How to fix garbled output on an HP Z2100 printer

[stonechurch]

I just installed a "new to me" HP z2100 printer.  All went well and I was able to produce perfect head alignment prints and diagnostic prints and a perfect Windows test page sent to the printer.  But when I try to print from Photoshop I get the mess in the photo.  Does anyone know what it is and how to fix it?   

[rasworth]

Start out printing a recognized reference image, such as one from Digital Dog's website, or outbackphoto.com.  This takes the image out of the process, and we can help you from there.

Richard Southworth

[stonechurch]

Hi:  Sorry for the delay -- I had to wait for a replacement printhead to arrive and install it.  That garbled pattern hasn't reappeared, thankfully, but the colors are faded and off.  I;ve attached a diagnostic image printed from the Digital Dog website and the downloaded image.  I'm printing on HP Premium Plus Soft Gloss and chose the "Photo SG/Satin" from the HP presets on the pane and performed a color calibration on it before printing it out.  I'm printing from Photoshop with "Printer Manages Color" set and the HP driver has "Printer Manages" color and "sRGB" set.  Any help get the colors right would be much appreciated. 

[mcbroomf]

sRGB is the problem, it's a display profile.  You need to select the ICC profile for the PPSG paper you're using.

[stonechurch]

Mike:  Thanks for the reply.  I'm confused though (my normal state).  I thought I'd picked the right ICC profile by choosing "Photo SG/Satin" from the z2100 paper preset menu and honing in on it by doing the color calibration.  The only two choices presented  in the HP printer driver (radio button "printer manages colors" preselected and grayed) are sRGB and AdobeRGB.  The Digital Dog test document is described in the Photoshop print dialogue as "Document Profile:  ColorMatch RGB"   I'm not quite sure what the deal is. 

[mcbroomf]

It seems like you do not have the print driver installed correctly as all of HP's paper profiles should be there.  Not sure if you can find it and re-install it (the driver).  I looked for a profile for just that paper and as usual the HP website is just a mess.

[neil snape]

Probably best to delete the entire HP drivers files and folders, and start again.
Looks like a it is using a generic driver.

[stonechurch]

Well, I just updated the firmware preparatory to reinstalling the drivers and bricked the printer with an 8:10 error on startup.  I've just replaced the power supply, ink tubes, left service station only to have this new catastrophe.  I'm leaning toward throwing in the towel and  buying a new 24" printer.  Anyone have any thoughts on the most reliable?