser paper type and increased density (+6).. But same issue still persist.. Please kindly advise..
Hi there, this definitely shouldn’t be happening with a brand new printer. It sounds like there may be either a problem with the starter toner, or something more serious with the printer itself. The best thing you can do is contact Brother support as your printer will be under warranty for 12 months.
Hi Stuart – I have a samsung xpress c480fw which id just over a year old – recently when printing in colour I have magenta and yellow tone running through the print in horizontal lines. Have changed the toner collector – carefully dusted wherevever I could access and now I have drawn a blank … print is b/w perfectly…. any ideas?
Hi Nicola, lines all the way across the page as you described with a laser printer normally get caused by something blocking the distribution of the toner. In your printer model there is a drum unit / imaging unit which is a green metal cylinder. the job of the imaging unit is the roll the toner from the toner cartridge onto the paper so missing lines normally mean there is a mark or fingerprint or some sort of damage to the green cylinder which is very sensitive. The imaging unit looks like the one here and it sits behind the toner cartridges in your printer. You may be able to see marks or damage to it but be sure not to touch the green part as it will cause damage to it.
Hi stuart, I use an HP Laserjet 2015 series printer. I refilled the cartridge when it was empty instead of buying another but when it was inserted into the printer it still showed that red light against the toner label on printer manual. When I print pages it works all the time but worried about that red light. Please help.
Hi there, if it’s still printing fine I wouldn’t worry too much about the light. Refilled cartridges will always give strange results and behavior from the printer because manufacturers don’t like you to use them.
my printing machine is giving faded printing
what I do
is jamming is not working better?
https://notresponding.net/hp-printer-not-working/
Hi Sanya, jamming can be caused by a number of things, possibly the cartridge not inserted fully or too much paper in the machine.Which printer do you have?
Hi, I have HP 2300DN printer. It prints test page OK but prints are faded? what’s that? if there is something wrong, i mean to clean the printer then the test pages were to be faded as well but that’s not the case. What to do?
Could be something to do with the settings of what you are printing on your computer. It doesn’t sound like a fault with the printer, is it a PDF. PDF’s have their own settings that can be changed.
Hello. I have an older Brother HL-5150D that has given great service for many years. Now, though, the printing is uniform and clear but really too light even with the print density cranked up to max. Replacing both the drum and the toner made no real difference. I don’t see any obvious dirt/toner residue blocking light from reaching the drum.
The humidity here in winter is very low – around 35-40%, although the problem really developed before the humidity dropped so low.
Is it possible that the light source on older laser printers can get dimmer with age and cause light printing?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Hi Wayne, to be honest any printer will deteriorate as they get older and print out quality won’t be as good as it was but I personally haven’t heard of the print becoming lighter without the issue being caused by a drum, toner or fuser. It may be time to replace the printer now unfortunately. Stu
Hello
Thanks for the article, very informative! Could I pick your brains? I’m getting faded prints, very narrow missing lines and the faintest grey banding appearing – all this is to the left-hand side of a page. I think on the black cartridge, in the area the printing is wrong, I can see narrow faint intermittent lines on the cartridge roller. Could this be a fault with the cartridge, its ink (possibly cheap ink) or maybe the drum? I’d love to know as its rattling my brains.
Hi Nigel, it sounds like you have a combination of issues but I also wrote an article about missing areas of print and lines down the page that might help here
I have a Brother HL3070CW color laserjet running latest Windows 10 updates. If the print settings are set to color then the color print is washed out and so is the b/w print. If I choose b/w output, then the color print is washed out but any black color is crisp. I have installed brand new Brother color toner tanks as well as all 4 new Brother print drums. No change in the print. I have used this printer with my MS Surface Pro 4 for 2 years; the 1st year everything was perfect but now I’ve been dancing around this issue for the last year. I’ve tweaked just about everything I can think of through the printer settings/properties. I do not see anything to allow me to adjust the density setting, however. Any thoughts or links to suggestions? I thank you in advance!
Hi there, are you using the exact same type of paper that you’ve always used, it could be the paper type that is the issue but only if you changed it at some point.
