[PLUG] HP all-in-one printer issue

[wes]

you could always put the activity-page back in the feed tray whenever you
see it in the output tray.

I really like this idea. any chance you would be willing to share your
script?

-wes

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 1:36 PM, Pete Lancashire <pete at petelancashire.com>wrote:

> Any inkjet is not going to like going for a long time without
> printing. BTW a 970 is
> a great work horse, and comes apart so one can clean the 'drip pan'. I have
> two
> of them.
>
> I have a little init job that checks to see if the printer has done
> anything i a week and
> if not prints a little test line of a few vertical bars. That took
> care of the clogging sadly
> at the expense of paper.
>
> Before that a little soak on a wet paper towel for a couple minutes
> always fixed things
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Denis Heidtmann
> <denis.heidtmann at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 09:40:01AM -0700, Denis Heidtmann wrote:
> >> > > Thanks  for all the replies.  The printer is sitting not connected
> to
> >> any
> >> > computer.  It goes through the alignment test, where the carriage
> moves
> >> > across the paper and a light shines down.  I assume that this is
> locating
> >> > the paper edge.  It then goes back and forth a couple of times, then
> >> > abruptly changes to self-test.  After 10 or 20 more seconds it changes
> >> > to Initializing, ejects the paper, then goes back to the alignment
> test
> >> with
> >> > a request for loading paper.  No ink appears on the paper.  This
> endless
> >> > loop gives me no opportunity to try anything other than power-off.
>  This
> >> > leads me to discount computer drivers, etc. as the issue.
> >>
> >> This is surprisingly like the behavior of my HP2605 color
> >> laserjet after we moved.
> >>
> >> The BIG MISTAKE was moving it with the toner cartridges in it.
> >> ( Three moves equals one fire, as the saying goes, things get
> >> broken and lost in the chaos of moving ).  The second mistake
> >> was using a refurb toner cartridge from Office Max, which
> >> spewed little grains of red toner everywhere.
> >>
> >> Most importantly, a grain got into an optical calibration path,
> >> a pair of millimeter-diameter holes running through one of the
> >> plastic assemblies to an LED and a phototransistor.  IIRC, my
> >> laser printer has four of these, and uses them to detect paper
> >> size and make tiny dots on the paper, which are measured to
> >> precisely align the colors.
> >>
> >> I am insane, so I took it apart down to the hundreds of pieces
> >> level ( color laser printers are complicated ), cleaned
> >> everything, and got it working again.
> >>
> >> Before cleaning the holes, the printer would calibrate repeatedly,
> >> then give up, with the colors misaligned by 5mm.  After cleaning,
> >> it is lined up within a hairwidth.
> >>
> >> I doubt there are as many sensors on a cheap inkjet, but optical
> >> sensors are easier than switches, so HP may be using the same
> >> trick (and have the same vulnerabilities).  If the former owner
> >> has dust or shedding cats, then the blockage may be something
> >> besides dried ink in a cartridge.
> >>
> >> Consider asking free geek if they will loan or sell you some
> >> partly used cartridges for this beast, for testing.
> >>
> >> But first you may want to do a deep cleaning.   Cut-apart egg
> >> cartons double-stickied onto a board can hold all the little
> >> fiddly bits.  These compartments correspond with notes in a
> >> notebook.  HP sometimes has detailed service manuals.  I've
> >> considered making many digital photos during disassembly,
> >> but so far sketches in a repair notebook have been adequate.
> >>
> >> Keith
> >
> >
> > Interesting.  The Free Geek idea is worth a try.  Taking this thing apart
> > with the idea of getting it back together is a daunting prospect.  I used
> to
> > be very clever at such tasks, but my short-term memory is getting too
> short,
> > so I would need a video with instant replay to make a success of the
> > project.  The lack of ink on the paper puts plugged cartridges high on
> the
> > list.
> >
> > A related question (if this printer never gets resuscitated) is what
> color
> > printers are on the recommended list?  As a measure of our usage rate, we
> go
> > through cartridges on our present Deskjet 970 at the rate of one of each
> > type every 1 1/2 years.  A pair of cartridges costs about $67.  A combo
> > scanner-printer would be nice.  Copy and Fax would likely not be used
> much,
> > if at all.
> >
> > -Denis
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> >
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