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Color troubles printing to HP Color Laserjet 2600n

We are a school with a networked environment that includes about 40 Macbook Pros and 60 iMacs. Included in there are several eMacs and PCs. Over the past several weeks, our HP Color LaserJet 2600n printers have begun to exhibit printing where rather than the normal color printing, there appears to be added black toner on the print jobs. The PCs and eMacs are not exhibiting this problem at all, thus I eliminated the fuser possibility. I looked more at a potential driver issue.

These 2600n printers are shared out to the MBPs and iMacs via Workgroup Manager. They connect to these printers via Bonjour for printing. We do have an 802.11n wifi network with multiple SSIDs but no matter if it is cnonected over SSID or over wired gigabit ethernet, the problem still exists.

I tried printing via IP address, but the computers would not readily recognize the printers during setup, and when I manually selected the driver, the computers could not connect to the printer.

So, I am trying to figure out why all of a sudden these print jobs are exihibing severe color issues.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on May 5, 2011 9:58 AM

70 replies

Oct 19, 2011 1:01 PM in response to Daniel Ball

Oh no! I have been looking HP's website for updates, not Apple - that is why I haven't known about it. I called HP today and this is where they directed me.

Thanks for the links... I hope mine stays good. Wonder how it just "reappears"? I will post my experience here if it changes...

Oct 19, 2011 6:10 PM in response to AcousticDi

I see now that it still isn't quite fixed. Printed a newsletter tonight that I had a prior copy of from 2 years ago on the same printer. It is much darker and the photos are awful.

Why does this HP2600n Fix have the remove ALL the printers? That kinda scared me when I went to update earlier in the week... I can just add them back, right?

Oct 19, 2011 7:43 PM in response to AcousticDi

Yea its just adding the printers back if you have more printers than that 2600 installed.

When I first started to mess around with the drivers and stuff and trying to revert back nothing would work. Still got the black haze no matter what I did. I needed to print one night and got mad and just cleared everything out by resetting CUPS, deleting everything in /Library/Printers/ and installed most of the HP stuff I could find from the 10.6.3 install dvd and it worked finally.

So to be safe and hoped that was the issue I basically reset cups which is the printing engine in OS X. Its not a complete reset, because I think doing it in System Preferences resets permissions and everything. I just delete the printer setup files. Nothing major.

Only thing that puzzled me was the 1.3.0.261 driver is always visible when selecting the driver. That is the bad driver and don't want that one. It must be buried somewhere.

But if you run the package it will reset your printers to nothing, just set them back up again. When setting up the HP 2600n just make sure you pick the correct driver like the package says in the read me.

I installed it on my laptop running 10.7.1 and my mac mini running 10.6.8 and it fixed the issue for me. Hopefully it will work for everyone else......HP sure isn't doing anything about it. I have been waiting about a year for a fix. HP was notified about a year ago, I think in December, and still no fix!

Oct 20, 2011 5:39 AM in response to Daniel Ball

I ran it, However, I cannot choose the "HP Color LaserJet 2600n" driver. I says "An error occurred while trying to add the selected printer." Error: -9672.

All my printers were still in preferences tho... I rebooted then tried again to pick the driver but no go. Everything seems to be as it was before tho, athough I do have 2 choices on the driver for teh 2600.

Oct 20, 2011 12:32 PM in response to AcousticDi

Hmmmm that makes no sense.........if you go under the Apple/System Preferences/Printers & Scanners/ and hold the Option key and click the - button that will reset the printer system and clear everything out.

Can also try going under /Library/Printers/ and deleting the HP folder.

Run the package again and see what happens.

Oct 30, 2011 11:29 AM in response to Daniel Ball

Okay, I followed these instructions and got all my printers loaded back and they are working fine. I am noticing the 2600n comparison print is definitely not as dark, but it is still not they way it used to be ... nice soft beautiful colors. I am experiencing misalignment of the colors also tho. I just hired someone to come over here 6 weeks ago and take the printer apart and clean that dreaded magenta mirror because of fading. (I just couldn't do that again by myself...) He also aligned the colors perfectly and printed out a beautiful test sheet. Wondering how he did that? Is there a way other than the menu calibration option? I've done that menu thing and not working so far. Thanks for all your help and getting these colors lightened up some... it is surely better than it was.

