Help Index

This help file provides information on the topics listed below. Use the scroll bar to see index entries not currently visible in the Help window. Some print options shown here may not apply to your printer model.

See the documentation that came with your printer for more information on using your printer.

To print this or any other help topic, choose Print Topic from the Help File menu.

Help Topics

Automatic

Battery Gauge

Cancel

Default

Media

Media Size

Media Source

Options

Orientation

Print Quality

Printing Status

Printout

Problem Solving

Version 4.0

© Copyright Hewlett-Packard Company 1990 - 1994

© Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1989 - 1990

All Rights Reserved


Automatic_mode
Automatic

Automatic	Use the Automatic Printout mode to get the best quality printout. This is the recommended setting for all documents. Automatic uses HP ColorSmart technology to automatically select the best printout mode settings for your documents. Use Automatic mode for both graphics and text.
In Automatic mode, ColorSmart analyzes the document you are printing and automatically selects the Halftoning, Intensity, and Color Control Options settings to provide the best quality printout of your document. With black-only printer models, the Halfttoning and Intensity Options settings are automatically selected to provide the best quality printout in grayscale.

Automatic is the default mode and provides the best results for most documents.

Automatic  Use Black	When using Automatic mode with a color printer model, you can select the Use Black option to print only with the black print cartridge. With the Use Black option selected, documents containing color will be printed in grayscale.
The Options button is disabled in Automatic mode. All Option settings are selected by the printer driver.


Battery_gauge
Battery Gauge

 If you are using the printer in battery mode and enhanced error detection is enabled, a battery gauge is displayed on the screen when printing. This gauge shows the battery charge level and is updated after each page.


Cancel

Click the Cancel button in the Printer Setup dialog box to cancel any changes you have made to the settings and close the dialog box.


Default

Click the Default button to reset all printer settings to the factory default settings. The factory default settings are listed below:

Printer Setup Dialog

Setting	Default Setting

Printout:	Automatic

Orientation:	Portrait

Print Quality:	Normal

Media:	Plain Paper

Media Size:	Letter (in US), A4 (in Europe)

Options Dialog

The default settings for Options dialog box settings (Intensity, Halftoning, and  Color Control) are dependent on the Printout mode you have selected. See the Default topic in the Options dialog box help for more information on options defaults.


Media

Select the Media type you will use from the following:

Type	Description
Plain Paper	Use for bond or photocopy paper and envelopes.
Transparency	Use for color and black printing on HP LX JetSeries Transparency Film. If you are printing more than one transparency at a time, the printer automatically allows several minutes between transparencies for them to dry.
Transparency (Extra Dry Time)	Use to stop printing after each transparency when you are printing more than one transparency at a time. You must manually reactivate the printing process between transparencies by clicking OK in the dialog box. This is necessary in high humidity environments, where transparencies may smudge if not allowed time to dry.
HP Glossy Paper	Use for color and black printing on HP LX JetSeries Glossy Paper to enhance color output. If you are printing more than one page at a time, the printer automatically allows several minutes between sheets for them to dry.
HP Glossy Paper (Extra Dry Time)	Use to stop printing after each page when you are printing more than one page at a time. You must manually reactivate the printing process between pages by clicking OK in the dialog box. This is necessary in high humidity environments, where glossy pages may smudge if not allowed time to dry.
HP Special Paper	Use for HP CX JetSeries CutSheet Paper to enhance color output. (Setting available only with color printer models)
See the documentation that came with your printer for information on selecting media for your printer.


Media Size

Select the appropriate Media Size for the Media you have selected:

Type	Size

Letter	8 1/2 in. x 11 in. (US letter)

Legal	8 1/2 in. x 14 in. (US legal)

Executive	7 1/4 in. x 10 1/2 in.  (US executive letter)

A4	210 mm x 297 mm (European A4)


Media Source

Select the appropriate Media Source:

Source	Description

Cut Sheet Feeder	Use the cut sheet feeder for automatic loading of media.

Manual Feed	Feed media manually. Insert media when the Online light on the printer blinks.


Options

Click the Options button in the Printer Setup dialog box to select Intensity settings, Halftoning methods, and Color Options. (Color Options are not available with the HP DeskJet Portable.) Click the Help button in the options dialog box for more information on Options settings.

Note:  When Automatic or Black Text Printout mode is selected, the Options dialog box is disabled.


