# Who Knows Something About Printers?



## OPC'n (Mar 28, 2009)

My printer isn't printing well. I leaves blotches of ink everywhere and many of the letters are so light you can barely read them. It has been doing this for a little while. Actually, it started to doing it a few months after buying it. I thought it was because the ink was low, so I just put in some new ink but it still is doing that. Any ideas? If so, can you give me detailed instructions for correcting the matter?


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## BlueVark (Mar 28, 2009)

Is this an ink-jet printer? If so, it may have a self cleaning mode to unclog the "heads." If you still have the manual, it should tell you how to start the self cleaning. If you don't have the manual, you may have to go to manufacturer website for instructions.


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## jambo (Mar 28, 2009)

Try cleaning as BlueVark said and try a new ink cartridge. If you refill your ink cartridges then you can only do this so many times then you need to buy a new one. If you do have a new ink cartridge sometimes you have to print of a few sheets before the "normal" standard is reached. Check printer properties to make sure its not set to 'quick draft' quality


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## OPC'n (Mar 28, 2009)

jambo said:


> Try cleaning as BlueVark said and try a new ink cartridge. If you refill your ink cartridges then you can only do this so many times then you need to buy a new one. If you do have a new ink cartridge sometimes you have to print of a few sheets before the "normal" standard is reached. Check printer properties to make sure its not set to 'quick draft' quality



Yikes! How do I check to see if it is set to quick draft?


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## Rich Koster (Mar 28, 2009)

I have successfully cleaned ink jet cartridges (to stop blotting and skips) with a q-tip soaked in alcohol. They tend to clog up especially if you go weeks without using them. Rub it along the lines where the ink comes out. Repeat it with another soaked q-tip after the first one is all inked up.


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## Marrow Man (Mar 28, 2009)

I had a nice Epson printer a few years ago that just stopped working properly. It would print fine most of the time, but sometime it would "divide a line" of text while it was printing -- print the top half of a line of text, skip down a few lines, and print the bottom half. That was annoying to say the least. Eventually it got where it would do it all the time. Since I was in seminary, I was wasting a lot of paper doing that. I wound up giving it away to a kid my wife taught in school. He set down and kept hitting the "clean" function again and again (I think he just about went through a whole ink cartridge in the process) until finally it started working right again. So cleaning them can work.


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## Beth Ellen Nagle (Mar 28, 2009)

Bring it over, I fix it.


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## TimV (Mar 28, 2009)

I've noticed customer service is really good with HP printers, and I assume others? I had a problem with mine and the tech stayed right there with me on the phone until the problem was resolved, and there was a follow up email to make sure everything was fine. A toll free phone number with the model number handy can be a lot quicker than trial and error.


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## Rich Koster (Mar 28, 2009)

I have also noticed that many of your low end printers cost about the same price new as a set of replacement cartridges, sometimes even less. If it is a $50 printer, I wouldn't beat myself up trying to fix it if a manual cleaning doesn't work.


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## DonP (Mar 28, 2009)

Check the manual for a print menu where you can scroll through settings and get to clean mode. 

If it doesn't resolve may have to have it service under warranty or replaced.


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## Marrow Man (Mar 28, 2009)

Rich Koster said:


> I have also noticed that many of your low end printers cost about the same price new as a set of replacement cartridges, sometimes even less. If it is a $50 printer, I wouldn't beat myself up trying to fix it if a manual cleaning doesn't work.



At a local Big Lots, they were selling new Lexmark printers for $22 and new HP printers for $26. I bought a new one for the church. In the end, it was (like you said) much cheaper than fighting with an old one that didn't work right and wasted ink.


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## jambo (Mar 28, 2009)

sjonee said:


> jambo said:
> 
> 
> > Try cleaning as BlueVark said and try a new ink cartridge. If you refill your ink cartridges then you can only do this so many times then you need to buy a new one. If you do have a new ink cartridge sometimes you have to print of a few sheets before the "normal" standard is reached. Check printer properties to make sure its not set to 'quick draft' quality
> ...




There are slight variations between XP, Vista, Win 2000 etc but the basic steps are to click _print_ and a dialogue box opens asking things like printing all the document, current page, number of copies etc. There will also be a box saying properties. Click _properties_ and there will be a tab for _paper/print quality_. There is an option to click, fast draft, normal or maximum.

Printers can be a most frustrating bit of equipment that trult test the patience.

-----Added 3/28/2009 at 08:03:28 EST-----



PeaceMaker said:


> Check the manual for a print menu where you can scroll through settings and get to clean mode.
> 
> If it doesn't resolve may have to have it service under warranty or replaced.




Sometimes its no more expensive buying a new printer than it is the ink cartridges. Printers really are not worth repairing


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## Devin (Mar 28, 2009)

You can't feed shirts into your printer. It doesn't work.


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## OPC'n (Mar 28, 2009)

Devin said:


> You can't feed shirts into your printer. It doesn't work.



You've already tried that eh?


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