Printer says that ink system failed.

Sounds like the ink isn't having time to dry and is rubbing along paper.

Paper may be too thick. If it prints OK on normal paper (test first) but not on thick card, then it doesn't support thick paper settings.

have you tried changing the cartridge..?

How is the printer printing black and yellow color? Is it a smudge?

When I print, the pages are smudged with ink. What should I do?
Description: - If smudged stains appear at the top center of the printed page:

• Make sure the paper is not too thick or curled.
  Also, verify that the appropriate paper is being used and that the paper type set in the machine matches the media used.
• Make sure the paper is not curled when you print on the back side of the paper with the Print Odd Pages and Print Even Pages settings.

- If smudged stains appear at the right or left corner of the printed page:

• Make sure the paper is not curled when you print on the back side of the paper with the Print Odd Pages and Print Even Pages settings.

- If smudged stains appear on the reverse side or at the bottom of the page:
NOTE: Illustrations shown below are from the representative product and may differ from your Brother machine.

• Make sure the printer platen is not dirty with ink.
  
  How to clean the machine's printer platen
  
  
  1. Unplug the machine from the AC power outlet.
  2. Lift the scanner cover until it locks securely in the open position.
  3. Clean the machine's printer platen(1) and the area around it, wiping off any scattered ink with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth.
     
     
  4. Close the scanner cover.
     
     
• Make sure you are using Genuine Brother Innobella™ Ink.
  > Brother Genuine Supplies information
  
  
  
• Make sure you are using the paper support flap.
  
  To use the paper support flap, pull out the paper support (1) until it clicks and unfold the paper support flap(2).
  
  

It sounds like the print head is failing.

Please remove the cartridges from the printer. Take a dry lint free paper towel and gently wipe the contacts on the back of the cartridge (not the bottom from where ink is present). Wipe the contacts inside the printer (on cartridge carrier). Please snap the cartridges back into the cartridge carrier.

Next, try this printer self-test by following the steps given below:

1. Please press the "Options" button 10 times. "Cartridges" should now appear in the display screen.
2. Press the "Left Arrow" button once, which then brings you to the "Self-Test" option.
3. Press the "Select" button once. You will hear a series of clicks.
4. It should print out a sheet of paper with horizontal color and black lines and smaller vertical lines.

You should see text followed by a thick 1-inch black bar. Under this bar, should be a process gray bar about ½-inch thick. Below this line should be a set of railroad like bars of cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Should this test fail, try it again without cartridges installed. If the self-test still fails to take paper in and make sounds like the carrier is moving across the paper, this is a hardware issue, and the printer will require service. If the self-test completes without any cartridges installed, run the self-test again with the color cartridge installed. (If you have both black and color cartridges, after this test, run the test again with just the black cartridge installed.) If you find that either cartridge causes the self-test to fail, please let us know.

If the self-test prints, but has lines or smudges or other print quality issues, please let us know. This includes any print quality issues, we need to know if the problems you have with your black or color are based in the printer, or communications with your computer, or the computer's software.

If the self-test prints your test bar(s) clearly, the printer hardware is not at fault.

The "Print Head" needs cleaning or replacement. It's the part that delivers the ink from the cartridge tank to the paper itself.Mostly caused by air entering the lines and making any residual ink cure.
Most newer printers only ever use 95% of the available ink before reporting tank is empty,and will not allow any printing to resume, preventing air being introduced to empty lines in the head.



Without Removing Anything

There's commercial products available, I guess a bit like using a head cleaning cassette in your VCR - I Have not tried any of these yet.

Use an empty ink cartridge Refilled with hot water and run the print head cleaning function.
( Dont worry , The paper will absorb the minute amount of water being dispersed.)

