guymark
Printing Ninja
Hello.
I am wondering of anyone can guide me a little on this please. I have an HP Designjet 500 which is running still on original HP inks (albeit old ones) and generally speaking the printer produces excellent quality prints all things considered.
About a month ago, for the first time ever it decided an almost full magenta cartridge was basically empty. Chip not loose, brimming with ink. Frustrating but not massively annoyed as I had several spares and had bought them as a job lot for a very reasonable price.
Resumed printing odds and ends with the replaced cartridge and everything seemed perfectly fine. I dismissed the problem with the old cartridge as simply a "dud one".
Today (unlike most of my prints), I was printing some large photos for a friend and after the first couple, I noticed that towards the end of the print, the magenta was failing - and the overall hue of the photos obviously changed.
I have run diagnostics (printed fine) but "lied" to the printer to make it do a printhead clean on the magenta just in case. Re-printed diagnostics and (still) perfect.
I re-loaded the glossy media and printed a photo. JUST before it completed it, the magenta "ran out" again.
Glossy paper taken out, plain paper put in and I sent a huge magenta block to the printer. I was waylaid for a few minutes (I think this might be important), and when I finally returned to the the printer and sent the image, it seemed to work fine at first - but after printing about 6 inches * 20 inches of solid magenta, once again the banding came in, and became progressively worse.
I have removed the magenta cartridge, cleaned the "piercing pin" with a soft toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol - refitted the cartridge and printed again. In essence, no change - it works for a while and then "runs out" of ink until it has had a rest.
If I leave the printer for a long time (an hour or more), I can print 1 photograph.
It is as though either the pipe is partly blocked or something else is starving the printhead of ink. When the printhead finally gets ink however, the print is PERFECT - so I have doubts about it being the print head.
I am not sure what to do next.
I do have a refillable cartridge set which I could load with a mild printhead cleaner to "flush the pipes" but I thought I would check in here before I did anything else in case someone knows what it is likely to be.
Sorry for a rather lengthy message, but I wanted to explain the steps I have taken so far and the one "clue" that happened a month or more back when the printer clearly thought a cartridge was empty when in fact it was brimming!
Very many thanks
Mark
I am wondering of anyone can guide me a little on this please. I have an HP Designjet 500 which is running still on original HP inks (albeit old ones) and generally speaking the printer produces excellent quality prints all things considered.
About a month ago, for the first time ever it decided an almost full magenta cartridge was basically empty. Chip not loose, brimming with ink. Frustrating but not massively annoyed as I had several spares and had bought them as a job lot for a very reasonable price.
Resumed printing odds and ends with the replaced cartridge and everything seemed perfectly fine. I dismissed the problem with the old cartridge as simply a "dud one".
Today (unlike most of my prints), I was printing some large photos for a friend and after the first couple, I noticed that towards the end of the print, the magenta was failing - and the overall hue of the photos obviously changed.
I have run diagnostics (printed fine) but "lied" to the printer to make it do a printhead clean on the magenta just in case. Re-printed diagnostics and (still) perfect.
I re-loaded the glossy media and printed a photo. JUST before it completed it, the magenta "ran out" again.
Glossy paper taken out, plain paper put in and I sent a huge magenta block to the printer. I was waylaid for a few minutes (I think this might be important), and when I finally returned to the the printer and sent the image, it seemed to work fine at first - but after printing about 6 inches * 20 inches of solid magenta, once again the banding came in, and became progressively worse.
I have removed the magenta cartridge, cleaned the "piercing pin" with a soft toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol - refitted the cartridge and printed again. In essence, no change - it works for a while and then "runs out" of ink until it has had a rest.
If I leave the printer for a long time (an hour or more), I can print 1 photograph.
It is as though either the pipe is partly blocked or something else is starving the printhead of ink. When the printhead finally gets ink however, the print is PERFECT - so I have doubts about it being the print head.
I am not sure what to do next.
I do have a refillable cartridge set which I could load with a mild printhead cleaner to "flush the pipes" but I thought I would check in here before I did anything else in case someone knows what it is likely to be.
Sorry for a rather lengthy message, but I wanted to explain the steps I have taken so far and the one "clue" that happened a month or more back when the printer clearly thought a cartridge was empty when in fact it was brimming!
Very many thanks
Mark