Hi Stuart,
I recently bought a HP desk jet 3630 and the black and white print is fine however the color print is really faint. It`s like the photos have to be edited to a really dark filter, i`ve tried this on various photos so it cant be the photo. I`ve tried uninstalling the ink and putting it back on, looked for the density settings but cant find how you reset them. Any ideas, or is my printer fault?
It sounds like the tri-colour HP 302 ink has a problem with it, possibly the print head might be blocked and one or all of the 3 colours aren’t coming through evenly. I’d try a new colour cartridge if you have one, if that doesn’t work then it will unfortunately be a printer fault.
Hi, I am Seun, I have a Canon iR4570 but the right side do fade. What is the solution.
If one siode of the page is faded then it is likely damage to the drum, transfer roller or toner cartridge. If you follow the instructions on this page, you should be able to fix it.
hello, for people having faint printout/letters with the samsung m2020w, i found a solution but the printer gets hotter so i hope the heating element won’t develop any problem. you simply go into the “printer preferences”, under the “paper” tab and change the paper “type” from its default(plain paper) to “card stock”. i think the heater now burns the toner with a higher intensity. my printouts went from barely visible to crisp-sharp-jet-black ^_^ . if this works you can start going down gradually from card-stock to “thick” e.t.c until you find a perfect option that works so reducing the heat generated by the printer.
many thanks, nice option
is there any other option
Hiya.
I have two Samsung CLP-620 printers. Both printers worked flawlessly for years with non-Samsung toner carts. However, lately, print quality is unacceptable from these printers, rendering both useless for color output.
Both printers product hard-copy with three distinct problems:
– color is absurdly inaccurate;
– toner is laid on the media too heavily and sometimes flakes off;
– random ghosting of solid color (yellow, cyan, or magenta) appears along the edges of media.
I’ve searched the internet for a website that shows examples of poor color printer hardcopy, but I cannot find such. That’s a shame, ’cause I feel like examples of crappy output should provide typical troubleshooting procedures.
However, most intriguing is the fact that the printers will not print in “draft” mode AND hard-copy printed at the highest quality setting is unrecognizable. When used for black-only output, the printers produce no grey shades. And again, toner-save settings (ie. “draft” mode) with black-only output does not appear to work.
All consumable components (fuser, transfer belt, take-up rollers, toner carts) appear OK. The printer-generated consumables report for each printer shows that all components are well within their respective lifespans. Drivers are up to date.
My suspicion is that Samsung has hobbled the quality of output (via a driver update) when the printer detects non-Samsung toner is present. I have yet to purchase Samsung toner (due to sheer expense) in order to confirm my theory.
tAny ideas?
Hi there, thanks for your comment! It sounds like your printer is having real problems there! Whilst it’s quite possible that a driver update could do that, it’s very unethical and I doubt Samsung would have done that to a printer with a driver update. OEM manufacturers do tend to introduce software that makes it difficult for a compatible to be used but I’ve never heard of that affecting the quality of prints. Are you still using the same brand of compatibles from the same supplier? If you are it’s possible that the supplier has changed their manufacturer and the quality is way worse from the new manufacturer. This does happen in my experience so I’d be interested to know if your problems happened after installing a new cartridge or in the middle of using an existing one?
Just changed all inks. now getting very faded printing. Epson WF-7610
Just got a new xerox versalink c7000 it’s so new we printed 5 pages perfectly on Sunday (when we first set it up) then Wednesday we went to print again and it’s coming out super faint (the whole page no streaks) almost like tv snow. Xerox sent us a new drum, replaced it, no success. Its super frustrating getting a brand new machine and it’s already not working!
That sounds extremely frustrating! If it’s a new printer you will have 12 months standard warranty and it does sound like there is something wrong with the machine unless some settings have been changed.
I have a cannon pixma it worked great I noticed if I copied something it would look better then the pages I print straight from my phone. I had to replace the ink an now it comes out faint an when I try to copy, the black is coming out grey.
I print a lot of coupons an anymore they will not ring up cuz of it being faint. I’ve tried to take them out an shake them but no change.
This could be due to the quality of the ink if you’re using compatible or remanufactured inks?
I am using HP laser jet p1606dn, and while printing,it is dark on one side and faint on the other…..why is that?
This is due to a drum issue. I believe that the drum is built into the toner, so you would have to replace the toner to fix the issue.