If that fails you should remove the print head cartridge most are pretty easy ,
LexMark X1150 X1185 and other similar models with the sensor strip running through the cartridge instructions are located at the following FixYA topic
http://www.fixya.com/support/t181337-piece_fallen_out_printer

Immerse it in warm-to hot water for a while or try using rubbing alcohol or similar Non-solvent based liquid.
Inspect the small rectangle shaped metal print head & surrounding copper track for dried ink , remove any with very gentle wiping taking care not to damage anything.


If it's beyond cleaning it will have to be replaced .Try ebay or the local print shop.

1. Remove the protective tape from the cartridges:
1. With the printer power on, open the front cover of the printer. The cartridge carrier should move to the middle.
2. Remove the cartridge(s) from the printer.
3. Look on the underside of the cartridge(s). If there is yellow tape and/or transparent blue tape there, remove it.
2. Clean the cartridge nozzles:
1. Go to the Lexmark Control Program or Solution Center and run the Clean print nozzle test.
If a black cartridge is installed, you should see black lines only.
If the color cartridge is installed, you should see yellow, magenta (a reddish purple), and cyan (a dark sky blue) lines.
If a photo cartridge is installed, you may see different colors.
2. Examine the diagonal lines above and below the solid horizontal lines. These diagonal lines should be solid from left to right, with no gaps.
If there are gaps in the lines, you could run the Clean Print Nozzle page a few more times to try and clear it up or try the "wicking" procedure below to conserve ink.
If the page is faded from left to right and the wicking procedure doesn't clear it up, your cartridge is probably out of ink.
3. Clean ("wick") the cartridges:
1. Remove your cartridges following the instructions in your User's Guide.
2. Take a warm, damp paper towel and fold it so that it has about 4- to 6-ply thickness.
3. Set the ink cartridge right side up on the damp paper towel so that the ink nozzles are touching the towel, and hold the cartridge in this position for about 15 seconds. The nozzles are where the ink comes out of the cartridge.
4. Now drag the cartridge lightly across the paper towel in one direction only (left to right) until the bottom of the cartridge looks clean.
5. Turn the cartridge over so that you can see the bar code sticker on the back. Note: Only perform steps 6 and 7 if the contacts look dirty or corroded.
6. Using a clean pencil eraser, clean the contact points on the copper strip (only the little squares just below the bar code). Caution! Do not use the eraser on the nozzles that were cleaned, as this will damage the cartridge.
7. Using a clean part of your dry paper towel, wipe the eraser dust off the contacts; ensure that they are dry, and snap the cartridge back into the printer.
8. Make sure to install the cartridges following the instructions in your User's Guide, selecting Old Cartridge. Failure to do so could reset your ink levels as explained above.
9. Repeat the nozzle cleaning procedure one more time. At this point the diagonal lines should be solid.
10. If they are not and you think the cartridges should have ink in them, contact our technicians by e-mail and let them know the results of this test.
4. Reset the ink levels:
Lexmark printer cartridges do not have ink sensors. The levels of ink are produced by a mathematical calculation of ink drops and page counts. The printer stores this information and then writes it to the win.ini file on your computer.

Ink levels can be reset by telling the printer you have installed a new ink cartridge or by reinstalling the printer drivers and selecting Cartridges Installed. Once ink levels have been reset, there is no way to change them except by printing.

Accordingly, even if your computer says that your ink is full for a particular cartridge, it may be incorrect and the cartridge may need to be replaced. You may want to try a new cartridge to see if that clears up any print quality problems.

Tank might've been dried out in the process. Try using a "clean catridge" from the original software set of options or run a few test-prints using printer buttons to clear it out.

I have same problem, with new ink cartridge, also tried cleaning the print head, no luck.

This is what worked (so far) with my Dell AIO A940 printer that wouldn't print black ink.

It worked for awhile when I chose photo/glossy paper, but then it quit printing again (see below).

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


I got it to print, again, by putting SEVERAL papers in the feeder (instead of just 1) - there is a sensor that is supposed to automatically detect paper type, and it might not be working right, especially with one or only a couple of sheets.