Invisible printing

[rollasys]

I've got a lexmark Z31 printer that behaves as if it's printing, but lays out no ink. It advances the paper, the heads move back and forth, sounds and looks like it's working but it's all bluster. I've changed out the cartriges for new ones, changed cables, connected to different computers all with out any change in it's behavior.

Any ideas?

Also does anyone know how to kick this model into a self test mode so that I could rule out or confirm a driver or computer config problem?

Thanks

 

[Peter]

Smells like an empty cartridge, replaced with a new one, and forgetting to flush. (You need to put the printer through a head cleaning cycle before a new cart gets to work.)

 

[Slammy1]

LOL. The same thing happened to a friend. They forgot to remove the protective tape.

 

[RedFox1]

I forgot to take off the tape once. It was around 1AM at the end of the semester, trying to print out a 30 page paper. Took me a good hour to figure it out too.

 

[rollasys]

Slammy1 - While a good possibility for the described problem, I have managed to remove the tape from the new cartridge.

Peter - Ok, never have heard of the need to clean a new cartridge before. I will give this a try the next time I'm on site. I don't recall if a cleaning cycle is an option with the default XP drivers. Do you know if it's there or is it only available with Lexmark's drivers.

One other piece of info I've picked up offline about troubleshooting this: Someone mentioned that I should take the cartridge and just press the bottom against a piece of paper to see if the ink is flowing. Any one know if this acctually works?

 

[Peter]

Yes it works. But do the cleaning cycle first. (I have no detail instructions for Lexmark printers, since I'm neither using nor recommending them. I strongly dislike printers that come with an almost-empty cartridge, particularly when a new one costs more than the printer itself.)