Hi all,
I've just seen the post about a CX5200 pinting out blank pages but my printer problem is a little different.
I have an Epson RX420 printer/scanner jobbie that is about 18 months old. It's worked well but since I do very little printing, it's been tucked away gathering dust. I'm a lazy sod so I keep forgetting to run a print through it once in a while to keep the ink running, which is where my problem lies...
It's not been used properly for about four months. I took no chances and put in new ink cartridges but when it prints the tester sheet (you know, the one with the numbered lines), no matter what number I set it on. the lines just seem to get worse and worse. The black is also pretty thin and is just about nonexistent on a print out.
My question is this: can I clean the print heads with some kind of solution/cleaning cartridge without dismantling the whole unit? Also, would clogged print heads be the problems or would it be something else?
It was only a £99 printer when I bought it a few Christmas' ago, but the point is, it's hardly used and already looking like it'll have to go the way of the boot and be dumped.
Any help to get it up and running would be great.
Cheers
Special Man (A.K.A. Pat)
...then go on and disassemble it. you can use alcohol and a soft lint-free cloth to clean the printer heads on your own. i have done this with my rather old epson stylus 800 a couple of years ago. the printheads got clogged even when i left it alone for 3 to 4 weeks only, epson was pretty crappy then...
otherwise, if you can't efford spending spare time on this, buy a new one. they are so cheap nowadays (i guess that's why the ink is so expensive
cheers, chris
I don't print a lot at home (Epson Stylus Color 760) so often the colour cartridge will be unused for several months. Occasionally, I've had to perform two print outs before the output became acceptable, but I've never had to do anything drastic to get things working.
Is the print head clogging an environmental problem that we don't experience too much in the UK? Are there any web sites that monitor inkjet printer problems where we might find quantitative data about printer reliability?
i dont know if it's an environmental problem, i don't think so... it was a special problem with my epson printer, and i know of a couple of friends that also had epson printers back in the days with the same problem (printing out once a month seems to be too less to prevent clogging the print heads).
personally , i have never experienced that with my hp printer... even when i dont print for 2 months or so.