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  1. #1
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    Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    If I print a color document to printer A, the quality is horrible. Print the same document to printer B quality is awesome.

    Now, take awesome color print from printer B, run in it through the *copier* on printer A, quality is almost as good as the print out (as expected).

    What the heck can I adjust to find the culprit?

    Printer A is a HP 4730/Q7517A (Printer B is a HP 4540/CC421A)

    We've tried PCL vs PS drivers - no change.

    Have not touched the firmware, and not really keen on doing that.

    Model Number: Q7517A
    Formatter Number: ES208P4
    DC Controller: 3F
    CPB: 1.036 (2.0)
    SCB: CMNPSL 28
    Firmware Datecode 20110216 46.310.8



  2. #2
    thec3llc
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    My first guess unfortunately would be firmware.

    Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

  3. #3
    Not a service manager 2,500+ Posts Iowatech's Avatar
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    Re: Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    I'd first take a look at the applications they print from. Or hook up a properly configured laptop directly to the machine by usb or crossover cable and see how the prints look.

    Also, is there both PCL5 and PCL6 drivers available for this machine, and if so have you tried them both? I think the PCL5 driver works better for Windows XP, but some of the other techs where I work say I'm a stupid idiot and claim for some reason that the PCL6 driver works better. I guess your mileage may vary here.

    If all there is is the Universal Driver, make sure that you've downloaded it from the 4730 section of HP's website. Universal PCL drivers work really well most of the time, but sometimes newer machines need to have some slight tweaks in the driver that an older version of the driver won't have.

    Finally, take a look at the printing defaults from the driver's advanced tab and make sure there isn't any settings there that would affect print quality.

  4. #4
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    Re: Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    We (my boss and I) have ruled out the application insomuch as it prints fine to another HP printer. And, yes, I tried telling my users just to use that one. As it's clear on another side of the building, they didn't appreciate the humor.

    We've spent hours trying different permutations of drivers, printing direct to the printer's NIC (versus printing via a Windows SBS 2011 server), so we're pretty sure it's not a driver issue. Granted, we didn't experiment with different print processors, but we're now ready to upgrade the printer's firmware.

  5. #5
    Service Manager 1,000+ Posts
    Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    prntrfxr's Avatar
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    Re: Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    Printer firmware would be my first thought too. 2nd would be drivers (which it seems you've already checked), followed by software application update. Once I knew it wasn't any of those 3, I would try a new formatter, but I think about 90% chance it's firmware.
    Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Coke in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!".

  6. #6
    thec3llc
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    Not sure I've ever ran an engine test on a color printer; do their spit out sheets in rotation of color? If so it might be worth seeing if an engine test works properly.

    Yeah only reason I didn't mention drivers was cause he appears to have ruled that out.

    Here's a question, have you tried printing to this from another pc? I know this pc worked to that other printer but...

    Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

  7. #7
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    Re: Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    Quote Originally Posted by Iowatech View Post
    I'd first take a look at the applications they print from. Or hook up a properly configured laptop directly to the machine by usb or crossover cable and see how the prints look.

    Also, is there both PCL5 and PCL6 drivers available for this machine, and if so have you tried them both? I think the PCL5 driver works better for Windows XP, but some of the other techs where I work say I'm a stupid idiot and claim for some reason that the PCL6 driver works better. I guess your mileage may vary here.

    If all there is is the Universal Driver, make sure that you've downloaded it from the 4730 section of HP's website. Universal PCL drivers work really well most of the time, but sometimes newer machines need to have some slight tweaks in the driver that an older version of the driver won't have.

    Finally, take a look at the printing defaults from the driver's advanced tab and make sure there isn't any settings there that would affect print quality.
    You are not a stupid idiot. I have seen this many times where pcl 5 will work with XP and pcl 6 will not.
    I also agree with using a laptop but he should use the same interface ( usb or network) to keep the varibles down.

    Rob S

  8. #8
    Master Of The Obvious 10,000+ Posts
    Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    blackcat4866's Avatar
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    Re: Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    I'll only mention this 'cause I haven't seen it yet in this thread.

    What are the printer defaults and what driver defaults: What DPI setting? What exposure setting? I'm not sure about this model, but on most models I work on you have options of 200x200, 300x300, 600x600, some 600x1200, some 1200x1200. On the Kyocera products that I see most often, there are 5 increments of exposure possible, defaulted to "3".

    Just out of curiosity I would temporarily change the port on the 4540 driver to print to the 4730, just to see the results. I'm leaning toward driver settings, it's just pinning down exactly which setting needs to be changed.

    @prntrfxr: Which overrides: Document Settings, Application Settings, Driver Settings, or Printer Settings?
    @BWBB: Did you specify what application?
    If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
    1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
    2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
    3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
    4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
    5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

    blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

  9. #9
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    Re: Bad color printing from PC, but makes good color copies. WTH? HP 4730

    Okaaaay, so that was 8 man-hours of fruitless troubleshooting!

    I eventually had to connect to the printer via USB, and then use the lj4730mfp_fw_utility_46_350_1.exe firmware utility.

    After resetting the unit to factory defaults, and printing via USB, I am STILL getting the magenta-tinged background (see picture, below) no matter what computer, Vista or Win7, what drivers.

    The only way to correctly depict how bad the tinting is was for me to snap a picture of the test image on top of blank piece of paper.

    Folks, I am at my wits end on this thing! Any more ideas?

    FLH1_MagentaBackground.JPG

  10. #10
    thec3llc
    Guest
    Well... The only thing throwing me off is the whole "only does it through printing and not copying thing." This screams driver or firmware to me.

    Wish I had better insight for you. Hopefully someone can come in on possible driver issues/settings.

    Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

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