What should the lines look lie in a printhead alignment?

A long story, short answer: probably you have a problem in your printer. You should take it to a repair service and hoe repait kit is available for this model.

Blocked Printheads and/or Alignment issues.
Try cleaning the printheads and see if there are any increases in quality. Then start down the alignment road. Be very careful when tinkering with alignment. If you mess it up it may require a technician to realign it properly.

cannot detect alignment page- two possibilities-
1: hen the printer prints the alignment you can physically see the lines and colour shades being printed onto the sheet- this should then be scanned with the electronic eye built onto the carriage assembly- usually one automatic operation- if you can see a good clear image printed ( blocks/lines.boxes) and the printer cannot see the image it stands to reason the electronic eve ( spectrophotometer) is not reading the image correctly or at all, if however there are 'missing' areas of the calibration print then the problem lies with the printing side and I would recommend cleaning/ replacing the printheads as required

there are a number of possible errors here.
have the machine align its printheads
then have the machine complete colour calibration ( you will need good working printheads to complete the calibrations
when this is finished have the machine print out its config pages and demo print page ( you can find how to do this in the online user manual) this is done to Isolate the printer from the fault - if The demo page and config pages are printed correctly then the error lies external to the printer ( the software printing the document)
OR
check to see if the correct printer driver is installed (to be sure uninstall then re-install) open the driver and check to see in Preferences/colour that the settings are 'let machine decide colours'
or set to adobe pdf. print out the test page from the driver and pay close attention to the windows logo at the top of the page- it should match that on the windows start screen
if you can see that the green yellows are still out of calibration then you may need to change the printheads ( CYAN/Yellow) as the error may lie internal to the printhead.
at the end of the day the fault lies most likely with the software setup or the printheads.

Try Cleaning the Cartridges manually and automatically.
For the cartridge clean it with a damp lint free cloth and also for the printheads wher eyour gonna be inserting the cartridges.
Follow these steps do do the automatic aligning and cleaning:
Click Start and then go to Printers and Faxes (XP), Printers(Vista), Devices and Printers(Win 7)
1. Right Click on your printer Icon 2. Go to Printing Preferences 3. Click the Features Tab 4. At the bottom of the window you will see Printer Services or Device Services. Click on it. 5. Choose Align Printheads on the list.

For Cleaning the Printheads, Instead of choosing Align Printer choose Clean Printheads.
I hope this helped.
Try Printing Again. I hope I was able to solve your problem. :)

Try to realign the printhead.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open the printer Toolbox , and select the Printer Services tab.
3. Click Align Printheads . The Align Printheads window opens. Click Align .
4. The printer prints an alignment page. The lines in the patterns should appear to be straight. Click OK when the page finishes printing.

If that does not work you can try changing the ink cartridges and repeat the align process

SolutionFollow the given steps in the order presented to resolve the issue: Step one: Retry the print jobThe problem may occur only rarely. If you have not seen it in other printouts, try again. Step two: Increase the print quality modeIf reprinting did not help, try increasing the print quality mode.

1. In the application you are printing from, click File , and then click Print .
2. Make sure the printer is selected, and then click Properties .
3. Select the Paper/Quality tab.
4. In the Print Quality area, choose the next higher quality setting. If the current setting is Draft, choose Normal. If the current setting is Normal, choose Best.

Step three: Print in grayscale (black area streaking only) If the streaks are in a black area of a black and white printout, change to grayscale printing.
NOTE: This step does not apply to color printouts.

1. In the application you are printing from, click File , and then click Print .
2. Make sure the printer is selected and click Properties .
3. Click the Color tab, and select Print Grayscale and High Quality .

Step four: Clean the printheadsIf the print quality is still bad, clean the printheads.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open HP Solution Center .
3. Click Settings , Print Settings , and then select Printer Toolbox .
4. Click the Service Tab .
5. Click Clean Printhead , and then click Clean .

Step five: Align the printheads If the print quality is still bad, align the printheads.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open the printer Toolbox , and select the Printer Services tab.
3. Click Align Printheads . The Align Printheads window opens. Click Align .
4. The printer prints an alignment page. The lines in the patterns should appear to be straight. Click OK when the page finishes printing.

Step six: Calibrate the linefeed If the print quality is still bad, calibrate the linefeed:

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open the printer Toolbox and select the Printer Services tab.
3. Click Calibrate Advanced Linefeed . The Advanced Linefeed Calibration window opens. Click OK .

Step seven: Replace one or both printheads If the print quality is still bad after performing all the above steps, one or both of the printheads will have to be replaced. Print a PQ Diagnostic page to see which printhead should be replaced.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Press the Setup button.
3. Press 1 and * simultaneously.
4. Look at the color blocks labeled Test Pattern 2. Some or all of them could show white horizontal streaks. If none of the blocks are streaked, the printheads are okay.
   • If the Black block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
   • If the Cyan block has lines – replace the MC printhead.
   • If the Magenta block has lines – replace the MC printhead.
   • If the Red block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
   • If the Green block has lines – replace the KY printhead.

