"W. Watson" wrote:
>I had a color (Staples) #23 cartrige in my 712C, and the printer wasn't used
>for 9 months. It was in the garage during cold and hot weather. When I
>decided to print something the other day, the color was bad. I then got a HP
>#23, and put it in. Same problem. Any ideas what the problem might be?
>
>
> Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
>--
> "The only person that you can trust is someone who
> looks you in the eye, and says, 'I'm not voting for you.'"
> -- Old political saying
>
> Web Page:

If both cartridges have identical problems (in other words exhibit exactly the
same defects), then you should consider celaning the contacts on the back of
the cartridges with a soft damp cloth. If the defects are differebt then you
probably have two bad cartridges. In this case the HP cartridge can probably be
replaced under warranty.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Tony wrote:
> "W. Watson" wrote:
>
>>I had a color (Staples) #23 cartrige in my 712C, and the printer wasn't used
>>for 9 months. It was in the garage during cold and hot weather. When I
>>decided to print something the other day, the color was bad. I then got a HP
>>#23, and put it in. Same problem. Any ideas what the problem might be?
>>
>>
>> Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
>> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
>> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
>>--
>> "The only person that you can trust is someone who
>> looks you in the eye, and says, 'I'm not voting for you.'"
>> -- Old political saying
>>
>> Web Page:
>
>
> If both cartridges have identical problems (in other words exhibit exactly the
> same defects), then you should consider celaning the contacts on the back of
> the cartridges with a soft damp cloth. If the defects are differebt then you
> probably have two bad cartridges. In this case the HP cartridge can probably be
> replaced under warranty.
> Tony
> MS MVP Printing/Imaging
>

:-) At the prices they charge, it should be impossible to get a bad
cartridge.

"W. Watson" wrote in message
news:q0P7h.595$ql2.140@newsread3.news.pas.earthlin k.net...
>I had a color (Staples) #23 cartridge in my 712C, and the printer
>wasn't used for 9 months. It was in the garage during cold and hot
>weather. When I decided to print something the other day, the color was
>bad. I then got a HP #23, and put it in. Same problem. Any ideas what
>the problem might be?

Please be more specific on the nature of "the color was bad". Try
printing a rudimentary nozzle diagnostic as shown at
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...=bpd07098#N846.
This should print a small nozzle pattern of black, cyan, magenta and
yellow.

Are one or more of the colors missing completely? If so you may have an
old cartridge. Check the warranty date as shown at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...cname=bua02014.
If the cartridge is beyond it two year warranty replace it with a fresh
cartridge which should fix your problem. If the cartridge is in
warranty then contact your dealer or HP for a warranty replacement.
When buying new cartridges look for the "install by" date on the
package. I would look for a cartridge with at least six months
remaining before the "install by" date, this would have a year of
remaining warranty.

If each color prints something but there are regular blocks of missing
nozzles or regular gaps in the nozzle pattern then clean the contacts as
shown at:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ectID=bpa02060.

If each color prints but there are random missing nozzles then try a
cleaning cycle from the toolbox.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Bob Headrick wrote:

>
> "W. Watson" wrote in message
> news:q0P7h.595$ql2.140@newsread3.news.pas.earthlin k.net...
>
>> I had a color (Staples) #23 cartridge in my 712C, and the printer
>> wasn't used for 9 months. It was in the garage during cold and hot
>> weather. When I decided to print something the other day, the color
>> was bad. I then got a HP #23, and put it in. Same problem. Any ideas
>> what the problem might be?
>
>
> Please be more specific on the nature of "the color was bad". Try
> printing a rudimentary nozzle diagnostic as shown at
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...=bpd07098#N846.
> This should print a small nozzle pattern of black, cyan, magenta and
> yellow.
>
> Are one or more of the colors missing completely? If so you may have an
> old cartridge. Check the warranty date as shown at:
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...cname=bua02014.
> If the cartridge is beyond it two year warranty replace it with a fresh
> cartridge which should fix your problem. If the cartridge is in
> warranty then contact your dealer or HP for a warranty replacement. When
> buying new cartridges look for the "install by" date on the package. I
> would look for a cartridge with at least six months remaining before the
> "install by" date, this would have a year of remaining warranty.
>
> If each color prints something but there are regular blocks of missing
> nozzles or regular gaps in the nozzle pattern then clean the contacts as
> shown at:
> http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ectID=bpa02060.
>
>
> If each color prints but there are random missing nozzles then try a
> cleaning cycle from the toolbox.
>
> Regards,
> Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
>
Thanks for the tips. I'll give it a shot. Here's what things looked like.

I tried printing a picture of the famous Rainbow (rock) Arch in N. AZ. It
has a blue sky overhead with more sky in the arch way. The arch is red, as
many of the surrounding rocks. The resulting printed picture is just about
entirely b/w. (House PC here.)

I tried a shot of a comet (Swan, a recent visitor). The sky wasted a lot of
black ink (it's black anyway, but I mistakenly let it print full page), and
although there was a reasonable amount of blue in the tail it was far from
perfect. (House PC here.)

When I started the printer from the garage computer to print a 17 pg b/w
document, it was pretty erratic. Sometimes it would start several pages in.
Other times it would start with the first page but in landscape mode--the
print was fine. I cleaned up the b/w cartridge but never tried it on a doc
again. It did seem to do a good job afterwards on the printer/PC combo in
the house with some text. I think b/w is OK.


