F300 Deskjet Not Printing

[Eve]

Hi, anyone out there any good with printers?

I have this connected to my laptop by a cable.

It is going through the motions of printing but nothing actually prints and the paper comes out blank.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Buenchico]

What are you trying to print out? Over the years there have been plenty of posts on here from people who've been trying to print out pdf files embedded into web pages, who've simply clicked the wrong 'print' button (resulting in blank pages being produced).

So, before we start thinking about what might be wrong with your printer (if anything actually is), we need to consider what instructions your laptop is sending to it.

[TonyV]

You have any lights flashing when you power down and on?

[Eve]

Hi, I'm trying to print a short Word document, just one page with test written on it a lot. Trying to get it fixed so I can print longer Word documents.

No lights flashing, I've checked the cartridges are in ok. I replaced an old HP black one with a Wilkos one a couple of years ago and not really used it since though had issues printing on it back then, I don't need to print very often. I'm pretty sure the colour one ran out but trying to print greyscale from the black cartridge only. There is ink left as it flashed up a message showing some in the black but the colour one run out.

It's driving me distracted, can't seem to work out what is wrong with it. I tried installing drivers so up to date.

It sounds like it's actually printing the text but then there just isn't anything on the page which comes through blank.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your reply.

Download and run the HP Print and Scan Doctor:
http://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c03286146

[bhg481]

My HP printer, albeit a colour laserjet, will not print at all if any colour cartridge has run out. Even switching the printer to greyscale will not get it to work if a colour cartridge is empty.

[Eve]

I've run that Chris, thanks. I've gone through and it's printing a test page but it's very faded and looks like gobbledegook though I'm not quite sure what it is mean to look like.

Maybe I need to replace the colour toner as well then. I'm just in two minds whether or not I'm going to be able to get the printer to work properly to justify spending out on a colour toner too, cheaper than another printer mind!

[Buenchico]

If you're getting a faded printout, clean the print heads. (You might need to do it several times before you'll see any difference).

The instructions that come with printers for cleaning the heads vary between makes and models but the following route seems to be universal:

Click 'Start'.
Click 'Devices and Printers'.
(Those instructions above refer to Windows 7 but it's usually fairly similar, with other versions of Windows, to get to your printer icon).
RIGHT-click on the icon for your printer.
Click on 'Printer Properties' (NOT on just 'Properties')
Select the 'Maintenance' tab.
Click on the button which cleans the print heads. (NB: If your printer has a 'deep clean' option, I'd advise trying that one first).

[Eve]

I think I'm Windows HP. My printer preferences doesn't have an option to clean but there was one while running the fix programme so have gone back in to that and done it a couple more times.

It's still printed faded gobbledegook when test page printing and coming out blank when trying to print a Word document.

I'm wondering if it has just had its day but I print so rarely I don't know if I can justify a new printer. I have some important documents to print off imminently, probably drafts too over the next few weeks though.

[bhg481]

I think some local libraries offer a printing service (at a cost); it might be worth looking into.
In the days when I had an inkjet printer I seemed to spend more time (and ink) cleaning the heads than I did printing documents, due to its intermittent use, hence switching to a laserjet.

[donny48]

I was the same , very infrequent use and all text so had no need for colour.I bought one of these
http://www.box.co.uk/Ricoh_SP211_Mono_Laser_A4_USB_Printer_1727613.html?gclid=CM7u35m7v9ACFe0V0wodKZ8OEA
It really does do an excellent job and it's only £25.

[Buenchico]

>>> I print so rarely

That STRONGLY suggests that the print heads are blocked. ('Good practice' says that you should print a page at least once a week with any inkjet printer, in order to keep the heads clear).

It has sometimes taken me around a dozen attempts to clean the heads before it's finally worked (after I'd left a printer unused for too long). Don't give up. Keep trying!

[Eve]

Thanks for the other ideas, will definitely bear them in mind.

I will keep persevering with cleaning the printer heads and hope for the best in the interim. Probably not far off two years since I last tried printing!! It's a pretty old printer to be fair. Think I got it around 2006 ish.

It's weird, the test page prints some random faded stuff whereas Word documents it just prints nothing while sounding like it's printing, very odd (to me as a not very printer techie haha!).