Please help me fix my printer
 

it's an HP officejet 4620. I know, it's old.... but it was working great and then...

I always use HP brand carts

I replaced the red because it ran out. All was well. Couple days later, black and yellow just stop printing. Both were low, but still operational. Until that moment. I've cleaned the printer heads a bajillion times with using the system. I've looked it up and did the flush with alcohol thing to clean them manually. I've gotten the yellow almost good again. I replaced the black cart because it did seem like that may be gone but there is nothing coming out of that.. It acknowledges cart is genuine and full. It makes like it's printing but the page comes out blank. I need black more than anything. please help :( This happened one before and beest researched and fixed it and I think i did all the same things but evidently not.

I just can't be dealing with buying a new printer now, financially or emotionally. Please just trust me on the latter rather than debate it.

Can anyone help?

thank you :)

ok I def fixed yellow. So I'm not entirely useless. So why is black not printing at all?

I'd remove the ink cartridge and inspect it to make sure all of the removable protective tab, that covers the ink portals, came off and nothing fell into the cartridge receptacle to block the ink flow.

Next I'd try a reset:

Those are both quick to try. If they don't work, then I'd go to HP diagnostics. Try the Virtual Agent first and then downloading the HP Print and Scan Doctor for Windows (that's what I have for my HP printer):

https://support.hp.com/us-en/topic/d...k-not-printing

I did all of those things, thanks. Virtual agent tried then offered to put me through to real agent ...but wanted serial number, told me it was out of warranty and didn't go further.

ha! I just noticed the link you posted comes up as already visited for me :) I feel justified, thank you. This is so bizarre. why did it just stop so suddenly? i am really beginning to hate HP

Can you return the ink cartridge as defective and get a replacement?

...I still went to it again and it told me the virtual agent was busy combating coronavirus (or something to that effect) :lol: well at least I got another laugh

nope. well I could try but I have tried before with really defective carts and they refuse to even replace them. Also, it bust before I put the new cart in, so I'm pretty sure that is not it. It's got to be something with the print head, I just can't figure out what...


I saw that in some printers you can remove the whole bank of print heads, but I can't see any way to do that on this one.

...although maybe I could try again, and just start coughing a little...

but I'm pretty darn certain it won't solve my problem which is what I really want. :/

You may want to have another look at the troubleshooting procedures. There are a couple of things that you haven't yet specifically mentioned:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product...ment/c03944809

I did do all of the above. with the old and new black carts.

The "Automatic Servicing Routine" was a huge fail, so I may revisit that. Because it told me there was a problem that it couldn't fix. Two problems, but it "fixed"one and was unable to fix the problem with the document stuck in the printer queue. I fixed that and can print things.... as long as I don't want any black in them

This doesn't help you, but in college I printed all my papers in blue ink for like a year because I couldn't afford to buy a new black cartridge. I'm sorry I don't have any useful advice to offer. :(

I had a printer waaaay back that unless you used it very frequently the print head (what the ink cartridge plugged into) would dry and be clogged w/dry ink.

I would take the print head out and soak the tippy tip part in alcohol, run the clean cartridge program a coupla times and it would work great til it dried out again.

This also doesn't help you. Sorries.

If your colors are coming through, you have it set to the color printing mode in printing options. Have you tried setting it to black and shades of grey only mode? Maybe even run a test program sheet in that mode.

Put a dab of alcohol where ink comes out. Then dab that with an absorbent tissue. If that ink stains the tissue, then those ink jets are clean. Move on to other potential defects.

HP printers were once easy to fix. They came with exploded diagrams and technical details. That (and other useful features) ended with Carly Fiorina. With costs and profits being more important than useful facts; began removing support. Her philosophy even created one of the worst mergers in American corporate history. HP bought Compaq.

HP documentation today is mumbo-jumbo that often says nothing technically informative - other than a technical help phone number.

For example, one reason for cartridge failures are contacts that connect printer electronics to that cartridge. Some restore an ink color by repeatedly removing and installing a cartridge. In a few cases, I has some success by gently soaking (cleaning) those contacts with alcohol.

