Ghosting, Banding, Bleed:
A Plain-English Print Fix Guide

Bad print quality is frustrating precisely because there are so many possible causes. Faded prints can mean low ink, wrong paper settings, or a clogged head. Streaks can point to the nozzles, the drum, or the paper path. This guide names each defect clearly, explains the most likely cause, and gives you a targeted fix — rather than just telling you to run a cleaning cycle and hope for the best.

Ghosting (Faint Repeated Images)

Ghosting appears as a faint, slightly offset repeat of an image or text that appears beneath or beside the main print. It's almost exclusively a laser printer problem. The cause is nearly always a worn or damaged drum unit that isn't fully discharging between rotations. A secondary cause is fuser issues, where unfused toner from a previous rotation partially transfers to the page.

Fix: Print a drum test page from your printer's maintenance menu. If the ghost repeats at regular intervals that correspond to the drum circumference (usually 75–95mm for A4 drums), replace the drum unit. If the interval is irregular, the fuser is the more likely culprit.

Horizontal Banding (Stripes Across the Page)

Horizontal bands of lighter or missing colour running across the page — perpendicular to the direction of paper travel — are a classic inkjet symptom. The cause is almost always blocked or partially blocked print head nozzles. Specific channels (cyan, magenta, yellow, or black) become clogged when the printer sits unused for extended periods.

1. Print a nozzle check pattern from your printer's maintenance menu. This shows which channels are affected.
2. Run one print head cleaning cycle, then print another nozzle check. Do not run multiple consecutive cycles without checking in between.
3. If partial blockage remains after two cleaning cycles, try a manual nozzle soak: remove the affected cartridge, dampen a folded piece of lint-free cloth with distilled water, and rest the cartridge nozzle-side-down on it for 10 minutes. Reinstall and test.

Ink Bleed (Blurry or Feathered Edges)

Ink bleed — where lines appear soft, feathered, or blurry rather than crisp — is almost always a paper issue, not a printer fault. Inkjet printers deposit liquid ink onto the paper surface. If the paper is too absorbent, too smooth, or not designed for inkjet printing, the ink spreads laterally before it dries. Plain copier paper, glossy laser paper, and some recycled stocks are particularly prone to this.

Fix: Switch to paper specifically labelled for inkjet printing. If you need crisp text output, a matte inkjet paper in 90–120 gsm will produce significantly sharper results than standard 80 gsm copier paper. Avoid storing paper in humid conditions — moisture-absorbed paper causes bleed even with appropriate stock.

Faded or Washed-Out Prints

Fading affects specific colours and has different causes depending on whether you have an inkjet or laser printer. On inkjets, fading in one colour channel (especially cyan) usually means a partially empty or blocked cartridge. On laser printers, uniform fading across the whole page typically indicates low toner — even if the cartridge level display shows otherwise. Toner sensors are notoriously inaccurate and often read "low" or "empty" with 15–20% remaining.

Wrong Colours or Strong Colour Cast

If your prints consistently come out with an obvious colour cast — everything too warm, too cool, or with a magenta/green bias — the issue is usually one of three things: an incorrect colour profile selected in the print dialog, a miscalibrated monitor (meaning what you see on screen doesn't match the print accurately), or a near-empty cartridge in one channel affecting the colour balance. Check which cartridges are lowest and compare a print from your printer's built-in test page (which bypasses colour management) with a document printed from your application.