Deskjet 5550 has suddenly switched to Very Slow Printing Mode

Hikermann

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Windows 7 / HP Deskjet 5550: Printer has been working fine, but for some unknown reason it has decided to change over to Excruciatingly Slow Printing Mode: instead of hearing the carrier buily scurrying back and forth, it now trundles once across, then takes a long rest, then heads back the other direction. Now, I'm getting on up in those "senior years" and so my walk-abouts and hikes are becoming more and more like that too . . . but after running HP Print & Scan Doctor and trying every reset procedure I know of, the 5550 is not up to speed here.

Any suggestions toward a solution?

Many thanks. Appreciated.
 

PeterBJ

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I think the problem might not be a software or driver problem but a hardware problem.

I have experienced something similar with an HP PSC 750. Printing had become slow and erratic and sometimes the printer would stop in the middle of a print job. The printer had also become more noisy than usual.

The cure was cleaning the timing/encoder strip and lubricating the carriage rail. After that the printer worked like new and was much more quiet in operation.

Here I found a photo of the HP DJ 5550 showing the location of the timing strip and carriage shaft. I have added arrows an text to show the parts. @Adriatix I hope it is okay I borrowed your photo.

HP DJ 5550.jpg


Open the printer like you would change a cartridge. When the carriage has centred pull the power cord without first turning the printer off. You should now be able to slide the carriage from side to side.

The timing strip is a thin transparent plastic band with fine markings. Clean it gently with a soft tissue paper moistened with a window cleaner with ammonia. Be careful not to tear the strip.

The carriage and shaft might also need cleaning and lubrication. Wipe the shaft clean with a soft tissue paper and apply some thin oil to it and slide the carriage from side to side to lubricate the bushings in the carriage and then wipe off the oil from the shaft. A mineral or synthetic oil preferably with Teflon is suitable. Avoid silicone oil as this can cause damage to electronics.

Hopefully your printer will be OK again after this maintenance job.
 

Hikermann

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Thank you for your reply -- I went through all of those steps and it seems to have improved somewhat, but it appears the issue is elsewhere: When a doc is sent to print, the 5550 "hops to" and makes all the "getting ready, getting set" sounds which are normal, including drawing the paper into position; then, however, it switches gears (as it were) and the print carriage makes a swipe across, then is still for 15-20 seconds, followed by the next swipe, etc. Puts this machine down into the -10 ppm category or some such . . . after about 1/3 of a page has printed, the Resume button light begins flashing and the "printing" stops; after pressing Resume, it takes a couple of minutes before the sheet of paper is ejected.

All quite curious. Again, thanks.
 
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