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--
"The only person that you can trust is someone who
looks you in the eye, and says, 'I'm not voting for you.'"
-- Old political saying

Web Page:

W. Watson wrote:

> Bob Headrick wrote:
>
>>
>> "W. Watson" wrote in message
>> news:q0P7h.595$ql2.140@newsread3.news.pas.earthlin k.net...
>>
>>> I had a color (Staples) #23 cartridge in my 712C, and the printer
>>> wasn't used for 9 months. It was in the garage during cold and hot
>>> weather. When I decided to print something the other day, the color
>>> was bad. I then got a HP #23, and put it in. Same problem. Any ideas
>>> what the problem might be?
>>
>>
>>
>> Please be more specific on the nature of "the color was bad". Try
>> printing a rudimentary nozzle diagnostic as shown at
>> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...=bpd07098#N846.
>> This should print a small nozzle pattern of black, cyan, magenta and
>> yellow.
>>
>> Are one or more of the colors missing completely? If so you may have
>> an old cartridge. Check the warranty date as shown at:
>> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...cname=bua02014.
>> If the cartridge is beyond it two year warranty replace it with a
>> fresh cartridge which should fix your problem. If the cartridge is in
>> warranty then contact your dealer or HP for a warranty replacement.
>> When buying new cartridges look for the "install by" date on the
>> package. I would look for a cartridge with at least six months
>> remaining before the "install by" date, this would have a year of
>> remaining warranty.
>>
>> If each color prints something but there are regular blocks of missing
>> nozzles or regular gaps in the nozzle pattern then clean the contacts
>> as shown at:
>> http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ectID=bpa02060.
>>
>>
>> If each color prints but there are random missing nozzles then try a
>> cleaning cycle from the toolbox.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
>>
> Thanks for the tips. I'll give it a shot. Here's what things looked like.
>
> I tried printing a picture of the famous Rainbow (rock) Arch in N. AZ.
> It has a blue sky overhead with more sky in the arch way. The arch is
> red, as many of the surrounding rocks. The resulting printed picture is
> just about entirely b/w. (House PC here.)
>
> I tried a shot of a comet (Swan, a recent visitor). The sky wasted a lot
> of black ink (it's black anyway, but I mistakenly let it print full
> page), and although there was a reasonable amount of blue in the tail it
> was far from perfect. (House PC here.)
>
> When I started the printer from the garage computer to print a 17 pg b/w
> document, it was pretty erratic. Sometimes it would start several pages
> in. Other times it would start with the first page but in landscape
> mode--the print was fine. I cleaned up the b/w cartridge but never tried
> it on a doc again. It did seem to do a good job afterwards on the
> printer/PC combo in the house with some text. I think b/w is OK.
>
>
> Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

I was mistaken about the printer. It's an 812c. Why I though otherwise, I
can only guess. I don't see an 812c or 812 listed under the internal test list.

I tried the "press resume four times" test and got nothing. I then tried to
print a rtf doc from word pad that uses color text. I put the words red,
yellow and blue in their respective colors. Blue didn't print, and both of
the other two were in ...... blue!

My wife tells me, she has a 722c, I can test it by going to the control
panel and find a test among the printer icon material.

I'll now proceed with that test

I don't think we cleaned the print heads inside the printer, just on the
cartridge.

Back in an hour or two.


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--
"The only person that you can trust is someone who
looks you in the eye, and says, 'I'm not voting for you.'"
-- Old political saying

Web Page:

Well, that was interesting. I tried the Win2K printer test and it produced a
b/w page of data about the printer. Nothing particuarly interesting, and
certainly no test of color. The b/w is fine.

I then tried MS Paint and made 3 rectangles of blue, red and green. I added
some text in b/w. Only the text appeared. I tried cleaning the print area
inside the printer, but it didn't help.


Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--
"The only person that you can trust is someone who
looks you in the eye, and says, 'I'm not voting for you.'"
-- Old political saying

Web Page:

I found the test pages my wife had told me about. Options are to align the
printer and clean the heads. I tried both and ended up with just b/w output.

I then took the color cartridge, #23, out of her machine, and tried it. and
it printed my colored rectangle sheet as it should. So the problem is the
cartridge, and I have no idea why the HP cartridge I bought at Staples, and
HP #23, didn't work.

Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet
--
"The only person that you can trust is someone who
looks you in the eye, and says, 'I'm not voting for you.'"
-- Old political saying

Web Page:

W. Watson wrote:
> I had a color (Staples) #23 cartrige in my 712C, and the printer wasn't
> used for 9 months. It was in the garage during cold and hot weather.
> When I decided to print something the other day, the color was bad. I
> then got a HP #23, and put it in. Same problem. Any ideas what the
> problem might be?
>
>
> Wayne T. Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA)
> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
> Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet


Turf the friggin' thing in the gabage. it was crap when you bought it
and it definitely hasn't improved with age.
Useless piece of junk isn't even heavy enough to use as a doorstop.

"W. Watson" wrote in message
news:gcR8h.1934$1s6.431@newsread2.news.pas.earthli nk.net...
>I found the test pages my wife had told me about. Options are to align
>the printer and clean the heads. I tried both and ended up with just
>b/w output.
>
> I then took the color cartridge, #23, out of her machine, and tried
> it. and it printed my colored rectangle sheet as it should. So the
> problem is the cartridge, and I have no idea why the HP cartridge I
> bought at Staples, and HP #23, didn't work.

The most common reason for the #23 cartridge to not print any colors is
that the blue nozzle tape has not been removed. Check the blue tape and
remove it if it is still attached. [I must confess I have put a
cartridge into the printer with the tape on and not been able to print
:-)]

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging