My HP 1220 Not printing Cyan or Yellow. Black and Magenta are printing though.
I've ran the cleaning a few times, and tried 3 different cartriges (which are in date), but no difference.
Does the print head ever need replaced or cleaned?
Any help, much appreciated.
Regards,
Grant
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THe print heads are replaced with each new cartrdige.
Most likely you have some very old #78 cartridges. The cartrdiges have a shelf life and can lose colors (usualy yellow and cyan first) if stored for years. If these are original HP cartridges check the cartridge warranty date as shown at: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bua02014
If the cartridges are within their two year warranty call HP at 1-800-HPINVENt or contact your dealer for replacements. If the cartridges are beyond their warranty period then purchase a fresh cartridge.
When buying new cartridges look for the "install by" date on the package. I would look for a package with at least six months remaining before the "install by" date, which would have a year of remaining warranty.
When storing unused cartridges for an extended period keep them in a cool place and keep them upright as they would hang on a store display. This will provide maximum shelf life.
Regards, Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/imaging (points appreciated)
The cartridge is a Lasertech cartridge, not an HP. There is a date stamped on the cartridge 02/2006, which I presumed to be the date of manufacture. Would this be the install by date instead? We only bought this cartridge about 2 months ago.
As far as I know all aftermarket #78 cartridges are actually HP cartridges that have been used up and then refilled/remanufactured. The quality of this process can vary greatly, and on average the failure rate is much greater than original HP cartridges. See http://www.hp.com/sbso/product/supplies/supplies_reliability_ink.pdf - especially pages 13 and 14 if you do not want to wade through the whole document. I have some direct experience with this - I donated a PSC 950 to my son's school. They were having some problems with it printing, so I went in to check it out. They were using remanufactured cartridges, which turned out to be the problem. We had to try three cartridge before finding one that would work properly. The teacher said they used reman cartridges because they were cheaper - I asked if they were 3x cheaper....
At this point I would contact Lasertech for a warranty replacement (or three). Alternately, replacing the cartridge with a fresh HP #78 should solve your problem. When buying new HP cartridges I would look for at least six months remaining before the "install by" date on the package. This would have at least a year of remaining warranty.
Regards, Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging (points appreciated)
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