HP7960 Printer problems

I am having trouble getting consistant prints from my HP 7960. Is it possible the printer is worn out? Hard to explain, but prints will at times come out weak, as in not sharp colors...kind of a washed out look, other times they come out fine.

Can we assume that formerly, your prints were of consistent quality and nothing has changed-- hardware, software, settings, paper, etc?

Unlike other printers, this class of HP photo printers has the nozzles integrated with the cartridge, so with every new cartridge, you get a fresh nozzle. Did you by chance get some old expired ink cartridges?

Nothing has changed, print quality varies..and yes...at one point, print quality was fine. It has been doing this for a few months, so I do not think it is old ink cartridges.

How about different drivers or OS? Did you originally use this printer with XP and now use Vista or Windows 7? I use a printer of the same vintage and HP doesn't provide full driver support for Vista or Windows 7.

And, just a suggestion, maybe it really is time to look at a new printer and relegate this old girl to simple document tasks. Problem with HP is their current line in this class is so sparse. The B8550 prints 13x19 but only uses a single color black photo cartridge, whereas your printer uses that excellent tri-color gray photo cartridge for B&W prints. You can still get my B8350, but HP re-branded it as the Deskjet K7100. Then you step up to the B8850 and B9180.

I don't have any Canon experience, so can't comment on them, but the Epson 2880 is incredible for B&W while the 1900 is said to deliver good B&W but awesome color.

An interesting read: http://forums.dpreview​.com …rum=1003&messag​e=33624420

Thanks for the thoughts..i think it is time for a new printer