Orientation

Select the appropriate print Orientation for your document(s):

Orientation	Description

Portrait	Refers to printing across the width of the page
(vertical or letter-style).

Landscape	Refers to printing across the length of the page
(horizontal or spreadsheet-style).


Print Quality

The Print Quality settings available for your printer may include: Normal, Presentation, and Fast.

Normal	Professional quality printing. Normal is the default setting for most Media.
Presentation	Highest quality printing. This mode prints slower than Normal mode for most documents.
Fast	Fast printing using less ink. For printing drafts of color documents (on color printer models), you may wish to select Fast with a Printout mode which prints using the black print cartridge. This will usually print faster, using grayscale instead of color. For fastest printing, you can print with Black Text which prints images in black and white.
Printer Resolution

The following table lists the printer resolution in dpi for the different print quality modes.

	Printer Resolution (dpi)
Printer Model	Normal	Presentation	Fast
HP DeskJet 310	300x300	300x300	150x300
HP DeskJet Portable	300x300	300x300	150x300


Printing Status

The Printing Status window displays information about the document currently printing.

Printout	The Printout mode for the document that is currently printing.

Page Number	The page that is currently printing.

% Complete 	Percentage complete of the page that is currently being processed.

An animated activity symbol indicates that the computer is processing information.


Printout

Select the Printout mode you will use from the following:

Automatic	Use the Automatic Printout mode to get the best quality printout. This is the recommended setting for all documents. Automatic uses HP ColorSmart technology to automatically select the best printout mode settings for your documents. Use Automatic mode for both graphics and text in black or color. In Automatic mode, ColorSmart analyzes the document you are printing and automatically selects the Options settings to provide the best quality printout of your document. Automatic is the default mode and provides the best results for most documents. The Options button is disabled in Automatic mode. All Option settings are selected by the printer driver.
Black Text	Use for documents that contain only black text, such as letters. In Black Text mode, the Options button is disabled and the printer driver optimizes the Option settings for black text.
Color  Graphics	Use for documents that contain solid graphics to be printed in color, such as business graphs and charts. (Available only with color printer models)
Color Photo	Use for documents that contain complex graphics to be printed in color, such as scanned images and photographs. (Available only with color printer models)
Grayscale	Use for documents that contain solid graphics, such as business graphs and charts, to be printed in gray tones. For grayscale printing of color images, use grayscale mode. With grayscale imaging, different colors and saturation levels of color are represented as different shades of gray.


Problem_Solving
Problem Solving

This topic covers common printer problems and suggests solutions. If your printer is not operating properly, select the topic from the following list that describes your printer's problem and follow the suggestions.

Note:  If your printer's problem is not covered here or you need additional help, see the problem solving sections of the documentation that came with your printer for more detailed troubleshooting information. See the README.TXT file on your HP DeskJet 300 Series Printer Installation Disk for information on known problems with software applications. Also see the documentation that came with your software application.

Print Quality Problems

Ink is smearing

Print is faint

Print is fuzzy

Color Print Quality Problems (HP DeskJet 310 printer)

Bands of light and dark color appear in the printout

Black areas appear green in color printout

Colors appear washed out

Colors in printed output are not what you expect

Printed colors don't match screen colors

Document Printing Problems

Documents print in incorrect orientation

Documents print with differences in line length and character spacing from screen

Other Problems

Alert messages such as "Not enough memory to print" are displayed

Printing is slow


Problem Solving

Bands of light and dark color appear in the printout

Cause	Solution
Sometimes the printer can print information faster than the computer can send it. When the printer is waiting for information, the print cartridge pauses and a banding effect may occur.	Select Presentation in the Print Quality option, and print your document. If the results are unsatisfactory, print your document to a file in Windows, and copy the file to the printer in DOS. 1. Open the Main group window, the Control Panel, and the Printers icon. 2. Click Connect. 3. Click FILE in the Ports list box to direct printing to a print file, then click OK. 4. Close the Printers dialog box, then close the Control Panel. 5. Choose Print in your application 6. Click OK in the Print dialog box, type your file name and location in the Print to File dialog box (C:\REPORTS\QUARTER1 for example). 7. Exit Windows and return to the DOS prompt (C:\ for example). 8. Change to the directory where your file is located (C:\REPORTS for example). 9. Type COPY \B QUARTER1 port: "Port" is the port to which you connected your printer (LPT1 or COM1 for example).


