Unsatisfactory print results or incorrect colors using color HP or Lexmark cartridges

1. Ink contamination will cause the printer to produce off-color output.
2. Contamination usually occurs when one or more colors have been overfilled, and can occur even if overfilling was not obvious. The overfilled color forms a small ink drop on the print head. The sponges containing the other colors wick the overfilled color up into their chambers. This causes the overfilled color to combine with and contaminate other colors.
3. In some cases, contamination can be caused by failure to sufficiently wash the needle and syringe or by accidentally injecting the wrong color. The procedure below may not resolve color contamination due to these errors. If these are the cause of your color contamination, please follow the "Cartridge Priming Procedures" here to purge your cartridge, then refill the cartridge again, using the appropriate instructions.
4. To resolve ink contamination caused by overfilling, download the color test page.
5. Print the test image repeatedly until the colors print properly. The number of prints required depends upon the degree of contamination.