Check black ink or toner in one sheet: density, streaks, ghosting, fine lines and text sharpness. Uses no colour ink. Then use the laser and inkjet tables below to fix what you see.
In the print dialog choose Scale: 100% / Actual size, turn off Fit to page, pick the paper you loaded (), and use Normal quality (not Draft). Colour pages: make sure Colour (not Grayscale) is selected.
Measure the 100 mm bar at the bottom of your printout with a ruler and type the length. We tell you if the printer shrank or enlarged the page.
Preview of the exact sheet that prints. Only this sheet prints — the rest of the page is hidden.
It also carries a 100 mm and 4 inch ruler and corner targets. Use the scale checker above to confirm the printer isn't shrinking pages.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Faded page, gray steps merge at the light end | Low toner, toner-save mode, low density setting | Remove the cartridge and rock it side to side; turn off toner save; raise density in the printer menu |
| Thin black or white lines straight down the page | Scratched drum, dirty corona wire or laser window | Slide the drum's cleaning tab (Brother and others); replace the drum if the line stays in the same place |
| Faint copies of the black shapes in the gray strip (ghosting) | Worn drum or fuser, wrong paper type | Set the correct paper type/weight, then replace the drum; ghosts that repeat at a fixed distance point to one roller |
| Repeating spots at the same interval | A mark on the drum, fuser or a roller | Measure the gap between spots and compare with your printer's repeat-defect chart |
| Toner rubs off with a finger | Fuser not heating enough, heavy paper setting wrong | Choose the right paper type; the fuser may need service |
| Gray background haze | Old or third-party toner, worn drum, humidity | Replace drum/toner, store paper in a dry place |
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Horizontal white lines through solid black and text | Clogged black nozzles | Run nozzle check and head cleaning (max 2–3 in a row), reprint |
| Text doubled or blurred, vertical lines jagged | Print head misaligned | Run print head alignment, then print the alignment test page |
| Black looks brown, green or blotchy | Black ink empty and colour inks are mixing | Replace the black cartridge; set "Black ink only" in the driver |
| Checkerboards merge, hairlines thick | Wrong paper-type setting, ink spreading on cheap paper | Select Plain paper or the paper you use; try better paper |
| Smears at the page edges | Dirty platen or rollers | Clean the rollers with a lint-free cloth and a little water |
Each printout has a date line. Keep your first good print, then print a new one whenever quality drops or after cleaning, and compare them side by side. For colour printers use the colour printer test page.
Choose A4 or US Letter, press Print test page, set Scale to 100% (Actual size) and print. In the print dialog you can choose Black & white or Grayscale — the sheet only contains black and grays either way.
All 11 gray steps look different, the 5% strip changes smoothly, the solid black is deep and even, the 0.05–0.1 mm hairlines are unbroken, text is sharp down to 5 or 6 pt and the gray strip on the right has no streaks or faint copies of the black shapes.
Vertical lines down the page usually come from a scratched or dirty drum, a low or damaged toner cartridge, or a dirty laser window (on some printers a corona wire). Gently shake the toner cartridge, clean the drum's corona wire with its slider if it has one, and replace the drum or toner if the streak stays in the same place.
Ghosting is a faint copy of the image repeated lower down the page. On a laser printer it is usually a worn drum, a fuser problem, or the wrong paper type setting. The gray strip on this sheet makes ghosts of the black shapes easy to see; the tick marks are 20 mm apart to help you measure how far down they repeat.
Blocked black nozzles. Run the printer's nozzle check and head cleaning, then print this page again. If the black still has lines after two or three cleanings, rest the printer for a few hours or replace the black cartridge.
Toner-save or Draft mode is on, the black cartridge is low, or the driver is building black from colour inks. Turn off toner save, choose Normal quality and, for inkjets, "Black ink only".
Yes. Print it once, then photocopy the printout. Comparing the copy with the original shows scanner glass dirt (lines that only appear on the copy) versus printer problems (lines on both).
Yes. Print it or download the PDF with no sign-up. Nothing is uploaded.