wg@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Bill Gieske) (01/12/90)
After having an ink cartridge fail in an abnormally short time, I called HP to clarify the average print capacity of the cartridge. It turns out the DeskJet can develop what is called a deprime problem. The flow control tube slowly becomes blocked, causing an air bubble to enter the cartridge, and render it useless. Fix: a free user-installable fix from HP. Call HP DeskJet Customer Support at (208)323-2551; have your serial number handy. An alternate (temporary?) ap- proach is to prime the printer 4 - 5 times WITHOUT the ink cartridge in the printer. Any cartridge rendered useless by the problem will be replaced free. Go back to where you bought the cartridge, explain the situation and ask for a re- placement. As an aside, I asked whether the water soluable ink problem had been solved; it has not. Any ink alternative clogs the print head. Sigh! (I'm tired of ink smudges and ink on my fingers.) Bill Gieske cbnewsm!wg
leverich@randvax.UUCP (Brian Leverich) (01/19/90)
I've had problems with DeskJet ink cartridges clogging, and a friend here at RAND pointed out a fix. Pull the cartridge out of the printer, stick the green protruding part of the cartridge with the arrow on it in your mouth, and blow forcefully. There's a vent hole in the arrow, and what you're doing is forcing air into the cartridge and ink out the print head. Incidentally, it's a good idea to have a paper towel or some such out in front of the print head - otherwise, you'll spray ink all over creation. Cheers! -B -- "Simulate it in ROSS" Brian Leverich | U.S. Snail: 1700 Main St. ARPAnet: leverich@rand.org | Santa Monica, CA 90406 UUCP: decvax!randvax!leverich | Ma Bell: (213) 393-0411 X7769