Hi
I have a canon MG3650
When printing in colour the first inch of the image is extremely pale and no detail, however the rest of the image prints fine
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
Hi there, it sounds like you might have an issue with the print head. Try the steps on cleaning the print head found on the Canon website here.
Hi Stu,
Our office has an OKI MC 362 printer and we recently changed all toner and the drum on it. However it has been printing sheets with the middle being faded. Is there any idea what the issue could be?
Thanks
Hi Evan,
this is normally an indication of a problem with the drum unit or possibly fuser unit. The drum unit is responsible for distributing toner on the page and fuser to melt and seal the toner but if you’ve replaced them this shouldn’t happen.
Is there any loose toner inside the printer anywhere? That would indicate that the toner is falling off the page and into the printer.
If not then I’m afraid it could be something more sinister like an issue with the laser, or data not passing from PC to the printer correctly.
Stu
Have a Samsung CLX 3305FW laser colour printer,very faded print but when doing a test sheet the print is fine ,please help doing my head in
This is very strange, if the test print is fine then there will definitely be no issues with the toner cartridge or drum unit which means it’s a settings issue. Test prints won’t usually print in a low density or draft mode so it could be that the settings for regular prints are as draft mode or low density. Here’s some instruction on the brother website on how to check the settings / change them on a brother printer: https://help.brother-usa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/77863/~/faint%2C-light%2C-or-faded-printed-pages
my HP photosmart is printing top of page perfectly but begins to fade from middle to end so by end of page it is very faint. This happens with each page so I dont think ink cartridge is low. What is the problem ? Thanks.E
Hi Emmet, I’ve never actually come across this issue before. For an inkjet printer it sounds like an issue with the print head to me. Does the fading start in a perfect line or does part of the line start to fade and then eventually the whole area is faded? If the line is perfectly faded I think it is more of a technical issue with the interpretation of the data in the software. The only thing you can really try is to install a new ink cartridge and see if the issue is fixed or not. If it isn’t then it’s definitely a more technical issue.
Stu
hi hope you can help me, i have a problem with my printer. its printing all the photos red, like they are all tinted. its an advent awp10. i have checked all settings, also does it when i click glossy photo paper. not sure what to do. have also cleaned printheads too. look forward to hearing from you. Bonnie.
Hi Bonnie,
this is a slightly different issue to the normal faint print issue. Try the tips on the following page here about ‘why is my printer printing pink?‘
Great post.
Hi Stuart I have this problem with my ir2525i printer.
Some two lines are fading. What could be the cause?
Hi, usually if there are 2 faded lines, it’s due to damage to the drum units or dirt on the rollers. If it’s the drums they would need replacing but rollers can be cleaned with lint free cloths.
Hi,
I am Juv. I have a Canon printer LBP2900B. I am getting clouded or blurrei images of the text that I have in a rd document.
P.S. I am not familiar with the technical terms of printers. Please help me out of this. I need to submit my projects I am in this ironic situation.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Juv, it sounds like an issue with the drum unit or the fuser in the printer.
The fuser is built into the printer and cannot be replaced (this melts the toner to the paper). If this is the problem, you would need to contact Canon to get it fixed.
If it is the drum unit (this puts toner on to the paper), it could be fixed by replacing the toner cartridge with a new toner cartridge. This is probably your best option to see if this corrects the problem.
Thanks
Stu
Hi, I have a Brother Printer 2270DW. The Drum light started flashing so I changed out the roller and reinstalled it. Everything went perfect, I reset the drum and the light went out but the ink is still very light on the printouts and my toner is fine. I wiped down the inside and used that sliding thing on the drum itself and I did not touch the roller. Any suggestions?
Hi Jennifer, it sounds like when the drum was changed it’s possible the printer has put itself into ‘save mode’. To turn off save mode on the printer follow these options:
Thanks
Stu
Hi, I have a Canon MG5320 that had an issue with paper scraps stuck inside. We opened the printer up (took the top plastic cover off) and found the paper and got it out. The printer finally started working again. But now, it prints just fine but won’t copy, although it has a brand new black ink cartridge inside (the 226) Or does the copier work from the 225 black ink? That one doesn’t show empty, whereas the 226 showed low, so I changed it out, but it made no difference. Prints come out fine, copies come out barely visible.