Uneven vertical lines can be adjusted by
performing the printhead alignment adjustments.
The user is directed through the Lexmark Solution
Center to perform the printhead alignment
adjustments when replacing a printhead cartridge.
The alignment can also be performed from the
control panel by selecting the Maintenance Option,
then Align Cartridges.

Step one: Retry the print job The problem may occur only rarely. If you have not seen it in other printouts, try again. Step two: Increase the print quality mode If reprinting did not help, try increasing the print quality mode.

1. In the application you are printing from, click File , and then click Print .
2. Make sure the printer is selected, and then click Properties .
3. Select the Paper/Quality tab.
4. In the Print Quality area, choose the next higher quality setting. If the current setting is Draft, choose Normal. If the current setting is Normal, choose Best.

Step three: Print in grayscale (black area streaking only) If the streaks are in a black area of a black and white printout, change to grayscale printing. NOTE: This step does not apply to color printouts.

1. In the application you are printing from, click File , and then click Print .
2. Make sure the printer is selected and click Properties .
3. Click the Color tab, and select Print Grayscale and High Quality .

Step four: Clean the printheads If the print quality is still bad, clean the printheads.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open HP Solution Center .
3. Click Settings , Print Settings , and then select Printer Toolbox .
4. Click the Service Tab .
5. Click Clean Printhead , and then click Clean .

Step five: Align the printheads If the print quality is still bad, align the printheads.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open the printer Toolbox , and select the Printer Services tab.
3. Click Align Printheads . The Align Printheads window opens. Click Align .
4. The printer prints an alignment page. The lines in the patterns should appear to be straight. Click OK when the page finishes printing.

Step six: Calibrate the linefeed If the print quality is still bad, calibrate the linefeed:

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Open the printer Toolbox and select the Printer Services tab.
3. Click Calibrate Advanced Linefeed . The Advanced Linefeed Calibration window opens. Click OK .

Step seven: Replace one or both printheads If the print quality is still bad after performing all the above steps, one or both of the printheads will have to be replaced. Print a PQ Diagnostic page to see which printhead should be replaced.

1. Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
2. Press the Setup button.
3. Press 1 and * simultaneously.
4. Look at the color blocks labeled Test Pattern 2. Some or all of them could show white horizontal streaks. If none of the blocks are streaked, the printheads are okay.
   • If the Black block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
   • If the Cyan block has lines – replace the MC printhead.
   • If the Magenta block has lines – replace the MC printhead.
   • If the Red block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
   • If the Green block has lines – replace the KY printhead.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Step two: Increase the print quality mode
If reprinting did not help, try increasing the print quality mode.
In the application you are printing from, click File, and then click Print. Make sure the printer is selected, and then click Properties.
Select the Paper/Quality tab. In the Print Quality area, choose the next higher quality setting. If the current setting is Draft, choose Normal. If the current setting is Normal, choose Best.
Step three: Print in grayscale (black area streaking only)
If the streaks are in a black area of a black and white printout, change to grayscale printing.
NOTE:- This step does not apply to color printouts.
In the application you are printing from, click File, and then click Print.
Make sure the printer is selected and click Properties.
Click the Color tab, and select Print Grayscale and High Quality.
Step four: Clean the printheads
If the print quality is still bad, clean the printheads.
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Open HP Solution Center.
Click Settings, Print Settings, and then select Printer Toolbox.
Click the Service Tab.
Click Clean Printhead, and then click Clean.
Step five: Align the printheads
If the print quality is still bad, align the printheads.
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Open the printer Toolbox, and select the Printer Services tab.
Click Align Printheads. The Align Printheads window opens. Click Align.
The printer prints an alignment page. The lines in the patterns should appear to be straight. Click OK when the page finishes printing.
Step six: Calibrate the linefeed
If the print quality is still bad, calibrate the linefeed:
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Open the printer Toolbox and select the Printer Services tab.
Click Calibrate Advanced Linefeed. The Advanced Linefeed Calibration window opens. Click OK .
Step seven: Replace one or both printheads
If the print quality is still bad after performing all the above steps, one or both of the printheads will have to be replaced. Print a PQ Diagnostic page to see which printhead should be replaced.
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Press the Setup button.
Press 1 and * simultaneously.
Look at the color blocks labeled Test Pattern 2. Some or all of them could show white horizontal streaks. If none of the blocks are streaked, the printheads are okay.
If the Black block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
If the Cyan block has lines – replace the MC Printhead.
If the Magenta block has lines – replace the MC Printhead.
If the Red block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
If the Green block has lines – replace the KY printhead.