Printouts can spring many a surprise on us:
Horizontal banding
Vertical misalignment
Colour gaps
Blurry or smeared printout
Print quality problems in printers can be attributed to many causes, few of them are given below:
Cartridge low on ink
Incorrectly configured driver or printer settings
Dirty or crumpled paper
Clogged nozzles
Faulty components
Ensure the paper is not damaged, dirty or too old
Also, the printable side of the paper is face up in the sheet feeder
Run the Nozzle Check utility that is bundled with the printer driver (For Inkjet and Bubble Jet printers)
Run the Head Cleaning utility to clear any clogged ink nozzles (For Inkjet and Bubble Jet printers)
Run the Maintenance utilities bundled with the printer driver software for a laser printer
