hp printer

ghostlymoron

ghostlymoron

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Apologies for non boat query. My hp printer 1402 model has packed up indicating ink empty. I tried wiping the cartridges with a moist tissue with no result before replacing the cartridges with new refilled ones. The fault display still comes on. Any suggestions?
 
When stuck with printer problems, don't trust the off button on the printer. Try unplugging it. I recently got a printer with similar problems back to life by doing this.
 
Bill, I've read your link and note
'Refilled print cartridges
Low ink warnings will always display with refilled print cartridges. The HP product does not know that the print cartridge has been refilled so the ink drop counters never get reset. The ink counters cannot be reset manually. This is one of the problems encountered when refilling print cartridges.'
I am using refilled cartridges and have had problems before but they've always worked in the end.
I'm going to try the procedure recommended and then return the cartridges to the supplier to see if replacements do the trick.
Maybe I should try some authentic hp cartridges although the cost puts me of and it has been OK before.
It's getting to be a bit of a pain not being able to print. I don't use the printer all that often and suspect that the ink dries out before the cartridge is empty.
 
Quick note about refilling ink carts. If I remember correctly, Epson used piezo effect to squirt ink out and HP use heat to eject the droplets. This makes HP more likely to "bake" some ink inside the "tubes" in the head and cause blockages after a while. HP carts. have the head built into the cart. so that you get a new head with every replacement cart. Epson's technology makes their carts. more tolerant to refilling (the head isn't part of the cart., it's a sep. unit).

So best to only refill HP carts. 2-3 times before buying a new one.


I retired from HP a few years ago and although I didn't work for Printer part I did know a few people who did. I won't sicken anyone by saying how much I got ink carts. for but I never bothered with refills or non-HP carts. So no experience of using them. HP had a nice scheme in US where dealers returned carts. near/past use by date and HP used them internally (so nobody ever paid for a cart.). Didn't repeat it in Europe for some reason but I heard that old carts. were fine well after the use by date. That was a few years ago.

Nigel makes a good point about parking the head to reduce problems with ink drying out.
 
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I buy out of date cartridges for my HP Officejet printer/scanner/fax, I slipped a bit of cardboard behind the CPU battery so that it reverted to the printers manufactured date & cartridges will never be out of date again.
 
I used to think HP were good printers, and maybe they were a few years ago.
Now they seem to be carp hardware and software and only designed as a vehicle to sell overpriced ink. Especially in the home office segment.
After many frustrating problems with a small multifunction unit i defenestrated it with great pleasure from a second story window.;)
Of course, all the printer makers are playing the same game of numbers and margins and sod the quality and sod the poor consumer so the replacement is really not much better! .:(
 
ghostlymoron said:
Searush, tell me more. My printer is HP PSC1402.
Click to expand...

Drop down the flap at the front, on the left hand side you should see a large silver disc type cell clipped vertically on its edge, slip a small piece of card under the contact clip to disable the CPU. It has no effect on the printer as it is driven by the drivers in your PC, but it can no longer store the date. Google "using outdated HP cartridges" or similar.
 
I looked under the flap but couldn't see anything resembling a button type battery. I even took the thing to pieces and still couldn't find anything. Makes me think that mine is a different model from Searush's. I did a Google search and one fellow has a method of sticking sellotape over 2 of the contacts on the back of the print heads in a particular sequence. I'm going to try that next but am not optimistic. I'll probably going to have to buy a new one - reluctantly as I'm pretty sure that there's a not much wrong with it. It'll join the collection of defunct printers in the attic. I wish I hadn't thrown my dot matrix away - bubble jets seemed to be the future but they have their problems specially if you don't use them often and try to economise using refilled cartridges.
 
ghostlymoron said:
I wish I hadn't thrown my dot matrix away - bubble jets seemed to be the future but they have their problems specially if you don't use them often and try to economise using refilled cartridges.
Click to expand...

The ink on a dot matrix dries out as well.

Some time ago I bought an old thermal fax machine with the plan to convert it into a printer, this would be ideal on a boat. Never got round to it of course.
 
After trying all known remedies to get my HP to work, I have had to admit defeat and now have a Canon Pixma (£40 from Tesco including ink cartridges). I've just been looking at the manual and it says this
'The ink has run out.
The ink has run out.

Replace the ink cartridge and close the paper output cover.

Replacing a FINE cartridge

If printing is in progress and you want to continue printing, press the machine's Stop/Reset button for at least 5 seconds with the ink cartridge installed. Then printing can continue under the ink out condition.

The function for detecting the remaining ink level will be disabled.

Replace the empty ink cartridge immediately after the printing. The resulting print quality is not satisfactory, if printing is continued under the ink out condition.'

I've emboldened an important statement. From this I understand that I can disable the ink level detection which should mean that I can use non-Canon refills with impunity which will save me loads of dosh. Unless they've got someother trick up their sleeves?
 
After wasting rather too much of my life trying to get recalcitrant printers to work, I now tend to simply bin them. Printers are so cheap, it's simply not worth the hassle. I currently have an Epson which I bought from Amazon with a set of special refillable ink cartridges. It seems to work fine, and I can refill the cartridges, but the instant it plays up it will be in the bin.
 
ghostlymoron said:
If printing is in progress and you want to continue printing, press the machine's Stop/Reset button for at least 5 seconds with the ink cartridge installed. Then printing can continue under the ink out condition.

The function for detecting the remaining ink level will be disabled.

I've emboldened an important statement. From this I understand that I can disable the ink level detection which should mean that I can use non-Canon refills with impunity which will save me loads of dosh. Unless they've got someother trick up their sleeves?
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do, The refilled cartridges are much cheaper and normally have more ink in as well. The only problem is that you dont get any warning that the ink is getting low till it stops printing properly.
 
I had the same problem with an HP printer some time ago and internet research showed that the OPs problem is a common one which appears unfixable. So it was bin the printer and buy a Canon.
 
An advantage of canon is you can turn off the ink monitor so i can now use refilled cartridges (or even fill them myself :-( ). I don't think you can do that on HP.
 
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