Hi there, I’ve never actually come across this issue before but the best thing to do is to check the settings on the computer to see if the copies or prints are set to draft mode which uses less ink.
HI
I have a brother HL3150 CWD laser printer. Just recently it has started producing fading on the left hand side and sometimes the right hand side. When using colour, the black seems to be printing fine. Any advise before I lob it in the bin
Hi, the cause is normally the drum units or possibly the fuser, especially if it is only faded when printing colour as there would be separate drum units for each colour. If it’s the fuser then I’m not sure you can get a replacement fuser for that printer.
Hi
I have canon IR 2420 photocopier, when photocopying it is making faint papers. When I inserted new toner it started to photocopy better to the left and faint to the light. What could be the problem then?
This is normally a problem with the drum unit being damaged or marked and that prevents the toner distributing to the paper correctly. You’d need to get a new one but you can take the old one out and see if it looks like it’s damaged on the green cylinder. Be careful not to touch the green cylinder though as you may cause damage if there isn’t a problem already.
Hi, I have a Samsung M2885FW. It called for me to replace the image unit… I did and now it prints extremely light. I have many of these printers, so i interchanged these parts with other working printers, those new parts work fine in those other printers… What else can be causing this?
Thanks
Hi Mike,
it could possibly be the settings if you haven’t checked that already. I’ve heard that some printers do set back to draft mode automatically when you change an imaging drum so it’s possible that has happened but would be very strange as you’ve mentioned changing these in other printers and not experiencing the issue. Alternatively it could be an issue with the imaging unit.
Hi Stuart,
I have a 15 year old HP LaserJet 3330 Multi Function printer that has been rock solid. Recently, I discovered a replacement HP C7115A Toner Cartridge new in the box at a thrift store, which has been sitting around no doubt for who knows how long. Being about $100 savings from a new one on Amazon, I took a shot. Unfortunately, the ‘new’ cartridge prints Very faint black with some streaking no matter how much I shake the cartridge. I’m sure years of sitting in the sealed foil pouch have settled the toner material so much that its impacting the operation.
The settings have not changed from the old cartidge to the new, so I’m thinking its the cartridge. Is there any way to bring this cartridge back from the edge? Thanks.
Cheers,
Michael
Hi Michael, unfortunately toner does after around 1.5 to 2 years start to deteriorate. The particles fuse and clump together which causes some of the print issues you’re experiencing. There isn’t any way to fix the issue I’m afraid!
My dorm is humid as heck…that might be the problem.
Stu, thanks for all of this helpful input! We have a Canon IRC2550 and are experiencing a fainting (mostly on the bottom third of the page). It seems to be the Cyan color that’s partly missing. We’ve tried cleaning and even replaced the Cyan cartridge, adjusted gradation settings, increased the cyan density, but so far nothing has remedied the situation. Any suggestions would be helpful!
Hi Ryan, does this always happen to the cyan or just this particular test print? It’s possibly the fuser that isn’t sealing the toner correctly but could also be rollers / damage to the rollers catching the prints. If it’s always the cyan even after the change of toner and on different prints, I’m not sure exactly what would cause that issue.
It has been happening on all of our prints. It seems like we’ve had fuser/roller problems before, so that’s likely the cause, I suppose. Thanks so much for the help, Stu!
Hi there, I have just bought a brand new inkjet Canon TS5120 and I’m trying to use it to print client photos. However, my first 2 prints, I select and use the right glossy paper and I’m 110% positive I’ve selected and used the right glossy paper, my images come out with faded/washed out colors. But I have seen youtube videos of other getting top quality photo prints. please help!
Hi Mitchell, i’ve never experienced this myself so am probably not the best person to give advice but I found the following thread on the Canon community, hopefully there is some advice for you here.
Hi Stu,
I have a new Epson WF-7710 that has only printed in a faded way, unless I manually darken the density. Then it prints perfectly. I’ve searched in settings for any option I can change, like an econo-mode, but find nothing. Please let me know if you can assist me in some remedy other than a manual override each time I print. Thanks!
