The Print on the Page Appears Crooked or Skewed

1

Reload the stack of paper into the tray.

Note:  Make sure the side guides in the tray are set correctly.

1. Remove the paper tray from the printer and place the tray on a flat, level surface.



2. Remove all of the paper from the paper tray.



3. Squeeze the side guide tab and slide the guide to outside of the tray. See the image below.

   


4. Make sure the rear paper guide is in the correct position for the size of paper you have loaded in the tray.

   


5. Flex the sheets of paper back and forth to loosen them, then fan them. Straighten the edges on a level surface.



6. Replace the paper into the tray.



7. Squeeze the side guide tab, then slide the guide toward the inside of the tray until it rests lightly against the edge of the paper stack.The side guide should prevent the paper stack from moving left and right, but it should not be set so tight that it binds or bends the paper.



8. Insert the paper tray back into the printer.



9. If more than one paper tr ay exists on the printer, repeat these steps for all trays.



10. Try printing again to see if this has corrected the issue.

2

If the print and/or text continues to skew, try opening a new ream of paper and loading it into the tray.

Note:  Try printing on plain copy paper, if you are not already doing so. Please try this even if the print media you are currently using has worked in the past. Do this to eliminate any special print media as part of the cause of the problem. Certain specialty papers, letterhead stock, label stock, and card stock are harder for the printer to feed and increase the chances of the pages feeding through crooked, and thus skewing the print.

3

If the skewed print continues, power off t he printer. Open the lower and upper front covers and remove the toner cartridge. Check the inside of the printer. Examine the rollers as best you can and remove any small pieces of paper you find. Also, try cleaning out the inside of the printer with a dry cloth to remove any loose dust produced by either the paper or toner.

Note:  Look for any damaged or worn rollers. If you find any, those rollers will need to be replaced. Please contact Lexmark Technical Support or a local service provider. See 'Contacting Lexmark' below for details

4

If you are printing on both sides of the page (duplexing), try printing on only one side of the page. IMPORTANT! Make sure you are utilizing the duplex feature when printing on both sides o f the page. Printing on one side, then re-feeding printed pages through the printer (also known as manual duplexing) can cause paper feed issues to occur.

• If the print skew continues when you print on only one side of the page, one of the main feed rollers in the printer may need to be replaced. Please contact Lexmark Technical Support or a local service provider. See 'Contacting Lexmark' below for more information.
• If single-sided pages appear fine, there may be an issue with one of the feed rollers in the duplex area. If this is the case, you can try printing on just one side of the page until you can can get the printer serviced. If you must print on both sides of the page, try the following suggestions:
• Move any heavy graphics or text to the rear side of the page instead of the front side. When pages are duplexed, the rear side of the page is printed first and therefore will not be skewed.
• Make sure all print on the rear side of the page is at least 20mm in from the left edge of the page. Doing this will allow the rollers in the duplex area to get a better grip on the paper.

Paper Feed Skew

Paper Feed skew, or Feed skew, is the most common type of skew. The identifiable characteristic of feed skew is the fact that the left and right margins are not parallel with the left and right-hand edges of the page.

Printhead Skew

The identifiable characteristic of printhead skew is the fact that the left and right margins are parallel with the left and right hand edges of the page; however, the top or bottom margins are not parallel.

1

Power off the printer.

2

Enter the printer's Diagnostic mode. To do so:

1. Press and hold the down arrow and right arrow buttons.



2. Then power on the printer while keeping both buttons held down.



3. Keep both buttons held down until the Diagnostic menu appears or after ten seconds have elapsed. At that point, let go of the buttons.

3

Enter the Registration menu and sele ct Quick Test. The printer should print out an alignment page. Save this page to use as a guide.

4

Power off the printer and disconnect the power cord.

5

Remove the laser (top) cover.

1. Remove the output cover assembly.



2. Remove the fuser wiper cover assembly.



3. Remove the left-hand side cover.



4. Remove the right-hand side cover.



5. Remove the five screws securing the laser cover to the machine. IMPORTANT! When removing the laser cover, ensure that the standard bin actuator (flag) does not becomedamaged.



6. Remove the laser cover.

6

Loosen the three screws holding the printhead unit in place. Rotate the printhead slightly and secure the printhead into place again.

• If the left-hand side of print is higher than the right, slightly adjust the printhead counter-clockwise.
• If the left-hand side of print is lower than the right, slightly adjust the printhead clockwise.

7

Reinstall the laser cover.

8

With the laser cover installed and the operator panel reconnected, you can power on the printer and print another Quick Test page to see if the printhead is now properly aligned. Do not install the remaining covers until after you have confirmed that the printhead is properly aligned.

IMPORTANT NOTES!

• You may have to readjust the printhead a few times to make this correct. If further adjustment is required, simply power off the printer, disconnect the power cord, a nd remove the top cover to access the printhead unit and adjust it again.
• The printer has a tolerance of 1mm from left to right. Try to get the top and bottom borders as straight as possible. However, 1mm or less from left to right is within the printer's specifications.
• Use the triangle dots on the top and bottom of the Quick Test page to help determine the skew.

9

Once you have the skew fixed or within tolerance, reinstall the remaining covers. Once the printer has been reassembled, print one more additional Quick Test page to confirm the issue is corrected.

NOTE: If adjusting the printhead unit does not correct the issue, please contact Lexmark Technical S upport or your next level of support. There are no parts that can be replaced to fix printhead skew.