30 Dec 2002, 20:29, JIM HOLSONBACK (1:123/140), wrote to ALL:

Hi JIM.

 JH> I have this right nice HP Desjet 890C Professional Series inkjet
 JH> printer.  All colors and the black were working perfectly when I 
 JH> stopped using it maybe 4-6 months ago.  Now, black and two colors are 
 JH> dead, and all I have is Magenta.

 JH> I tried the Windows software maintenance steps of clean print 
 JH> head, and prime print head, but still only Magenta is working.  Last 
 JH> time this happened, was with black only, and I soaked the thing in 
 JH> distilled water for several hours and then retried the cleaning and 
 JH> priming, and that didn't work back then.  So my current black 
 JH> cartridge is about new, with plenty ink still in it.  Shake-shake - - 
 JH> yes, I can hear ink sloshing around in there.

That's the reason I'm still using my dot matrix and DaisyWheels, don't
print often enough to use either an inkjet or laser.

My daughter's HP does the same thing almost monthly when she gets a hair to
print something.  What I've been doing is removing the cartridge and
lightly wiping the surface on a quad-folded _damp_ paper towel.  The
moisture helps soften the dried ink, and the absorbency of the paper towel
draws out some ink through those tiny holes.  Sometimes I have to repeat 2x
or 3x, but so far so good.

Wipe with a slight diagonal motion.  No point of having a dried piece of
crud come loose from one hole then forcing it back into an adjacent one.


     Good luck...  M.

--- Msged/386 TE 06 (pre)