My HP L7680 Printer does not detect magenta or cyan ink in the printer. It does detect it in the printhead but not the printer.

Hi,

Sorry for all the confusion, but for us "Experts" we can only see one side of the convo, yours.

I can tell you're getting frustrated and will do my best to alleviate that for you.

If it makes you feel a bit at ease I have an L7590 sitting 3 feet to my left. and have owned several in the series personally as well as supporting them in several of my customers businesses.

Although I am only fully certified on HP laser not ink systems, I have worked on these models with great success in the past.

One problem I have not seen you respond to yet which may be a part of the issue. Clued in by the intermittent ink getting to your heads but not always continous is that you may not have a good seal, or good flow between the head and the cartridge.

This can happen for several reasons:

1. Airlock in the line. This can limit or even stop flow entirely without setting off any sensors. as there are none in the lines. Like a brake line in a car, this series requires pressure feed. if there is air anywhere in the cartridge or line the bag system in the cartridge cannot possibly provide enough pressure to force a steady flow of ink.

This being said it is unlikely the air is in the cartridge as you state it works in the other printer. To be sure you can set the cartridge bottom(port end) up for 3-4 minutes and look for any bubbles in the primer button or port. if you see any at all, grab a 8-10 gauge filling needle, depress the plunger and slide it 3mm into the ink port. pump the primer 4 times, pulling up gingerly on the plunger after each pump. By the last pump you should only see ink, no gush of air come up, if not try one additional pump at a time unitl you don't see air spraying up.


If/when the cartridges are primed, re-insert them and open your sulution center, click on settings(sorry if this sounds simplistic, but I'd rather over simplify than miss a single step), then printer settings and printer toolbox. Click on the services tab, then click on Calibrate Linefeed.

Even if you have tried this already, without ensuring the cartridges are primed it's hard to be sure you can force any air that might be in the cartridge through.

Once you have done that, run your head calibration one last time, assuming the linefeed calibration forced the air into the head the calibration should work it out.


2. There may simply be a faulty or dirty seal when you installed the new cartridges. if you give the input port on the effected heads, and the ink port on the effected cartridges a quick wipedown with a q-tip and methyl or glycol alcohol(rubbing alcohol(50% or better) will do), as well as any contact ports(working from memory) if you see any pigment coming up keep scrubbing, the last time I had to do this it took 45 mins(on my officejet 1200), if any of the seals have more than 1mm of dried pigment on them it can corrupt the seal.

3. Bad airlock in the head, it will still be wet inside in most cases so the sensors reads ok but airpressurizes and just trickles out a dribble of ink. If your model is the one I think you should be able to remove the head and cartridge, hold them somewhere ink safe and insert the feed from the head into the cartridge. then pump the primer a few times(suggest working behind a shield) and force ink down into the cartridge and the air up in cycle. pin in, pump once, wait ten second then pin out.... look out for the spray, pigment dyes stain almost as bad as tattoos.

If it's the opposite head design(with hose in between) use the priming method to put three-four pump into the syringe and then repeat above steps inserting the syringe into the head.



Shoudl these steps not work and if it is the model with a small hose in between the cartridge and the head you also need to prime the hose(out of printer) then replace it into the printer and hook it to the head.


Hopefully even if this doesn't solve the problem it will at least restore your confidence that there are "Experts" available on FixYa at all hours and feel free to reply back in the next hour or so as I will be monitoring this post until I'm done for the day


Chris

Sir, have you tried this printer on another computer just to rule out a possible software problem?

Tim

The problem is the printhead if it does not detect the ink then the print head would need to be looked at. I hope you buying orginal ink and not refilling them in this printer as I had nothing but trouble as well doing it with this model, Rulds2008

Btw, I’m available to help over the phone in case u need at https://www.6ya.com/expert/edwy_1a56970cf1ea4620

Most common reasons:

1. Didn't remove protective tape on cartridge.
2. Didn't properly seat cartridge.
3. Contacts on carriage need to be cleaned.