Problem Solving

Black areas appear green in color printout

Cause	Solution
The wrong Halftoning mode is used.	Select Automatic Printout mode. Select Color Photo Printout mode with any Halftoning mode. Select Presentation print quality. Use HP Special Paper.


Problem Solving

Colors appear washed out

Cause	Solution
The Intensity slider in the Options dialog box is set too low.	Select Automatic Printout in the Printer Setup dialog box or move the Intensity slider to the right to increase the amount of ink used.
Empty or clogged print cartridge.	Clean or replace the print cartridge. See the documentation that came with your printer for more information.


Problem Solving

Colors in printed output are not what you expect

Cause	Solution
Intensity settings may cause changes in color hue.	Select Automatic Printout in the Printer Setup dialog box or readjust the Intensity slider in the Option dialog box.
Wrong Color Control setting is selected.	Select a different Color Control Setting.


Problem Solving

Printed colors don't match screen colors

Cause	Solution
Color settings need adjustment.	Select Automatic Printout in the Printer Setup dialog box or select Match Screen in the Options dialog box.
In Match Screen mode, printed results may not be what you anticipate. For example, what may be a greenish-yellow color on your screen may print out as yellow with specks of green.	Review your printed results to determine whether using this feature is appropriate for your desired output. Try using different color settings.


Problem Solving

Documents print with differences in line length and character spacing from screen

Cause	Solution
Printer font and screen font do not match.	Reformat your document with scalable fonts.


Problem Solving

Documents print in incorrect orientation

Cause	Solution
Printer Setup settings differ from your software application settings.	Select the Orientation in your software application that matches the Orientation selection in the Printer Setup dialog box. Software application settings override Printer Setup settings.


Problem Solving

Print is faint

Cause	Solution
The Intensity slider in the Options dialog box is set too low.	Select Automatic Printout in the Printer Setup dialog box. Move the slider to the right to increase the amount of ink used.
Fast Print Quality mode is selected.	Select Normal Print Quality mode in the Printer Setup dialog box.
Empty or clogged print cartridge.	Clean or replace the print cartridge. See the documentation that came with your printer for more information.


Problem Solving

Print is fuzzy

Cause	Solution
The Intensity slider in the Options dialog box may be set too high.	Select Automatic Printout in the Printer Setup dialog box. Move the slider to the left to decrease the amount of ink used.
Media may be affecting print quality	Change the type of media you are using. See the documentation that came with your printer for media information.
The print side of the media is not being used.	Turn over the media in the IN tray.


Problem Solving

Ink is smearing or paper is wrinkling

Cause	Solution
Too much ink is on the page.	Select Automatic Printout in the Printer Setup dialog box. Move the Intensity slider in the Options dialog box to the left to decrease the amount of ink used.
Media selection is inappropriate.	Try another type of media. See the documentation that came with your printer for information on selecting media.


Problem Solving

Alert messages such as "Not enough memory to print" are displayed

Cause	Solution
System memory problems.	Close all other applications. Exit all applications and Windows. Restart Windows, then restart only the application you need. Purchase more RAM for your computer.


Problem Solving

Printing is slow

Cause	Solution
System memory problems.	Close all other applications. Exit all applications and Windows. Restart Windows, then restart only the application you need. Purchase more RAM for your computer.
Presentation Print Quality mode is selected.	Presentation mode prints slower than normal mode. Slower printing is normal for this mode.
Transparency or HP Glossy Paper Media Type is selected.	The printer driver has drying times built-in for Transparency and HP Glossy Paper media types. Slower printing is normal for these modes.


printer driver

The software program that controls the printer and allows your software applications to access the printer's features. Your printer driver gives Windows important information about your printer, including details about printer features, the printer interface, and descriptions of the fonts.


Orientation

Orientation refers to the direction of print on the media. Printing across the width of the media is known as portrait orientation. Printing across the length of the media is known as landscape orientation.


Grayscale

Representing color in black and white. Different colors and saturation levels of color appear as different shades of gray.


dpi

Dots per inch. DPI describes the number of ink dots printed within one inch (horizontal x vertical). For example, 600x300 dpi is 600 dots across x 300 dots down.


Help Index

Information on the topics listed below is provided in this help file. Use the scroll bar to see index entries not currently visible in the Help window. Some driver options shown here may not apply to your printer model.

See the documentation that came with your printer for more information.

