Lets talk about printers.

[grampster]

 So, I have an older Lexmark.  I put a new black ink cartridge in it maybe in October.  Hardly used it.  Left town for 4 months the end of November and when I came home in April and went to use the printer, it didn't print.  By that I mean the page came through entirely blank.  Nothing, nada.  Any thoughts on why?  Could the ink in the cartridge dry up enough it won't print anything?  Of is there something in the printer itself that gummed up after sitting for 4 months?  I am loath to spend $26.00 for a new black cartridge to fine out it's the printer.  Remember I am a luddite.

I'm tempted to buy a new printer.  Some are nearly cheaper than the blooming ink.  All I care about is black for printing documents from the computer and photocopies.  I see Kodak's ink is about half the cost of every other printer, but someone told me at Best Buy that Kodak printers may not be made any more???  On the other hand the old Lexmark was working just fine for what I wanted in a printer.

What say yin'z.

[Devonai]

Shake the cartridge over your head at a 45 degree angle while reciting Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet and chewing Double Mint Gum.

[grampster]

Someone may be calling on you soon from the Besser Expanse.  I hear their teleport machines are spotty at best.

[230RN]

If  your printer has a cleaning program, try that first.

Otherwise, squirt some alcohol on some paper towel padding and rub the jet portions on it to clean the jets.  Also, shake the cartridge vigorously in three dimensions to wet the level sensor so it doesn't think it's dry  I have peeled back the labels on my HP cartridges and injected water into them to prolong their life quite a bit.

[Ben]

Say ya old fart, didn't you already bring up this printer topic a while back? Or was it one of the other old farts? Anyway, if you get a new printer, just spring for a laser printer as they are ridiculously cheap now and you won't end up spending ten times what the printer cost in ink replacement.

[bedlamite]

Buy a laser printer, they're cheap now.

[Hawkmoon]

Say ya old fart, didn't you already bring up this printer topic a while back? Or was it one of the other old farts?

I think that was (ahem) another olde pharte ...

[230RN]

Say ya old fart, didn't you already bring up this printer topic a while back?

Which olde pharte are you referencing?

This question appears fairly often and I gave my standard answer again, with respect to my personal experience.  That is, HP inkjet printers.

It would appear (quite naturally) that if your own printer is working, you would not read a topic on printers.  So when your own printer craps out, the question comes up again.

And I answer it again, wiith respect to HP inkjets, but presumably generalizable to others and possibly useful in terms of the concepts involved.

Yes, I inject the supposedly "spent" inkjet cartridges with water, and yes, I shake them vigorously in all 3 axes to "re-wet" whatever sensor in them that indicates they're all used up, thereby extending their usefulness.

And they do dry out in the jet nozzles and alcohol seems to loosen them up. One of my ancient HP drivers has a software cleaning routine, but Microsoft, in its winseven wisdom, has overwritten the old one and I can't find any reference to cleaning routines any more.

And the next time the question arises, I'll say the same thing all over again.  It's just a perennial question, like on twist rate in firearms rifling.

Up to 250,000 RPM or more.

No, you can't use a caseful of Red Dot in your .30-'06 reloads.

What does point-blank range mean?

How does shooting up or downhill affect trajectory?

:)

Terry,  , 230RN

[lee n. field]

Buy a laser printer, they're cheap now.

What he said.

My preference would be a cheap HP laser.

[Brad Johnson]

My preference would be a cheap HP laser.

This. Unless color printing is a must-have capability, laser is the way to go. Dramatically lower per-sheet print cost and the toner never dries out. Cartridges cost more but output is measures in thousands of pages, not hundreds (or dozens, in some cases). I picked up a used P1006 on Craigslist six or seven years ago for $75, including two print catridges. I've yet to open the second.

Brad

[K Frame]

My old Epson had a "clean printer heads" option in the printer menu

[Firethorn]

This. Unless color printing is a must-have capability, laser is the way to go. Dramatically lower per-sheet print cost and the toner never dries out. Cartridges cost more but output is measures in thousands of pages, not hundreds (or dozens, in some cases). I picked up a used P1006 on Craigslist six or seven years ago for $75, including two print catridges. I've yet to open the second.

Brad

Most of a case of paper through my HP Laser, on the lower capacity starter cartridge, and it still hasn't run out.  Toner also doesn't dry out and is relatively waterproof*.  BTW, if you're not printing photos my color laser produces acceptable output.

