Our printer sounds and looks like it's printing, but no ink shows up on the printer

Dear Jeannine,

Greeting!

Check estimated ink or toner levels for your printer to determine if you need to replace any cartridges.

NOTE: Ink level warnings and indicators provide estimates for planning purposes only. When an indicator shows low ink levels, consider having a replacement ink cartridge available to avoid possible printing delays. You do not need to replace ink cartridges until you are prompted to.

Many HP printers display ink and toner cartridge levels on the control panel. Look for an ink drop or cartridge icon or an Ink Levels menu to check the status of each cartridge.
Figure : Examples of ink and toner level icons and menu selections on various HP printer control panels

If your printer does not have an ink level icon or menu, continue with these steps to check ink or toner levels from your computer or mobile device.HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads, enter your printer model, and then clickDownload next to the full feature driver or HP Easy Start to download and install the driver.

shut down computer
unplug printer from power outlet ( it must be unplugged )
remove both printer cartridges
make sure there is no tape or other items on cartage
reinstall cartridges
plug printer in
turn on printer
turn on computer

Sounds as if the printhead of your printer is blocked on one or more colours. I would recommend running 1-3 head cleans from your printer software and then printing some test pages to see if this has improved the situation.

If you have to do more after this point I would recommend leaving a few minutes between cleans to save super-heating (and potentially damaging the printhead).

I have an MP540 and it says..."The PIXMA MP540 runs on five ink cartridges, with a photo black as well as a pigmented black for text printing" so it sounds like pigmented is for text and dye for pics. So maybe your default settings are showing high quality, photo or the paper type is causing the printer to select high quality...just a thought!

Parts Of BMW.

Your printer should have come with a disk. This disk would have installed the necessary program that runs printing jobs, as well as keeps track of the ink level. Locate this program on your computer (may be under All Programs, Accessories under the Start Menu).
If not, Go into the Control Panel: (see below)




Above, you see "Hardware and Sound"; and below that shows "View Devices and Printers. Click on this. It will then bring you into the below dialogue box, of which shows any and all printers currently installed and which are being used. (see below)




Once you have located your printer here - (name etc). Go into your Start Menu: In the Search Box at the bottom type "programs"; look for the words "show which programs are installed on your computer", should be the fourth in the list. Below is what the list will look like. Find your printer here to ensure it's installed.



Once you have determined it's installed, you need to locate the printer program in your file system. Once you retrieve this, click it to open it. The program should allow you to view the ink levels. With most printers, when ink is low it will automatically open a dialogue box showing the ink levels for each cartridge. If you're printer is not equipped with this feature, then the only way to know if any need changed is when printing a document, and any color is not present.
I apologize for such a long response, as I wanted you to know how to access these files. If you are printing, and all colors appear to be present, without fading, or "blotchy" spots, then your cartridges are still good. You should be able to do a print test (calibration or alignment test) to determine this as well.
Please let me know if you need further assistance.
carsandcomps,
Guru, Premium Expert, Phone Support, Live Chat @ Fixya.com

The print heads are located right underneith the ink cartridges. there is usually a plastic flip down lever that you snap open and reveals the print heads. They look like little bottles with sponge tops on them. They are about 1/3 the size of the ink cartridges. They remove easily. Most of the time when the printer starts showing messages about the print heads, it means that ink has leaked out in that area. Its easy to fix that problem.

Turn off the printer and press and hold the power button for sixty seconds, then Remove the ink cartridges, snap open the plastic piece to show the print heads and then take a link free cloth or paper towel and soak up any visible ink. Then remove the print heads and look for metal connectors on back like the ink cartridges have and use a wet qtip to remove any ink that has dried or hardened there. After you have cleaned and removed and visible ink, try putting them back in and install the ink cartridges. then plug it back in and turn it on to see if the error is gone. If not, you can replace the print heads but I am unsure of the price of replacements? They might cost as much as a new printer depending on the price of your model?

Is it possible that someone has removed your print heads?

It sounds like some of the nozzles on your printhead are not printing.
You can check this by going to the maintenance tab in the printer driver folder for your printer.
The `nozzle check' shows you a grid pattern, and you can tell which colors are not printing correctly. There is a cleaning utility in the maintenance area as well. You should see an improvement with each cleaning. If you don't, stop using the cleaning utility, it will just waste ink.
You can try changing the ink tank, but the problem is usually a clogged printhead. The printhead is available as a user replaceable item, but can be a costly gamble. It is best looked at by a trained tech.
I service these machines, and can tell you, the number one issue with print problems is refilled ink.

Sounds like your colour cartridge is empty. Fax test will pull from black only but documents sometimes use a combination of colours in order to print out black. I suggest checking your ink levels - instructions for windows;

Check ink levels
NOTE: If you have installed a refilled or remanufactured print cartridge, or a cartridge that has been used in another printer, the ink level indicator will be inaccurate or unavailable.

1. Open the Printer Toolbox . There are two ways to do this:
   • Open HP Director , select the Settings menu, then the Print Settings submenu, and finally the Printer Toolbox .
   • Open Printers and Faxes in the Windows Control Panel , then right-click your printer icon and choose Properties . Click Printing Preferences . Click the Services tab, then the Service This Device icon.
2. The Printer Toolbox opens. Click the Estimated Ink Level tab. A cartridge may be running out of ink even if the graphic shows ink remaining (see the note at the start of this section). Lines or streaks always appear in printouts when the cartridges begin to run out of ink. Replace print cartridges that are out of ink or low Check ink levels

You press the ink button and choose cleaning option and test print to see if colors are correct, clean again if colors are wrong. The spillage won't hurt print quality when it's around the cartridge area. If you are using generic inks they sometimes are not the correct color.

do you print CD or plain paper, red light is mean jamed paper or change cartridge. Open the top door >press drop ink symbol> look at printer head show on ink ink tray.