Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Why would an HP deskjet not print?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Why would an HP deskjet not print?

    I'm not a printer tech but was asked to lokk at an HP 2546 Deskjet which had been sitting around for 6 months or so.

    When switched on, the machine goes through all the motions before deciding it is ready, only the 'Black-ink' warning light was blinking.
    I managed to clear this, only for it to return, so went out and got the cartridge refilled at a market stall who do that kind of thing. The lady pointed out how dry the cartridge sponge had become and it took her almost 30 minutes to get the ink to flow, but she did.

    This is where it starts to get interesting, as after trying again, the printer goes through all the motions of actually printing, yet the page stays blank. Then, trying to perform a scan, the printer succeeds in printing out a nice copy.

    ??

    But still not even a test-print.

    So yesterday I bought an 'original' HP cartridge, and now nothing prints at all, not even a scan.

    The print heads chop from side to side, yet the paper just remains blank.

    Do these printers need some special kinda paper ?


    Any ideas or a heads-up, would be greatly appreciated.

    #2
    Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

    might need the sponge cleaning in the printer .they get full of ink and dry out .

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

      Ok. Thanks.

      Not being a printer tech, I had thought the sponge was to collect excess ink from the cartridges?

      Could that make the black ink-error light flash?

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

        is the cartridge just a tank, or is the head built into it?

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

          It's one of these;

          Last edited by Crystaleyes; 04-01-2022, 07:25 AM.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

            I've had very bad luck with HP ink cartridges. The heads are built into the cartridges in general and the ink tends to clog in the heads when they're past their expiration date, and are very hard to impossible to recover without buying a whole new cartridge... sigh.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

              The Black is a new 'official' cartridge.

              Anyways, after downloading all the available diagnostic software in Windoze (I normally use Linux) and performing a reset by holding the power and 'clear' buttons for ten seconds, it was possible to get the HP programme to acknowledge the ink cartridge and perform some of the functions such as 'head-cleaning' and 'alignment'.

              The thing is, nothing appears on the paper!

              I'm wondering if there is not some problem with the main pcb?

              I do have a donor machine here which I could swap it over.

              Or else, perhaps a Firmware update would help?



              It would obviously help if I understood the tech behind this type of printer..

              The print heads on the cartridges seem too large to be able to do accurate prints just by horizontal movement.

              Is the paper somehow 'charged' beforehand in order to attract the ink?

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

                The cartridge is mostly an ink reservoir, the print head squirts a microscopic amount of ink onto the paper. The holes clog quite easily and it's difficult to clean the holes as they're minuscule. The printer can do "cleaning" cycles where it tries to squirt ink out into a sponge to hold the expelled ink, which can get full of ink that is effectively wasted...

                So you can actually use the device as a photocopier but it will not print from computer or test pages??! What the...?
                Last edited by eccerr0r; 04-06-2022, 09:24 AM.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

                  same issue. hp deskjet inkjunk printer keeps printing out blank pages after not being used for a while, usually at least a month. this issue happens on many hp deskjet models. sometimes, changing the ink cartridge to a new one fixes the issue. when it doesnt, we have to go out and buy a new printer.

                  we dont really print much so not much of a loss. the issue is the printer not printing when we need it to and having a heart attack on whether we can fix the printer to start printing in time or not.

                  i swear hp has an invisible ink cartridge on their printers which is invisible to the user to mess with them. if true, i'd bet that is the best practical joke of the century! hp secretly installs invisible ink invisible print cartridge on their printers as practical joke to mock users. grrr!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

                    The last ink printer I bought was over 25 years ago. They had issues back then and they still work like shit now.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Why would an HP deskjet not print?

                      HP some real issue with there ink cartridges I have had issues with printer software having issues that are not easily resolved or understandable only thing I have found this to work but not always can you install it correctly again for work correctly again I finely went with a laser printer and a HP printer as a backup
                      9 PC LCD Monitor
                      6 LCD Flat Screen TV
                      30 Desk Top Switching Power Supply
                      10 Battery Charger Switching Power Supply for Power Tool
                      6 18v Lithium Battery Power Boards for Tool Battery Packs
                      1 XBox 360 Switching Power Supply and M Board
                      25 Servo Drives 220/460 3 Phase
                      6 De-soldering Station Switching Power Supply 1 Power Supply
                      1 Dell Mother Board
                      15 Computer Power Supply
                      1 HP Printer Supply & Control Board * lighting finished it *


                      These two repairs where found with a ESR meter...> Temp at 50*F then at 90*F the ESR reading more than 10%

                      1 Over Head Crane Current Sensing Board ( VFD Failure Five Years Later )
                      2 Hem Saw Computer Stack Board

                      All of these had CAPs POOF
                      All of the mosfet that are taken out by bad caps

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X