GOOD READER TIP

printer troubleWe aren’t the only ones who have become frustrated with HP printers. A reader sent us a link to a YouTube video with the title “HP Photosmart Won’t Print Black Ink.”

It turned out our own problem just involved cleaning the printhead. This is easy to do.  Click the “all apps” or “all programs” link on  your Windows PC, then find the printer software. Then click “maintenance,” and “clean printhead,” or words to that effect.

Our reader had his first HP problem after installing so-called third-party ink. Nowadays, HP won’t even let you print if you don’t use HP cartridges. This is also true for many other manufacturers because ink is where they make their money. In our reader’s case, after three or four days repeatedly cleaning the printhead, it wasn’t dead any more, but it was still crippled. He bought a new printhead for $67 and then had to buy all new ink cartridges.

(It’s not that we are against HP printers, we have one on our desk right now. It’s that we don’t like these kinds of business practices.)

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