Hi Laura, if you tried all of the advice on the article, the only thing left to try is a printer firmware update to see if it’s a software issue. If you serach google for ‘Epson WF-7710 firmware’ and download from the Epson website / install. That’s all you can try.
please sir,my printer HP 2130 was printing well before and it is faded sometimes grey colour. there is ink, I cleaned the cartridge,it would be normal then go back to its problem. sir,please what should I do.
Hi, the best thing you can do is follow the tips on this article and if you still have the problem there’s a good chance that the cartridge is defective.
Hi! I have an OKI ES3640pro. After changing magenta drum, blue and black came light. This light printing remains even after changing all drums. I may put the max. +3 to every color but it helps only a bit but do not solve the real problem and in photos you see this very clearly.
Hi, I was looking at the printer manual for your machine and I believe each time you replace cartridges or drums you need to clean the LED heads or it can cause faint print. Have a look at the manual on page 51 of this pdf here. Hopefully that will rectify the issue you have.
I have canon irc3380i, when i bought it, it was printing well but when the black toner got finished, i replaced it with another toner which wasn’t exactly the right toner for it. Now when I print, it comes light and faded. Can something like that affect the black developer that is why it is not printing well? If so, can I replace the black developer for it to print well? Thank you.
I’d be surprised if that caused the issue because using a toner that wasn’t intended for the printer would prevent the printer from printing anything out, so the drums (imaging units) wouldn’t have been in action. On some printers when you change toners, the printer sets back to draft mode and starts printing faded to save on toner. It would be worth first checking the settings to see if that’s happened.
Would anyone know a fix to a printing issue I am experiencing? it appears to be only effecting one user when printing, her Jobs are printing out more faded then if another user were to print the same document.
Could possibly need the drivers on the PC updating.
We have several Brother HL-L8260CDW laser printers in our factory. One of them prints at a much higher output than the others so this one particular printer experiences the following issue quicker. Regardless we have seen this issue on all of them once it hits around 20,000 pages. The overall print quality goes down and eventually it will be faded roughly 1-2 inches from the left side of the paper but appear normal on the right. We have worked with Brother Support to trouble shoot this and their only fix was to replace the entire machine. The replaced machine then experienced the same issue around 20,000 pages. 20,000 pages seems like a short lifespan for a fuser or something mechanical inside the printer so hoping you had some ideas.
Hi David, thanks for your comment / question.
With the faint print down one side and the consistency of the issue you’ve experienced, I’d suggest is normally caused by deterioration of the drum units. For this particular printer, the duty cycle of the drum units are 30,000 pages, however it really depends on the amount of printing you’re doing per day / per month with your printers. High usage (including higher page coverage than 5% on your prints) can seriously deplete the condition of a printer and its replacement parts, and you’d be very unlikely to get the full 30,000 pages. The recommended max output of your printer model is 3000 pages per month according to Brother.
It does seem strange that the issue consistently occurs at around 20,000 pages for each printer. Do you know approx. how much / what page coverage on average that you’re printing at currently? If you’re not actually printing near the recommended maximum, it could be an issue with the quality of the model, ie. a design flaw.
Replacement drums are available for your printer so might be worth giving some a try to see if it fixes the issue in one of the printers.
Thanks for the above reply Stuart (Brother HL-L8260CDW above). We got a replacement unit from Brother support for this issue. While we were waiting on the replacement unit to arrive I took the fuser out of the broken Brother. it looked like on one side the bushing holding the pressure roller was slightly melted making one side of the pressure roller not as tight as the other side. Since the print was off on one side as mentioned above I thought well maybe that is it. So when the replacement unit arrived the first thing we did was take the new fuser out of the replacement unit and put it into the broken unit. The print stayed exactly the same (light colors, faded only on the left side). We then took the fuser out of the broken unit and put it back into the original replacement printer. We then took the consumables from the broken printer (4 toners and the drum unit) and put all of those into the new replacement printer. The print was fantastic. So same fuser, toner, and drum in one printer is good. in another printer it is bad. I am at a loss as to what other piece of the printer we could even try repairing to fix that.
Hmmm that’s a puzzling problem. What you did confirms that it’s neither the fault of the drums, toners or fuser (all common causes of faint print). It must be down to defective design in other irreplaceable printer parts, possibly even the laser diode that transmits the print image onto the drum.
