Re: HP inkjet - diagnosis?


"Daniel James" <wastebasket@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:VA.00001120.156ee8ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SWMBO has an HP inkjet printer - it's a 970cxi (or some such) - that has
just started misbehaving. She had a paper jam, which she cleared, and
since then the printer has not worked.

On power-on the cartridges move out about a quarter of the way to the
middle of the page and back to their resting place at the end of their
travel and the printer makes a noise that /sounds/ as though it's trying
to move them past the end stop and is slipping a gear -- whether that's
what's really happening is anyone's guess.

I had a look, and found that the inside of the printer, just below where
the cartridges rest, is awash with black ink. Actually "awash" isn't
quite the word for it, as it's thick and treacly, but there's around 5ml
in there (and in the duplexer, but's probably because I picked the
printer up and tilted it to get a better look inside). The black
cartridge itself doesn't look damaged, so I guess the cartridge has been
trying to print /in situ/ and the ink had just been collecting
underneath. Black only, as far as I can tell (but that may just mean that
she hasn't been printing in colour).

Does this sound familiar to anyone here? Is it fixable? How?

I did wonder whether the printer controlled the movement of the
heads/cartridges with optical sensors, and that these might have become
coated with so much ink that they were no longer doing their stuff. Is
that likely (does it use sensors)?

This is not an expensive printer and it is a few years old -- not worth
spending a fortune on -- but I hate to throw things away unnecessarily.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Daniel.


You could try very carefully cleaning it out, you will need one of those
small plastic handle things with spnge on it like is sold for washing up or
cleaning inside bottles. Damp the sponge with water and washing up liquid
and keep squeezing out under the tap, its fidddly but will get most of the
ink out.
Also remove the cartridges and gently wipe the print heads and contact faces
with a damp sponge and dry gently with tissue.
After a paper jam its best to check thoroughly under and round the sides of
the roller
in case of a tiny bit of paper you may have missed.


.

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