Some had a break in a moving cable that connects that cartridge carriage to printer electronics. That took some time to disassemble (made difficult by the now missing exploded diagrams) so that a magnifying eyelet could get close enough to inspect.

In one case, I documented a detailed list of problems with their HP Solution Center in an HP technical support discussion group. Including specific actions that always created a problem. And when a modification fixed it, a rebooted HP Solution Center undid the fix. This was for older version HP All-In-Ones. Text was also bluntly explicit about others with similar symptoms. But others did not include technical facts and even some HP PCL commands.

I never got a response. But then suddenly, about 6 months later, that Solution Center program was upgraded by HP. With all those detailed problems fixed. There were still islands of excellence in the company.

HP documentation was once legendary for explaining things. Diagnostic messages once cited a specific part or subsystem that was failing. With error numbers that could be referenced elsewhere to learn what was defective. Today, those messages will not even report a disconnected wire from electronics to an ink jet carriage and cartridge.

Obviously all those 'try this' and 'maybe it is that' recommendations say nothing useful. Either one says specifically what is done to identify a defect even before fixing it. Or says exactly what part is defective. Not found in any 'I did this once' reply, in part, because HP is no longer an engineering company. HP no longer provided facts necessary to resolve such problems.

Even the so called reset functions do little more than unplugging it and repowering. Almost nothing is provided to make an informed recommendation.

If the cartridge ink jets are cleaned with alcohol, any other solution can only create enough vibration to temporarily restore a connection. Even HP technical support really does not know how a printer works. They will only recite standard 'try this' paragraphs from service manuals.

HP has already broken apart into at least seven companies. Management from business schools has no idea that they have subverted new product innovations. That management is slowly selling HP off just like GE is doing. HP may be purchased by Xerox. Because Xerox is also doing what Sears has been doing to maintain the slow selling off of parts - to enrich top management.

A real shame. Since HP was always a favorite company even back when HP was among the very first minicomputer manufacturers - when memory was 4K of core - before semiconductor memory. Those are some of the first computers I fixed and designed boards for. When HP oscilloscopes were legendary. When HP even created electronic music machines that made Walt Disney's 1940 Fantasia movie possible. It all began ending when Carly Fiorina began subverting innovation to increase profits.

so you're saying shake the mutherfocker? Might be worth try. yup ink is coming out of the cart, all have been cleaned with alcohol. BajaBoi has been kicked out of the shop (their season is cancelled) so was home mooching and took it apart and cleaned it all again with even more alcohol...... I have a very light gray now so i was thinking time, bad language and stopping giving a shit might be the magic cocktail

I hope you can revive it.

About three years ago, an older model HP printer was given to me and failed a couple of months thereafter. I did an internet search for info on the model and articles turned up identifying a known issue for which multiple independent techies had identified the same cause: an OEM capacitor that was marginally rated for the circuit it supported would eventually fail. The fix required partial disassembly, unsoldering the capacitor, ordering a properly rated one, soldering it in and reassembling the machine.

It was all stuff I could do; but, didn't have time to mess with. It would've cost more that it was worth to farm it out for repair. So, even though I had just bought and installed new ink cartridges, I tossed it out and got a new machine. C'est la vie.

I'm getting set to suck it up and replace it, but now it just really not the time financially :( The University closed the remaining open buildings, so my oldest son lost his student jobs income, but still has rent to pay and food to buy.

You may have just discovered the secret of life!

And that is the bottom line. They are virtually giving those printers away. Profits are in cartridges. So it is cheaper to buy a new one.

Meanwhile, Fed Ex and UPS provide excellent printers in their copy machines. B&W print is like 7 or 8 cents per copy. Color is too expensive.

But convert that file to a recognized format. For example, that printer (copier, scanner) probably will not understand .TXT, .DOC, .BMP, or .GIF files. Converting that file to .PDF and putting it on a USB drive should work just fine.

Unfortunately, I have yet to fine a copy place who can list all their acceptable file formats. Even employees (and what I believe was the manager in one place) did not know. When in doubt, bring the file (text or graphic) converted to .PDF.

A good and temporary solution when cash flow is a problem.