Home
Posted By: artie505 Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/20/10 10:43 PM
I'm trying to print this NYS tax form with my Lexmark Z515, but all I get is a page full of little squares (unless I enter text, in which case I get my text in the correct places, but on a page full of little squares).

I've only been running a printer for a coupl'a weeks, so my experience is pretty limited, but I've tried printing the Safari (and Firefox) page, saving as PDF, and d/l'ing the PDF, all with the same results.

My daughter is able to print it from her PC, and I've not had problems printing anything other than this one doc.

Anybody?

Thanks.

Edit: I've searched, but with no luck if not the wrong search term.
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/20/10 11:08 PM
after you save as pdf, and open the pdf in preview, does it LOOK ok? If so, I would expect it to print fine. If it looks ok and STILL prints badly, try saving the pdf as something flat like a TIFF, and then open THAT and print.

If the TIFF doesn't print properly, I'd start looking at the printer with a hammer.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/20/10 11:29 PM
It prints fine here. Are you using Adobe Reader, Preview, or something else to open the file?
Posted By: jchuzi Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/21/10 12:30 AM
It prints fine for me with Safari 4.0.5 and PDF Browser Plugin.
Posted By: Hal Itosis Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/21/10 06:15 AM
Originally Posted By: jchuzi
It prints fine for me with Safari 4.0.5 and PDF Browser Plugin.

Curious: why are you using that plugin with Safari?
[Safari hasn't needed a PDF plugin for a long time.]

Posted By: jchuzi Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/21/10 10:16 AM
Probably, it's just habit. One of these years, I'll get around to trying Safari without a PDF plugin.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/22/10 05:40 AM
Thanks.

The PDF looks fine in Preview, but it prints as described.

If I do a Grab of the Preview window, though, the resultant tiff prints OK. (I don't think I've got software that can convert a PDF to a tiff. I know Graphic Converter can do it, but I don't need it badly enough to spring for $35; is there a free alternative?)
Posted By: artie505 Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/22/10 06:04 AM
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
It prints fine here. Are you using Adobe Reader, Preview, or something else to open the file?

I'm opening the PDF in Preview.

I trashed Adobe Reader the day before this issue arose (...took up too much space and turned out to be unnecessary), but you suggested an alternative to Preview and AR a bit back (which I can't locate).

Thanks.
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/22/10 10:18 AM

Quote:
I don't think I've got software that can convert a PDF to a tiff.

Preview can do it. With the PDF open, go to Preview's File menu -> Save As... command and choose TIFF from the Format pop-up menu.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 04/22/10 02:44 PM
That works just fine; thanks!
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/08/10 04:27 PM
Hi, I am having a similar problem. My two-week old Lexmark ink jet has started to print little b/w squares all over my page when I print from Word or Excel. Any ideas on how to resolve this problem?

I have tried to clean the print heads and that fixes the problem for 1 page and then it starts again. It's a huge waste of ink to keep cleaning the print heads for one page of text w/out little squares on it.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/08/10 07:29 PM
Just to be sure we have all the information. Does this only happen when printing from Word and Excel or does it happen with other applications as well?
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/09/10 12:53 AM
Hi,

It's not isolated to Word and Excel. Also happens when printing from Mail, Preview and Firefox.

Any thoughts on how to fix would be greatly appreciated.
Posted By: alternaut Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/10/10 06:33 PM
Given the widespread printing problem you describe plus the (temporary) fix, the main suspect would be the ink cartridge. Did you by any chance try a fresh one? If that didn't make a difference but the printer prints good test pages, I wonder if the problem could be associated with the printer driver you’re using. Hence the following questions:
- Did the problem you’re having manifest itself from the first print you made or did it start later after some good printouts?
- Did you install and use a Lexmark driver that came with the printer? If so, what’s that driver’s version?
- If you’re using the driver provided by your OS, what’s its version, and that of the OS?

Finally, those little squares (missing symbols?) could also be the result of a font issue. Did printing a TIFF version as described above work for you?
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/10/10 09:23 PM
Hi Alternaut,

I don't think it's a font issue because it sort of looks like a watermark. But the squares appear in lines and some are smudged. Their size is about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and are B/W in color. It seems to be more of an issue with actual printing as opposed to any coding in the file being printed.

The printer is about 2-3 weeks old and has printed about 4-5 pictures and less than 100 pages of b/w text pages. The ink cartridge is the cartridge supplied by Lexmark in the box and haven't tried a fresh one b/c they are so expensive.
The squares started to appear on last friday (11.5.10) after several good print outs.

Drivers are from the cd provided by Lexmark (ver 1.01 i think) and I recently updated the printer's firmware as well. The problem has not been corrected.

Hope this helps.
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/10/10 09:28 PM
Quick follow-up -

I did remove and put back the black ink cartridge and printed an email. No squares. Problem seems fixed, for now......
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/10/10 10:51 PM
Originally Posted By: tmric
Drivers are from the cd provided by Lexmark (ver 1.01 i think) and I recently updated the printer's firmware as well.
Glad you got it solved and it was that easy.

FWIW, I seldom, if ever, use the printer drivers that come in the box with a printer. If OS X does not already have a driver for the printer, I will go to the manufacturer's website and download the very latest driver version from there. The drivers that come on the disc in the box are almost invariably one or two, sometimes more, releases out of date. That is just a fact of life in the manufacturing and distribution cycle.
Posted By: alternaut Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/10/10 11:50 PM
Originally Posted By: tmric
I did remove and put back the black ink cartridge and printed an email. No squares.

Nice troubleshooting, congratulations! It seems that either the cartridge wasn't properly seated or the cartridge contacts were not fully contacting. For some reason Lexmark frequently advises users with 'blank page' printing issues etc. to (carefully) clean those contacts with a pencil eraser, although simply reseating the cartridge might fix a (minor) contact problem. Perhaps that also applied to your situation.
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/11/10 04:13 PM
Uh-oh - and the problem is back. It seems I get one clean page and then ink squares return. I may try the eraser, but I think my next move is to call lexmark.

As for updating the drivers, I did download drivers from the internet and they were the same as the disk.
Posted By: alternaut Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/11/10 07:23 PM
I'm sorry to hear you're not out of the woods yet. The positive take on all this is that it seems most likely the problem has to do with the cartridge, given the elimination exercise you've been engaged in. That should help Lexmark pinpoint the cause of the problem and, most importantly, come up with a fix. I would appreciate it if you could let us know how things develop.
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/11/10 07:41 PM
Will do. Thanks for your thought to fiddle with the cartridge.
Posted By: tmric Re: Lexmark prints little squares? - 11/17/10 12:07 PM
Just a quick update:

After being on the phone with lexmark for about 30-45min, we believe that the problem is with the print head. So, they are sending me a new one and new ink cartridges. Hopefully this solves the problem.
© FineTunedMac