*IE it's more waterproof than the paper you printed it on. 

[230RN]

Son2 recommended a laser printer (forgot which) to solve my much-text printer problems. He said the same thing about not having run out of the starter cartridge yet, either.

I kinda half-rejected the idea since I do print out color photos on occasion, and I don't have the space for two printers.

But then I had a rush of brains to the head and realized that for the few color pics I print, I could load them up on some portable mass storage medium and bring them down to Walgreen's and print them there.

This, on the theory that the per-Walgreen's color printing is expensive, but still less expensive than buying a whole color laser printer for those few pix.

Duh, Terry. 

I guess I'll give him a call and find out what printer he was talking about.

Terry

[roo_ster]

I have been very happy with samsung B&W laser printers.  I always buy the cheapest model available. 

[Firethorn]

But then I had a rush of brains to the head and realized that for the few color pics I print, I could load them up on some portable mass storage medium and bring them down to Walgreen's and print them there.

Walgreens, walmart, Officemax/depot, there's online places that will print and mail them to you.

With a little shopping around, it's cheaper than trying to do a low volume printer.

$200 printer(est), ~$200 in ink before you replace it, for something like 200 color sheets?  You're looking at $2 before paying for the paper.  The paper will run you $0.25 for the good glossy ones, but that still won't be as good as what walmart will hand you - their stuff will be reasonably waterproof, for example.

Walmart will give you a sheet for $2.84, printed, and if they screw up the printing they pay, not you.  

There are online places that will print the same page for $1.90.  

[grampster]

Cough, ahem...I think Ben was right..

I shook the ink cartridge and put alcohol on it.  No dice.  As for where it goes inside the printer...I'll take a look and fiddle with as I'm likely to toss it in the recycle bin anyway. 

My son told me to buy a cheaper laser printer and said since I'm 72.5 years old and I really don't print or copy all that much, I'd likely die before I'd need to buy a replacement cartridge for the laser printer.  Nice kid.

[K Frame]

I bought a Canon Laser Printer a few years ago. I've run less than a ream of paper through it.

My biggest gripe about it is that it said it was compatible with Windows 7.

It's apparently not, because I have to launch a virtual XP instance and print that way.

Pain in the ass.

And Canon's "help" is worse than useless.

[GigaBuist]

I'm up to 10 Brother Laser printers at work and not a one has given me a problem in the 4 years I've been putting them in.  I run anywhere from their cheap B&W $90 models, a $400-ish color laser that works like a champ, and a couple $400 print/copy/scan/fax deals.  They all rock.

As others have said toner doesn't dry out.  Now that lasers are so friggen cheap it's insane to buy an inkjet usually.

[Firethorn]

My biggest gripe about it is that it said it was compatible with Windows 7.

It's apparently not, because I have to launch a virtual XP instance and print that way.

I still wonder about this because, well, printer.  The driver is basically a fancy way of getting a postscript file to the thing.

[230RN]

I bought a Canon Laser Printer a few years ago. I've run less than a ream of paper through it.

My biggest gripe about it is that it said it was compatible with Windows 7.

It's apparently not, because I have to launch a virtual XP instance and print that way.

Pain in the ass.

And Canon's "help" is worse than useless.

Win 7, 32-bit or 64-bit?

Some things don't work on a 64-bit machine.  I shoulda got a 32-bit machine, myself.

[bedlamite]

The Brother I linked to has had no problems with XP, 7, 10, or Linux.

[K Frame]

Win 7, 32-bit or 64-bit?

Some things don't work on a 64-bit machine.  I shoulda got a 32-bit machine, myself.

It's a 64-bit machine. Mtnbkr built it for me.

[Firethorn]

It's a 64-bit machine. Mtnbkr built it for me.

What's the model of printer?  How do you have it hooked up?  USB, parallel cable, network?

[K Frame]

What's the model of printer?  How do you have it hooked up?  USB, parallel cable, network?

Canon MF3200 all in one.

USB connection.

I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 10 to see if I can get it to talk to that.

It sees the scanner just fine, but it won't recognize the printer.

[K Frame]

Well well well....

I downloaded the drivers again, ran them, and nothing.

So, I decided to search once again to see if anyone else was having this problem and I found a fairly new entry that told me to go into the Control Panel to Device Manager and try updating the drivers there...

Guess what I can now do with my Canon printer from Windows 7 64-bit?

You said print?

You get a cookie.