If it's 3, sometimes you can clean them by cleaning the contacts on the old "empty" cartridges, then installing/removing them a few times. The time I had to do this, I used a pre-moistened eyeglass cleaning sheet, and allowed the cleaned cartridge to dry before doing the install/remove cycle.
What's probably happening is there is excess ink on caked on to the contacts on the carriage (I think that's what they're called). They're pretty easy to clean and the cleaning process takes about a minute. Just remove whatever cartridges are in the printer, take a cloth that will leave a minimal amount of lint, and wipe at the dark spongey contacts located just below where the cartridges would sit ( they should be right around the cartridges' spot). When the caked on ink is removed and all you are wiping at is the sponge, insert the new cartridge and the printer should work.


if this doesnt..... then its definitely ur sensor problem...... and u might have to replace it.....
thank you hope this was helpful have a nice day

Hello augustulus,
a possible reason for these problem is that either the print cartridge or the print carriage contacts need cleaning, or a re-manufactured or refilled ink cartridge is being used.
Follow the steps below to determine why the problem is occurring.


Step one: Checking the print cartridges and cleaning the cartridge contacts
Even if the cartridge is new, follow the steps below to clean the print cartridge contacts. Print cartridges have a substance on the contacts to keep them from corroding during storage that may cause poor electrical contact between the print carriage and the print cartridge.

1.
Verify that your printer is turned on.
NOTE: If your printer is not turned on, you will not be able to remove the print cartridges.
2.
Open the unit to access the print cartridges.
3.
After the print carriage (the part that holds the print cartridges) stops moving, unplug the power cord without turning off the unit using the power button. If you turn the unit off the print cartridges will be capped to prevent them from drying out and you will not be able to remove them. You must unplug the power cord to prevent the print carriage from moving.
4.
Remove the print cartridges that is troubling you.
5.
Verify that the part number on the cartridge is the correct part number for the unit.
6.
Using a cotton swab or lint free cloth (like a coffee filter) lightly moistened with distilled, filtered, or bottled water, clean the electrical contacts of the cartridge(the shiny copper face).


NOTE: When printers like your own is used frequently for black and white printing but infrequently for color printing (for example, an all-in-one that is used primarily as a fax machine), the color cartridge will still eventually fail and need to be replaced. The pins in the print carriage can cause dents on the contact points of the color cartridge over time.
7.
Wipe the contacts on the printer's body with a dry, cotton cloth, as shown, to dry the contacts and finish cleaning.

8.
Reinsert the cartridges and lock them in place.
9.
Close the top cover or access door and plug in the power cord.
10.
If the error continues, repeat these steps. If further cleaning fails to clear the error, proceed to the next step

"Step two: Cleaning the print carriage contacts" below.

Have the following materials available to clean the print carriage contacts:

*
Cotton swabs or any soft material that will not come apart or leave fibers.
*
Distilled, filtered, or bottled water (tap water may contain contaminants that can damage the print cartridges)
CAUTION: Be careful not to get ink on hands or clothing.

Do the follow to clean the cartridge contacts inside the product:

1.
If the unit is off, turn it on.
2.
Open the unit to access the print cartridges.
3.
After the print carriage stops moving, unplug the power cord. Do not turn the unit off before unplugging the power cord.
4.
Remove the print cartridges that are not working fine.
5.
Using a cotton swab or cloth lightly moistened with distilled, filtered, or bottled water, clean the electrical contacts of the print carriage.

6.
lower the latches.

7.
Wait five minutes for the contacts to dry and then plug in the power cord. The unit will begin to reinitialize. Wait until the process is complete before proceeding.
8.
Reinsert the print cartridges when prompted and then close the top cover or access door.
9.
If the message recurs, replace the print cartridge indicated by the message.
If you are using refilled or remanufactured cartridges or non-HP cartridges, replace them with new HP cartridges.
10.
If the problem still exists, replace both print cartridges. Since the cartridges are electronically connected through the printed circuit board, the cartridge not indicated in the message might be the causing the failure.
Cheers!

Please remove all the cartridges and the print head
Look inside the machine to see if there is any ink build up preventing the transfer of ink
If there is clean it
If not check the nozzles and clean each individually
Let me know if this does not help so that I can continue to troubleshoot with you

Replace the print head ribbon contact.

Sir this is a very common problem today as we dont use much of color in day to day life on the other hand the print head is a sensitive end that get ruptured very easily so options are either to replace the print head or try cleaning the print head but before trying all these loose all static from printer and system as well as check the colour level and settings