Is it a Cannon?

Were you printing off the Internet? It could be that the text was grey or another color other than black. I would try printing a plain text document from your word processor, and see how that goes.

If you need to print something from a website and it's not going well, you could highlight the part you need, copy it (Ctrl + C) and paste it (Ctrl + V) into Word or whatever word processing program you use. From there you can change the text color to black if necessary and print.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the responses. I have an HP printer. I am trying to print some confirmations I have received via email for a flight and a cruise. I need to have a hard copy of each of these. I am wondering if it could just be the ink cartridge and may try replacing it. Thanks again--I am just clueless. Satine
ps. took a while to respond because once again my computer (a notebook) wouldn't let me log in.

Try taking out the ink cartridge, cover the bottom with a tissue and shake about 20 times. Is there ink on the tissue? replace and try again unless there is no ink as it sounds like it may be a problem with the cartridge.

Satine, is it a color inkjet or a laser? If it's the former, you might be low on black ink. If it's a monochrome laser, that wouldn't be the issue. You said it's newly installed, but is it new?

When a laser cartridge is low on toner, it will print erratically. The recommendation is to remove the cartridge and gently rock it back and forth to resettle the toner.

Print the documents at the library. Or at a friend's house. Or at a Fed Ex Print Center.

When printing directly from an email you should use the print option directly in the email, not from the top file print option.
You might tell what email client you use some one can tell you where the option is in the email. Have you tried printing something else like a document on your computer.

It sounds like you need to run an updated scan with malwarebytes to check for malware causing your problems.
You do have the laptop on a solid hard surface right because it has to have lots of ventilation under it. Heat build up can cause similar problems.

If you don't have malwarebytes you can get it here, look where it says download now at bleeping computer. Install, update, run full scan allow to clean what it finds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Malwarebytes