color very dim on my Canon MP240

[jaybee3x3]

My printer was printing photos beautifully, then suddenly I got wide streaks. I replaced the cartridge (CL211xl) and when I printed everything came out a pale pastel. Thinking the cartridge might be defective, I got another cartridge. Same result. I even reinstalled the old cartridge. Same result. The nozzle check shows no clogged nozzles. I assume something has happened in the settings, but I have have no clue. The online manual recommends setting it to "vivid color." I did that; no change.

Any suggestions? (I'm on a Mac, if that matters.)

 

[ghwellsjr]

Can you upload a scan of the nozzle check? Use the upload link at the top of this page.

 

[jaybee3x3]

I uploaded the image (titled "nozzle check," but I don't know where it went???

 

[ghwellsjr]

Go back to the Upload link and in the lower right corner click on a link called My uploads. Right-click on the text in the Image window and select copy. Paste this text in your Edit window.

 

[jaybee3x3]

Here it is:

 

[The Hat]

jaybee3x3

It looks like you are printing out the nozzle check in draft mode.
Try setting your printer to normal quality mode and then print out another nozzle check to see if thats the cause of your problem.. :|

 

[jaybee3x3]

It appears now that this color problem only comes when I print from iPhoto. (And the print dialog box that comes up in iPhoto is different from the normal box.) But it did print normally from iPhoto before I changed the cartridge. I still need to solve the iPhoto printing problem.

Edit--added later:
OK, here's more light on the problem: I tried dragging one of the iPhoto images to the desktop and then printing it from Preview. I got the same dim image I got when I printed from iPhoto. But when I print an image that did NOT come from iPhoto the colors are normal.

The problem must be somewhere in the settings in iPhoto, since the printer will produce correct colors apart from iPhoto images.

Any further suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ghwellsjr]

jaybee3x3

It looks like you are printing out the nozzle check in draft mode.
Try setting your printer to normal quality mode and then print out another nozzle check to see if thats the cause of your problem.. :|

This is a new one for me. Are you sure there is more than one way to print a nozzle check?

 

[ghwellsjr]

Jaybee, the light yellow appears to be not perfectly solid--does it look that way to your eyes?

Can you also upload some images that you are having the problems with and some without the problem?

 

[jaybee3x3]

Thanks for the suggestions!
I looked at the originals through a strong lens, and the yellow is solid, though very dim. Here are two images--photos taken at the same time, one printed when the system was behaving properly, the other (the one on the left) printed after the new cartridge was installed.