Dell a940 all in one printer

The print-head pulls ink from the ink-cartridge, and sprays it onto the paper, unless the print-head has become "clogged".

Run a "print-head-cleaning" cycle, to try to unclog it.

I know this may sound silly - but on th ebottom of the new cartridges there are little plastic slips which need to be removed before using... make sure these have been removed.

If this helped you then please help me and vote kindly.

you must be change cartridge cartridge nozel is dry

STEP 1: Disconnect and Reconnect the Printer Power Supply
1. Unplug the power cord from the wall socket.
2. Disconnect the power supply from the back of the printer.
3. Wait 15 seconds.
4. Reconnect the power supply to the back of the printer.
5. Plug the power cord back into the wall socket.

STEP 2: Run a nozzle clean on the Dell A940 inkjet printer.

To run a nozzle clean, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Start button, point to All Programs, point to Dell Printers, point to Dell AIO Printer A940, and then click Dell Printer Solution Center.
The Dell Printer Solution Center menu appears.
2. Click the Maintenance button.
The Maintenance window appears.
3. Click the Clean to fix horizontal streaks button.
4. Click the Print button.
The Nozzle Clean function prints a page.
5. Check the Nozzle Clean Printout to verify that it is free of defects and that all expected color bars exist on the page

STEP 3: Restore the printer settings to factory default

To restore the printer settings to factory default, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Printers and Other Hardware.
3. Click Printers and Faxes.
4. Right-click the Dell Printer icon, and then left-click Properties.
5. Click Printing Preferences.
6. Click to select Save Settings.
7. Under Restore, click Factory Settings (Defaults).

STEP 4: Clean the Contacts and Wick the Ink Cartridge

Wicking the cartridges and cleaning the contacts on the back of the cartridge should be performed if the nozzle clean was performed and the quality was not satisfactory.

Wicking the Cartridge

1. Ensure the printer is powered on.
2. Lift the scanner unit.
3. Open the cartridge latches and remove the cartridges from the carrier.
4. Take a clean, damp cloth and wipe the nozzle of the print cartridge from front to back

Note: Never wipe the cartridges from side to side, as this causes cross-contamination in color cartridges.

Cleaning the Contacts

1. Turn the cartridge so that you are looking at the contacts on the back side of the cartridge
2. Using a clean dry cloth, wipe the contacts so that no dust or other contaminants are visible.

Note: Do not use the same cloth that was used to clean the cartridge nozzles. This may cause more contamination on the cartridge.

3. Clean the contact inside the printer with the dry cloth used to clean the cartridge contacts.
4. Replace the cartridges in the carrier and close the scanner unit.
5. Print the document again.
6. If the print quality does not improve, repeat the steps for cleaning the nozzles and contacts up to two more times as needed.


Then run again STEP 2. If the printer still prints in blank pages, contact Dell Technical Support. They may need to replace the Ink Cartridges.

printer won't print black with new cartridges installed

Hi there Error 50c

Regarding the Dell A940 "Error 50c"....the user guide doesn't seem to mention "Error 50c". They do, however, mention a "Cartridge Error" on page 52 of the manual. They claim this means that the printer has detected a short circuit (fuse/resister) in the cartridge. As you may or may not have noticed in the manual, this is what they recommend doing about it:

1) Press Power to turn the printer off.

2) Lift the printer cover/lid (scanner unit) until the scanner support holds it open.

3) Turn the printer on.
The ink cartridge carrier moves and stops at the loading position unless the printer is busy.

4) Remove the color ink cartridge.

5) Lower the printer (scanner unit) until it is completely closed.
If the error message displays again, replace the black cartridge with a new black cartridge.

If the error message does not display, repeat steps 1–3 and then go to step 6.

6) Reinstall the color cartridge and remove the black ink cartridge.

7) Lower the printer (scanner unit) until it is completely closed.

If the error message displays again, replace the color cartridge with a new
color cartridge.
If there is no error message (indicated by flashing lights), repeat steps 1–3 and then reinstall both ink cartridges.
8) Lower the printer (scanner unit) until it is completely closed.

If you get the error message again, while both cartridges are installed, replace both of the cartridges.

Basically, what they want you to determine is,....if the short circuit is with the "black ink" cartridge or the "color ink" cartridge and then replace the cartridge that has the problem.

You may have to buy a new cartrige.
Please all I ask is call back and just gave a vote, it will gave me some satisfaction to know am helping some one, so I will keep on helping.
All The Best: Pineworks

Can you pull out the catridges and make sure you have taken the plastic off the gold strips properly. That can cause errors as there will be no connection to the printer. I hope it's a simple solution and this helps you

Our black ink quit printing, cleaning did not help. I finally got it to print by selecting:

PRINT, PROPERTIES, PAPER SETUP, SPECIALTY PAPER, PHOTO/GLOSSY

Good luck!

Our Dell AIO A940 stopped printing black ink (it went throught the motions but he paper came out blank). Finally got it to print by selecting:

PRINT, PROPERTIES, PAPER SETUP, SPECIALTY PAPER, PHOTO/GLOSSY

Maybe it will work for you! Good luck!

Follow these steps in order to resolve the issue:
Stop the Print Spooler Service: 1) Click Start. 2) Type ‘cmd’ in the Start Search box.Search results should appear. 3) Right-click on ‘cmd’ in the search results, and select Run as Administrator.The command window will appear.4) Type ‘net stop spooler’ into the command window and press <ENTER>.The Print Spooler service should now be stopped.
Delete the Printer Drivers: .
1) Click Start.
2) In the Start Search box, type ‘C:WindowsSystem32SpoolDriversw32x86’ and press <ENTER>.
3) Delete all the files and folders in this directory.
NOTE: If the folder will not delete, rename folder to w32x86.old.
Remove the Dell printer software:
1) Click Start.
2) Click Control Panel.
3) Click Programs.
4) Click Programs and Features.
5) Click the software related to the attached Dell printer to highlight it.
6) Click Uninstall/Change.
7) Follow through the prompts in order to remove the software.
8) Restart the computer.
At this point, the user should install the latest printer software from http://support.dell.com and be able to print successfully.