To print this or any other help topic, choose Print Topic from the Help File menu.

Help Topics

Color Control

Default

Halftoning

Intensity


Color Control

The topics described here apply to color printing only.

Match Screen

Match Screen adjusts printed colors to provide the best match in appearance to your screen.

Recommended for:

o  	Complex color graphics such as scanned images, photographs, and complex computer generated artwork.

Vivid Color

Use this setting to print clear and vivid colors for simple colored graphics such as graphs and business charts.

Recommended for:

o  	Simple, solid color graphics such as charts and graphs that require bright colors.

o	Applications supporting basic 8 colors (black, white, red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, and magenta).


Halftoning

The halftoning method you choose determines how the dots are arranged to create a printed page using one of the following imaging methods. The HP DeskJet 300 Series Printer Driver for Microsoft Windows provides three halftoning methods; pattern, scatter, and cluster.

Experiment with the settings to achieve the results you desire. The table below summarizes the halftoning methods available:

Method	Definition	Recommended Use	Speed
Pattern	Uniform distribution of ink. Sometimes produces noticeable geometric patterns in area fills.	Color text. Free-hand images. "Clip art" images. Business graphics.	Fast / Medium.
Scatter	Uses an algorithm to produce the appearance of a random distribution of ink.	Complex graphic images. "Photographic" images. Scanned images.	Medium.
Cluster	Clusters dots of ink.	Photographic images. Documents to be photocopied.	Medium.
Note: When using Pattern halftoning and printing color pages, composite black or some colors may not always be optimal. Switching to either Cluster or Scatter halftoning may alleviate this problem.

Composite black may improve when either the Presentation Print Quality setting or HP Special Paper Media type is selected.


Intensity

Intensity selections control the amount of ink that is printed on the page. To produce lighter images, move the slider to the left. To produce darker images, move the slider to the right.

o 	More ink results in more intense (darker) color or grayscale images.

o  	For color printing, changing Intensity settings may produce hue changes in some colors.


Default

Default resets all controls of the Options dialog to the default values of the Printout mode selected in the Printer Setup dialog. The defaults for the different printout modes are listed in the following table:

Printout Mode	Halftoning	Intensity	Color Control
Automatic	Automatically selected	Automatically selected	Automatically selected
Black Text	Option not available	Option not available	Option not available
Grayscale	Scatter	Medium	Option not available
Color  Graphics	Pattern	Medium	Vivid Color
Color Photo	Scatter	Medium	Match Screen
Note:  In Automatic mode, the printer driver analyzes the document you are printing and automatically selects the Halftoning, Intensity, and Color Control Options settings to provide the best quality printout based on the contents of your document. The Options button is disabled in Automatic mode because all Option settings are selected by the printer driver.

In Black Text mode, the Options button is disabled and the printer driver optimizes the Option settings for black text.

The Color Control Option button is not available with black-only printer models..


hue

Color or the graduation of color. Colors are named by hue: red, blue, green, etc.


pattern

A halftoning method where dots of ink are blended (dithered) into geometric patterns, then printed on the page to produce grayscale shades or millions of colors.


scatter

A halftoning method where dots of ink are blended (dithered) in random manner, then printed on a page to produce grayscale shades or millions of colors.


cluster

A halftoning method where clustered dots of ink are blended (dithered) to produce grayscale shades or millions of colors.


halftoning (also called dithering)

The method by which dots from the print cartridge are combined on the page to produce millions of colors or grayscale shades. Pattern, Cluster, and Scatter halftoning methods are available.


composite black

Composite black is created from a blend of the three primary colors (cyan, yellow, and magenta) in the color print cartridge. When these colors are blended, they appear almost black on the page.


Configuring_INI_Files
Configuring INI Files

The HP DeskJet 300 Series Configuration program provides an easy method to modify settings in INI files. This program lets you select different options by clicking check boxes.

When you select the OK button, the program updates the appropriate INI files with any changes you have made in the check boxes. After selecting OK, the program will prompt you to either Reboot Windows or Return to Windows. You must reboot windows in order for the changes you have made to take effect.

See the README.TXT file provided on your installation disk for specific information about the INI settings that are modified by the check boxes.

To exit the configuration program without making modifications to any INI file, select the Cancel button.

To set all check boxes to their default settings, select the Default button.

To print this or any other help topic, choose Print Topic from the Help File menu.