Hi Stuart
We have a Fuji Xerox Docuprint CM305 df that has actually been a fantastic Multifunction for our office, however, of late it has had some issues that we cannot resolve. Firstly I was told it needed a new drum – so we replaced it had a tech come out and do it and then about a week later we had replaced the black toner cartridge as we had to but the replacement cartridge is even worse that light grey.
Thought it might of been the cartridge – so I put another new one in it and no improvement. I was then told by our print supplier that the tech said it needed a new fuser – so yep bought it put it in and still no improvement. Getting a little frustrated – any ideas – I fixed out other Xerox 4622 but simply emptying the waste toner cartridge and it is performing as good as the day we got it.
Thanks for your time Louise
Some printers can change a density setting when you install new cartridges and the print out gets lighter. I’m unfamiliar with your printer model but it’d be worth looking in the menu for some sort of print mode setting and seeing if it’s printing in economy mode, or some sort of draft printing mode.
I really appreciate if you can help me with my printer Brother DCP-9020CDW color laser printer. I use this printer for home use and only printed 1500+ copies. It prints good quality for the first page and then starts fade from the second page; the third page comes completely blank. If it is a picture get fade from the middle of the first page. First I thought maybe toners problem and changed all the toners but problem not resolved.
Hi there, it sounds very strange that it fades so suddenly. It’s possibly a problem with the fuser but with the way it fades to blank, I think it could be a problem with software or some other part of the hardware like the laser. The best thing you can do is get a technician to look at it or speak to Brother as I wouldn’t want to suggest you replace more parts at cost to yourself without knowing what’s exactly wrong.
good morning sir,
please my konica minolta c220 is printing with white white dot dot on it on card why the printing is okay on paper. it stated after i change the transfer belt. please advice me on what to do.
Hi there, it sounds like the card might be too heavy for the printer and the white dot is likely being caused by the rollers or possibly fuser. There isn’t much you can do to fix an issue like this as it’s not a problem with normal paper, you probably just need a thinner type of card.
I have a hp office jet 6962. It will not print a light grey or any light colors.. please help..
it prints black ink fine!
Hi Pamela, what does the print out look like when you try to print light grey?
Hi, Stuart.
We’ve got a Canon ImageClass MP227dw b&w laser. Been ordering replacement cartridges for awhile and not had a problem. Recently replaced print cartridge and am having this puzzling problem:
Print jobs produce a very faint print on the first print or two, then blank page. If I wait awhile and try again, it starts over at “very faint print.” Shaking the cartridge doesn’t help (new cartridge anyway), and trying another cartridge produces same results. Cleaned everything inside printer I could reach with dry microfiber cloth, and used canned air. Suggestions?
Hi Chuck, during printing the drum would get charged by the laser and it would pick up the toner powder using a static charge. It sounds like either the toner isn’t getting on to the paper correctly (it might not be being picked up by the drum) or isn’t being melted towards the end of the process by the fuser. If there’s lots of mess inside the printer after each use, it’s probably a fuser issue. I’m not familiar with your printer model so I’m not sure if you can get replacement / separate drums and fusers to try but if you can, the first thing and cheapest to try would be a new drum. Sometimes the drums are built into the toner cartridge and in that case you’d just have to try a new toner cartridge.
hi Stuart,
i have hp 4675 inkjet 5 in one, i have recently refilled both black and tri color cartridges from the shop and when i put it back and tried for color print it give the mixture of green and yellow color on the image or picture, what ever i print, but when i take print quality diagnostic option, it prints absolutely right colors, means in the diagnostic there is color name printed above and under that exact color is printed, like cyan magenta yellow light cyan light magenta light yellow, so what the problem is, i tried to clean the tip several time but nothing
Hi there, when you see a print out with a green rather than black coming through, it is usually because the magenta colour is missing or too light. In your case, it can indicate that there’s an issue with the magenta colour coming through the tri-colour cartridge. Do you have a different colour cartridge that you can try?
We are having issues with our hp laser jet and pulled out our old inkjet hp that hasn’t been used in a very long time. The ink on the print heads is still wet. What would be the best steps to have it working again?
Hi there, have you tried printing yet? It could be absolutely fine but may need a few updates installing (you’ll get prompted on your PC).