Clogged Ink Cartridge Recovery
Clogged Ink Cartridge Recovery (applies to HP, Canon, Lexmark or Dell Integrated Printhead Cartridges)
To help overcome poor printing performance, it is suggested you thoroughly clean the ink cartridge’s nozzle plate. A hot-water flush of the cartridge may also be necessary to recover the ink cartridge.
NOTE 1: If the printer/cartridge is rarely used, or cartridge is more than 1 year old, there is the possibility the internal foam has hardened (dried) to a point where the ink will not absorb properly into the foam and flow down to the nozzle plate (often cartridges may experience severe ink pooling or leaking at the bottom when this occurs). If this is the case then you may need to wait upwards of 72 hours for the internal foam to completely re-absorb the ink. Following the 72 hour wait period, if the cartridge still does not work correctly (fire/emit respective colors) then the cartridge will need to be replaced.
NOTE 2: Random droplets of ink on your paper are normally caused by contaminates on the printhead nozzle plate area such as a fiber, hair, built up dust, dried ink. The smallest fiber on the printhead can act as a wick and collect ink from the head until it is oversaturated and therefore drip. In many cases both the service station caps/seals (or wipers) and both ink cartridges will need to be thoroughly cleaned to correct this issue.
Advanced HP Printer Diagnostics
To view advanced diagnostics tests for your HP printer, click here:
