Printer skipping lines

unless you are printing and choosing black only, the printer uses the color cartridge also. Go into advanced settings and choose black only. If not you may try and replace the color cartridge, or return the cartridge, it might be defective.

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Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me:
(Applies to all printers)

1. Click Start, Programs, Lexmark Series.
   
2. Click Lexmark Control Panel.
   
3. Click Print Cartridge installation.
   
4. Depending on which cartridges you are using and which printer model you have, select Install Color Cartridge or Install Black Cartridge or Install Photo Cartridge.
   
5. Carefully remove the tape covering the printhead of the print cartridge. Important: Be sure to remove all of the tape. Do not touch the copper area on the back of the cartridge.
   
6. Insert the print cartridge into the print cartridge carrier.
   
7. Push the cartridge back until it clicks into place.
   
   
   
   • If the print cartridge moves loosely in the carrier, it is not locked into place. Repeat step 7.
   
   
8. Click the appropriate Cartridge Installed option in the printer software.
   
   
   
   • If you choose to install a new print cartridge, you will be prompted to align your print cartridges. The printer will print a page with a bi-directional alignment pattern. Follow these steps to align the cartridges:
     
     
     
     1. On the printed test page, locate the number under the Bi-directional Alignment pattern that comes closest to forming a straight line.
        
     2. Enter the number as the Bi-directional Alignment setting in the Alignment Cartridge screen.
        
     3. Click OK.
   
   
9. Close the front cover of the printer.

1. Click Start, Programs, Lexmark Series.
2. Click Lexmark Control Panel.
3. Click Print Cartridge installation.
4. Depending on which cartridges you are using and which printer model you have, select Install Color Cartridge or Install Black Cartridge or Install Photo Cartridge.
5. Carefully remove the tape covering the printhead of the print cartridge. Important: Be sure to remove all of the tape. Do not touch the copper area on the back of the cartridge.
6. Insert the print cartridge into the print cartridge carrier.
7. Push the cartridge back until it clicks into place.
   • If the print cartridge moves loosely in the carrier, it is not locked into place. Repeat step 7.
8. Click the appropriate Cartridge Installed option in the printer software.
   • If you choose to install a new print cartridge, you will be prompted to align your print cartridges. The printer will print a page with a bi-directional alignment pattern. Follow these steps to align the cartridges:
     1. On the printed test page, locate the number under the Bi-directional Alignment pattern that comes closest to forming a straight line.
     2. Enter the number as the Bi-directional Alignment setting in the Alignment Cartridge screen.
     3. Click OK.
9. Close the front cover of the printer.

is this a pc or mac?

for windows general make sure you folowed these steps:

1. Click Start, Programs, Lexmark Series.
2. Click Lexmark Control Panel.
3. Click Print Cartridge installation.
4. Depending on which cartridges you are using and which printer model you have, select Install Color Cartridge or Install Black Cartridge or Install Photo Cartridge.
5. Carefully remove the tape covering the printhead of the print cartridge. Important: Be sure to remove all of the tape. Do not touch the copper area on the back of the cartridge.
6. Insert the print cartridge into the print cartridge carrier.
7. Push the cartridge back until it clicks into place.
   • If the print cartridge moves loosely in the carrier, it is not locked into place. Repeat step 7.
8. Click the appropriate Cartridge Installed option in the printer software.
   • If you choose to install a new print cartridge, you will be prompted to align your print cartridges. The printer will print a page with a bi-directional alignment pattern. Follow these steps to align the cartridges:
     1. On the printed test page, locate the number under the Bi-directional Alignment pattern that comes closest to forming a straight line.
     2. Enter the number as the Bi-directional Alignment setting in the Alignment Cartridge screen.
     3. Click OK.
9. Close the front cover of the printer.

the page should be absolutely new.and the scanner glass should be absolutely cleaned.and 1 main thing u replaced your black cartridge.but if your colour cartridge is empty it will not accept the allignment complete thing.it will show allignment failed as the particular colour is missing in your allignment sheet which is required to get the allignment complete.

If you try the print head alignment or head cleaning wizard under the maintenance tab, they may help!

1. Press the Setup button.
2. Use the arrow keys to select Tools and then press the OK button.
3. Select Clean Print Cartridge and then press OK . The device prints a test page.
4. Examine the test page. If the print quality of the page is good, stop here. If the print quality is bad, go on to the next step for further cleaning.
5. Open the Printer Toolbox . There are two ways to do this:
   • Open HP Director , select the Settings menu, then the Print Settings submenu, and finally the Printer Toolbox .
   • If the HP Director method does not work, open Printers and Faxes in the Windows Control Panel , then right-click your printer icon and choose Properties . Click on Printing Preferences . Click the Services tab, then the Service This Device icon.
6. The Printer Toolbox opens. On the Device Services tab, click Clean the Print Cartridges , then follow the on-screen instructions. Up to three levels of cleaning are available. Discard or recycle the page that prints.

