HP Inkjet Printer partial printing

[+MotorBug]

I have a HP 870Csi injet printer that has been a good one for the last several years.

 

Recently it started printing only partial letters (the middle part being faint) so I replaced the black cartridge. Still a problem. So I replaced the color cartridge, abiet with a "new" but expired one. (Check the expiration date when you buy! The one I got didn't have much time and it sat around for several months.) But the print is black, so the black cartridge should have handled it.

 

Interestingly, the poor print quality shows up on printing cache pages more than say a Word document.

 

I've cleaned the print heads and run the other stuff HP recommends.

 

I'm wondering if I cleaning the rollers might help-- could they somehow not be positioning the paper correctly?

 

Thanks for any ideas.

[+mtn-man]

A better place to ask that question would most likely be here:

 

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/product.jhtml?lc=en&pagetype=dj870cx&submit.y=7&submit.x=5&cc=us

 

or here:

 

http://forums.boson.com/forums/ittests/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=20

 

mtn-man... admin brick mason

"approver of all trades" -- per Woodsters Outdoors

[+nincehelser]

I've found that sometimes I have to clean the heads several times in a row before I get good copy. I hate that.

 

If your printer is more than a few years old, I suggest you go price a new one. You might find it isn't worth the hassle to try to fix it.

 

Heck, for what it costs to replace the cartridges on my current printer, I could have a new printer for a few dollars more with better capabilities.

 

George

[+MotorBug]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mtn-man:

A better place to ask that question would most likely be here:

 

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/product.jhtml?lc=en&pagetype=dj870cx&submit.y=7&submit.x=5&cc=us

 

or here:

 

http://forums.boson.com/forums/ittests/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=20

 

mtn-man... admin brick mason

"approver of all trades" -- http://ubbx.Groundspeak.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=5726007311&f=4016058331&m=81960519&r=30560429#30560429

 

I had tried the HP site and all their suggestions. That's why I was asking here.

 

And I have a new HP all-in-one that is very nice.

 

I was hoping to fix the 870 to pass it on to someone or donate it, but I don't want to do either with something that doesn't work correctly.

 

I'll try the second site recommended, thanks.

[bug and snake]

I had an HP that lay around for a couple of years and it obviously froze up during that time but I got it working again by running the cleaning routines. OK, LOL, I did have to run the sequence eleven times but it did come back. I only bothered coz when it was left it had two all but new cartridges. But, as I said, it came back perfectly.....

Don't all the HP printers come with a new print head as part of the cartridge anyhow though? Possibly cleaning the wee spring contact thingies that the cartridge goes against to be driven might help here.....

 

Only nuts eat squirrels,

Snake

[+smithdw]

Try this. I have seen many ink jet printers that are thoroughly caked with old ink. This will usually help.

 

"The best way to accelerate a Macintosh is at 9.8m/sec/sec."

-Marcus Dolengo

[+AGREATSCOT]

I have also used that tackie cleaning paper for fax machines. Run it through several times and it does a good job.

[+Dodgermp]

Another thing to try is take a pencil eraser and rub the contacts with it. The contacts where the cartridge fits in place. This is trick of the trade in the Army on all of our radios, clean the contacts on the radio and the mic and the darn thing works. I have used this on some of the printers in my office and it does work on a few sometimes it is just time to get a new printer.

[+MotorBug]

quote:

---

Originally posted by smithdw:

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpa02019.html I have seen many ink jet printers that are thoroughly caked with old ink. This will usually help.-Marcus Dolengo

---

 

WOW! An amazing amount of sludge was built up in the printer. It is really a messy job to clean it. The HP recommendations are good, but I would not use tissue. It came apart too easily and I had to clean lots of little specks off. Gloves are also highly recommended. I didn't and am still cleaning ink off my fingers.

 

Thanks for the tip. It essentially returned this printer to new!

[+smithdw]

I'm glad that worked. Just think of all that ink that you paid for is there instead of on a piece of paper.

 

One thing that is good for cleaning anything that needs a lint-free type of paper is white coffee filters. I didn't read all the way through the HP web page, just enough to look and see if it had halfway decent instructions to clean up the gunk in the head cleaning area.

 

"The best way to accelerate a Macintosh is at 9.8m/sec/sec."

-Marcus Dolengo

[+MotorBug]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MotorBug:

Originally posted by mtn-man:

A better place to ask that question would most likely be here:

 

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/product.jhtml?lc=en&pagetype=dj870cx&submit.y=7&submit.x=5&cc=us

---

 

I had tried the HP site and all their suggestions. That's why I was asking here.

QUOTE]

 

Well, I THOUGHT I had tried all the HP suggestions. After smithdw showed me the link to the solution that worked, I went back to HP and found it a couple of levels down.

 

Thanks to all for helping me solve this problem.