horizontal or vertical lines repeat across a printed test pattern
If the live test passes, the investigation can usually move away from total hardware failure and toward the affected app, permissions, routing or configuration.
Try the simple causes first
- 1
Print a DeviceOK color or grayscale test page.
- 2
Try the printer's normal/default quality setting.
- 3
Check whether the lines repeat in the same positions on a second print.
Work through the problem in order
- 1
Print a DeviceOK diagnostic page and identify whether the bands are horizontal, vertical, color-specific, or across all output.
- 2
Check ink/toner status and media type.
- 3
Run the manufacturer's official print-quality/nozzle/alignment diagnostic appropriate to the printer type.
- 4
Avoid repeated aggressive cleaning cycles unless the manufacturer specifically recommends them.
- 5
If the defect repeats in the same physical pattern across test pages, follow the model-specific official support path.
If DeviceOK's clean reference prints without bands, the original file, application, scaling, rasterization, or print preset is more likely than a persistent printer-side defect.
Repeatable bands on independent diagnostic pages make a printer-side consumable, maintenance, alignment, media, or mechanical cause more likely.