PIXMA TS5350a black ink streaky when printing from PC, copies are OK

[Wietze]

Copying an original from the printer’s glass plate produces good results: all shades and colors are copied accurately and without streaks.

When copying the contents of a PC screen, the black appears very streaky and the quality is inconsistent; however, colors are reproduced accurately.

Repeatedly adjusting the black display via the maintenance app has no effect whatsoever.

The problem started about a month ago; everything was working fine before that.

Do you have any idea what might be causing this issue?

Kind Regards, Wietze

[DerrickL]

If copies made directly from the scanner are fine, the printer mechanism and black cartridge are probably okay. The problem is most likely the PC’s print settings, driver, or application.

Try this:

1. Print a nozzle-check pattern from the printer

   • Load plain paper.
   • On the printer: Setup → Maintenance → Nozzle check.
   • If the black pattern is complete, don’t run repeated cleanings.

2. Check PC print settings In the print dialog, open Printer Properties/Preferences and set:

   • Media type: Plain paper
   • Print quality: Standard or High
   • Print mode: Black & White/Grayscale only as a test
   • Disable Draft, Economy, or Ink saving
   • Ensure the correct Canon TS5350a driver is selected—not a generic Microsoft printer driver.

3. Try another application Print a simple text document from Notepad or another basic app. If it prints correctly there, the original program may be applying a bad quality, scaling, or color setting.

4. Run print-head alignment From the printer’s Maintenance menu, run Print head alignment. This can fix repeated or offset black lines.

5. Reinstall or update the Canon driver Remove the printer from the PC, restart it, then install the TS5350a driver/software package from Canon and add the printer again. Avoid relying on “automatic” Windows setup if possible.

6. Check whether the issue is actually streaking or banding

   • Missing horizontal sections: print quality, nozzle, or ink-flow issue.
   • Black lines beside text: dirty paper path or print head.
   • Fuzzy/doubled text: alignment or driver scaling issue.

Since scanner copies are good, start with the PC’s quality/media settings, then reinstall the printer driver if those don’t help.

[Wietze · Accepted solution]

Hi Derrick,

Thanks for looking into my posting.

I changed the Print Quality: to 'High', and that did solve the problem.
However, I wasn't aware of having changed the setting on Print Quality to 'Standard', yet never mind, it's ok now!

Thank for responding, regards, and have a nice day, Wietze.