Can I ever get my old HP7960 to print b/w as well as it did in the days of XP?

[Superbaldguy]

A couple years ago, I had to get a new laptop as my first machine seemed to die prematurely before its third birthday; I am finding out, now, that lifespans on laptops are not that great. When I used my 7960 printer with it, the blacks and tones on my b/w prints seemed perfect, thanks to the HP #59 gray ink that I use as a substitute for the #56 tank.

When I went to Windows 7, I had to download a generic driver from HP to even make the old printer work. It seems OK for color, but I can never seem to get the true-toned b/w prints In once had even with color corrections.

Any thoughts on a solution? Do any of the newer inkjets offer quality b/w tones? (printing 8x10 or smaller)

 

[TonyW]

According to reviews of this HP printer I believe it should be possible to produce B&W prints of high quality without colour casts.

How much influence the new driver has for Win 7 over the old XP drivers is an unknown for me at least. Ink and paper formulations can vary over time from the manufacturer and are not necessarily flagged when these changes are made.

I assume that you are already doing this but you should IMO be using the HP genuine inks and paper and the up to date icc profiles for the paper type in use - at least until you can get the quality you expect.

You did not say what application you are using for printing but if you have PS available I would suggest that using the soft proofing method will get the best results in a screen to print match.

For this to work in a predictable and consistent fashion you really need to have your monitor correctly calibrated and be using the created profile to view your images within your editing application.