If the steps have not solved the problem, clean the electrical contacts on the print cartridge and in the carriage.

1. Gather the following items to clean the cartridge and print carriage:
   • Clean distilled water. Use bottled or filtered water if distilled water is not available. Tap water can contain contaminants that damage the cartridge.
   • Clean cotton swabs or any soft, lint-free material that will not stick to the cartridges (coffee filters work well).
   • Sheets of paper or a paper towel to rest the cartridges on during cleaning.
2. Open the product cover and wait until the print carriage stops moving.
3. Remove the cartridge and place it on a piece of paper with the nozzle plate facing up. NOTE: Clean the contacts quickly so that the cartridge is not outside of the product for more than 30 minutes. If the cartridge is outside of the product for too long, the ink can dry and clog the nozzles.
4. Unplug the product.
5. Dip a swab in the clean water, and then squeeze it to remove most of the moisture. The swab should be only slightly damp.
6. Clean the print-cartridge contacts. Do not touch the nozzles. Figure 1: Cartridge electrical contacts
7. Clean the contacts in the print carriage, inside the product. Figure 2: Carriage contacts
8. Either let the cartridge sit for ten minutes to allow the cleaned area to dry, or use a new swab to dry it.
9. Reinstall the cartridge, plug the product back in, and close the product cover.
10. Try to print again. If the issue still appears, continue to the next step.

In the black print cartridge, this problem might be caused by sediments collecting in the nozzle area. Perform the following steps to solve this problem:

1. Remove the black print cartridge.
2. If the carriage has a latch, re-latch it and then close the printer. NOTE: If the printer is not closed, it cannot adequately protect the remaining tri-color cartridge.
3. Place the cartridge on a level surface with the nozzles up (label down). Figure 4: Cartridge with the nozzles up
4. Allow the cartridge to sit undisturbed for two hours.
5. Reinstall the cartridge and print another diagnostic page.
   1. Load letter or A4 unused plain white paper into the input tray.
   2. Press and hold the Cancel button and then press the Start Copy Color button.
   3. Make sure that the test patterns show a complete grid and the thick color lines are complete.
   • More than a few broken lines in a pattern can indicate a problem with the nozzles. You might need to clean the print cartridges.
   • If the black line is missing, faded, streaked, or shows lines, this might indicate a problem with the black print cartridge in the right slot.
   • If any of the color lines are missing, or if the pattern appears faded, streaked, or shows lines, this might indicate a problem with the tri-color print cartridge in the left slot.
6. Look for defects on the page. If the diagnostic page shows no defects for the black cartridge, and if the cartridge was new, align the cartridge. To align the cartridge, follow the steps:
   1. Load letter, A4, or legal unused plain white paper into the input tray.
   2. In the HP Solution Center, click Settings , point to Print Settings , and then click Printer Toolbox . NOTE: You can also open the Printer Toolbox from the Print Properties dialog box. In the Print Properties dialog box, click the Services tab, and then click Service this device . The Printer Toolbox appears.
   3. Click the Device Services tab.
   4. Click Align the Print Cartridges and a print cartridge alignment sheet is printed.
   5. Load the print cartridge alignment sheet with the print side down on the right front corner of the glass.
   6. Press the Start Scan/Reprints button and the HP All-in-One aligns the print cartridges. Recycle or discard the print cartridge alignment sheet. For aligning the cartridges from the hardware only, follow the steps:
   7. Load letter or A4 unused plain white paper into the input tray.
   8. Press and hold the Cancel button and then the On/Power button.
   9. While the Check Paper and Check Print Cartridge lights are blinking, press the following buttons one at a time in the following order: Cancel , Number of Copies , Paper Type , Color Start

(i posted this for someone before)

When you remove the black cartridge there will be electrical contacts inside the printer that lines up with some contacts on your cartridge, make sure these are clean

Also, according to this printers manual, have you tried a printer head align?

"(1) Open the Printer Properties dialog box. See Opening the Printer Properties dialog box directly from the Start menu
(2) Click the Maintenance tab.
(3) Click Print Head Alignment.
Follow the instructions on the screen."

well, what i did, and it seemed to work, in the short run anyway. i took and threw my hp in the back of a waste management truck,  then i called amazon.com and i ordered a new epson printer,