Oct 30, 2011 12:31 PM in response to AcousticDi

I noticed my firmware is WAY out of date on the configuration page: 20050307. Should I update to the one from 2007?: 20070716. I also haven't done this utility I see out there on HP's site: HP color LaserJet 2600n DC controller firmware update utility. Advise is always appreciated ...

Oct 30, 2011 6:24 PM in response to AcousticDi

So you have the older firmware 20050307 and having the dark haze print?

Your the first I seen if so......everyone that was having the dark haze issue had the latest drivers and firmware installed. Anyone who had the older 20050307 firmware didn't seem to be affected!

Also note that new HP drivers came out the other day package version 2.8.....the driver for the 2600n is still the same 1.3.0.261.

But something to try, maybe its something else with the HP drivers.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL907

As for the firmware, I'd just keep the older version for now. It doesn't fix anything for the black haze, I thought it was part of the issue having the newer version.

Oct 30, 2011 6:29 PM in response to AcousticDi

Reverting back to the older drivers shouldn't really change the alignment and stuff I don't believe.

You can always go to the printers webpage and adjust that way instead of going through the printers menu on the front.

Print out the Print Configuration page and get the IP address of the printer and open a web browser and go to that IP of the printer. Most of the option you need are in there and easier to set.

Nov 7, 2011 9:44 PM in response to AcousticDi

AcousticDi......can you see if this driver helps you?

Looking at that old package I am seeing its not 100% correct. The driver I am installing is 1.3.0.261 and thats the problematic driver. On my laptop and on my mac mini I was able to choose a plain HP Color 2600n driver that was version 1.3.0 and not sure where or how right now. I am digging through packages again trying to figure out stuff.

The new Apple HP 2.8 package that is out is failure as well.

Here is an older driver version 1.2.0.224, try and reset your printer with this driver and see what happens:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18068810/HP2600_1.2.0.224_Driver.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/?bnb353a93610b51

Nov 8, 2011 10:22 AM in response to Daniel Ball

BTW, if I haven't told you, you are AWESOME for helping. I will plan to pay this forward with things I know about...

I have 2, 2600n printers setup now, the first one has a driver that shows: HP Color LaserJet 2600n, (your first fix) and now this 2nd one: HP Color LaserJet 2600n 1.2.0.224.

I printed a page of a color newsletter I just finished with each one. The 2nd one (1.2.0.224) prints slightly darker than the driver from the first fix you offered, so the 1st one works better for me.

I have run the calibration 6 or 7 times trying to get the red to line up, but no luck so far. I'm using the secondary menu, Calirations, All Calib. My printer guy told me it could be the belt or something else I don't remember... not a cost prohibitive job to say the least for either one.

I really appreciate all you have offered. I was blown away by this printer when I first got it and have been a HP printer girl since 1986... still using my 2100m daily, purchased some 8 years ago, and the one I had before it is still in use by a family member. So I was truly buying the brand name's history... I will be looking around and reseaching diligently before I buy another color laser.

Dec 17, 2011 2:44 PM in response to AcousticDi

Hi, I seem to have a similar problem, albeit its literally only just materialised. I've been running Lion (and previously Snow Leopard) for ages - I updated to Lion a couple of days after it came out. Literally a few days ago, the printer went mad, and prints greens and light blues, and probably many more colours in black. Pictures are impossible to see, apart from very basic colours which don't include light blues or any greens. I've just finished a long chat with HPs online support, which, although was very good, didn't manage to (yet) solve the problem. I was wondering whether you guys have managed to get any further with a real solution? Thanks.

Dec 17, 2011 4:40 PM in response to SmileyPhil

Nope nothing.....only Apple and HP can fix the issue. Windows prints fine so its an OS X and HP issue.

I'm not sure you are having the same problem though. What happens if you print a test page from the printer itself or a Windows computer if you have one?

Keep pesting HP please......would be great to see this fixed!

Jan 23, 2012 10:11 PM in response to Daniel Ball

Please contact HP CEO Meg Whitman and tell her how terrible the OS X drivers are for this printer and how it affects you!

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/ceo/index.html

Jan 25, 2012 11:05 AM in response to Daniel Ball

I just sent my letter Daniel. Thank you for the advice. I am days away from hauling this printer out of the office...

Color troubles printing to HP Color Laserjet 2600n