Should I toss it?

[edswoods.1]

Recently I was in a computer repair shop and there was a portable
printer for sale. I've been wanting one
for awhile but it's rather low on the priorities list. Anyway, I made
an offer - $15.00 - and it was accepted.
It's an HP Deskjet 340, probably about 8 years old. I got the
cartrige refilled, bought a parallel-to-usb
cable for my laptop and the drivers were already in XP. Up to this
point everything seemed ready to go
and I sent it a word file to print. It hummed for a few seconds and
the yellow paper feed light went on
and began to blink. After a few more seconds I got some error
dialogue but nothing specific. I went through
several troubleshooting procedures to no avail and called the repair
shop. He said the new cartrige might need
to be primed using the software, but I couldn't find anything like
what 's available in regular HP printer dialogue
for cleaning the cartrige. I was able to send it a test page but got
the same error message. The hardware seems
to be ok, but maybe it isn't, and I'm hoping there might be a software
solution I haven't tried yet. Oh well,
it isn't the Space Station I'm dealing with here.

 

[Bob Headrick]

Recently I was in a computer repair shop and there was a portable
printer for sale. I've been wanting one
for awhile but it's rather low on the priorities list. Anyway, I made
an offer - $15.00 - and it was accepted.
It's an HP Deskjet 340, probably about 8 years old. I got the
cartrige refilled, bought a parallel-to-usb
cable for my laptop and the drivers were already in XP. Up to this
point everything seemed ready to go
and I sent it a word file to print. It hummed for a few seconds and
the yellow paper feed light went on
and began to blink. After a few more seconds I got some error
dialogue but nothing specific.

Print a self-test as shown at the following:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...4429&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

If the self test is OK I would suspect the USB-parallel converter, many of
them can be problematic. I would next try connecting directly to an LPT
port of another computer if possible to verify the printer is OK.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[edswoods.1]

Print a self-test as shown at the following:http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=bpd04429&c...

If the self test is OK I would suspect the USB-parallel converter, many of
them can be problematic. I would next try connecting directly to an LPT
port of another computer if possible to verify the printer is OK.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Thanks for responding, Mr. Headrick. Flash breaking news - I read the
manual online and it says "if you're having trouble
using the automatic feeder, remove it and use manual feed." So now
the one-page job can be sent to the printer and
when the paper is fed manually the printer actually goes through the
motions of printing and the job is out of the
que - only no ink touches the paper! I tried reinstalling the brand-
new cartrige and it didn't help.

 

[Bob Headrick]

So now
the one-page job can be sent to the printer and
when the paper is fed manually the printer actually goes through the
motions of printing and the job is out of the
que - only no ink touches the paper! I tried reinstalling the brand-
new cartrige and it didn't help.

A couple of things to check - make sure the protective tape has been
removed from the nozzles. Also try blotting the cartridge nozzles on a damp
tissue. If you do not get color (or black, depending on the cartridge) then
the cartridge is probably defective. You can check the warranty for
original HP cartridges as shown at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bua02014.
If the cartridge is still under warranty you can contact HP or your dealer
for a replacement.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Paul Heslop]

tossing them seems quite popular

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=throw+printer