A basic question, but one that is asked quite often.

How do I change the ink in my inkjet printer?

First, bring the cartridge carrier of the printer to the center so you can access the ink cartridges. To do this, open the cover of the printer and the carrier should slide to the center. If it does not, make sure the printer is turned on.

Second, remove the old (empty) cartridges from the carrier. Even if you are only changing one cartridge you should remove both. It keeps the printer from getting confused.

Third, open the package of the new color cartridge. If the cartridge you purchased has a plastic clip on it, remove the clip. Also make sure you remove any tape that is on the cartridge, or over the cartrige’s print head. Take care not to touch the gold (copper) area or you could damage the cartridge. Insert the new cartridge into the correct slot in the printer. Insert the black cartridge into the correct slot in the printer. Ink cartridge spots are not interchangeable; cartriges must be placed in the correct slots.

Last, after installing the cartridges, close the cover on your printer. Run a print test to make sure the cartridges are installed correctly.

Yes, adding the HP cartridges was not enough for today. We added the Epson 88 series of inkjet cartridges as well – Need to make sure we’ve got the cartridges you need.

Epson makes some great cartridges, especially for those that are in to printing photos.

Check them out:

Epson 88 T088120 Black Ink Cartridge

Epson 88 T088220 Cyan Ink Cartridge

Epson 88 T088320 Magenta Ink Cartridge

Epson 88 T088420 Yellow Ink Cartridge

If you don’t know your cartridge number, the Epson 88 cartridges work in the following Epson printers: Epson Stylus CX4400, Epson Stylus CX7400, Epson Stylus NX415, Epson Stylus NX515, Epson Stylus CX4450

Just wanted to let everyone know we added the HP 60 and HP 60XL inkjet cartridges to our product line today. The HP 60 cartridges are Vivera ink cartridges, meaning they offer radiant color, enhanced shadow detail, and reduced image grain for stunning color prints and exceptional black-and-white images. The 60XL cartridges are large capacity cartridges (they hold more ink than the standard capacity HP 60).

Take a minute and check them out:

HP 60 CC640WN Black Ink Cartridge

HP 60 CC643WN Color Ink Cartridge

HP 60 CG845AN 50-Sheet Photo Value Pack

HP 60XL CC641WN Black Ink Cartridge

HP 60XL CC644WN Color Ink Cartridge

HP 60 CD947FN Black/Tricolor Ink Cartridges (2 pack)

These cartridges work in the following HP inkjet printers: HP DeskJet F4240, HP DeskJet F4280, HP Photosmart C4680, HP DeskJet D2500 Series, HP DeskJet D2530, HP DeskJet D2560, HP DeskJet F4200 Series, HP DeskJet F4230, HP DeskJet F4235, HP DeskJet F4250, HP DeskJet F4272, HP DeskJet F4273, HP DeskJet F4274, HP DeskJet F4275, HP DeskJet F4288, HP DeskJet F4292, HP DeskJet F4293

Oh no! We just came across an article by Michael Horowitz titled “More about printer ink rip-offs“.

His article details the premature warning printers give when they are running out of ink. PC World Magazine tested black ink cartridges in printers manufactured by Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, and Kodak. The results:

When ink levels get low, a printer may do nothing, may warn you, and/or it may shut down to force you to change the ink cartridge. I’d avoid printers that shut themselves down. Unfortunately, this isn’t an attribute of the printer that’s likely to be mentioned on the box.

The tested printers from Canon, Epson, and Kodak shut down. Only the HP Photosmart C5280 did not. Thus, if you’re in the market for a multifunction printer, the C5280 can save you lots of money in the long run.

Does your HP PSC 2210 keep prompting you to align the cartridges even after you have done so? Maybe each time you try to align the printer starts printing and then cancels the print. Here’s what you can do to fix it.

There are a few reasons the HP PSC 2210 may fail to align the cartridges. The most common reason is an ink cartridge that has one of the following problems:

1) One of the ink cartridges is low or out of ink. Black and all three colors must be available.
2) The paper has already been printed on or is colored paper.
3) The protective tape on a new ink cartridge has not been removed.
4) Contacts on your ink cartridge are not meeting the contacts in the printer carriage correctly.
4) Your cartridge is defective

You can fix the problem with these steps:

1) Examine the paper the alignment page was printed on.
The alignment page must be printed on clean plain paper of either letter or A4-size and that has a brightness level (as printed on the paper package) of at least 85. Colored papers or paper that already has printing on it will cause the alignment to fail.

2) Does the alignment page print correctly?
For HP PSC series printers if the page ejects immediately or a “Paper mismatch” or “Paper too narrow” message appears, the 4 x 6 paper tray selector located on the paper output tray is pushed forward. Move the selector all the way back toward the front on the HP All-in-One.

3) Look at the alignment pages that have printed. Compare the alignment page to those included in the your printer user manual. If any of the colors or the black is missing, faded, or streaked on the alignment page, there is a ink cartridge problem.

4) Perform an ink cartridge cleaning procedure.
The ink cartridge cleaning process can be performed even with the alignment message showing in the display. Follow the steps in your printer user manual to clean your cartridge.

5) Try to align the page again.

Although we don’t suggest it you can bypass the ink cartridge alignment process and your printer will use the last successful alignment you did. Information on how to do this can be found in your printer user manual.

If you’ve just replaced the ink cartridges on your printer and the ink level monitor is not working you can do the following.

1. Unplug the printer cable from your computer.
2. Unistall the printer drivers and all other printer applications from your computer.
3. Restart your computer
4. Reinstall the printer drivers from your printer manufacturer’s web site.
5. After installing drivers and software your computer will ask you to connect your printer to your computer. Reconnect them.
6. Once you are reconnected, print a test page and look to see if the ink level monitors are functioning correctly.

If your HP OfficeJet 5610 is printing blank pages here is something you can try to fix it.

Use your printer to print a self test report to check the functionality of the printer.

Press Setup on the machine, press 2, press 6.

If you cannot do this, try to make a copy using the scanner glass. Place a document on the scanner, close the lid, and press the color copy button.

If the printer make a copy or prints the self test page, then the printer is working fine.

If it does not, the issue could be with the software side. But, if the 5610 prints out a blank page when you try to make the copy then the issue is with your printer ink cartridges. Check your cartridges to make sure they are installed correctly and are functioning properly.

If they are installed correctly, then do the following to clean the cartridges:

1. Using a clean, dry lint-free cloth (a coffee filter works well), wipe the cartridges , from the top to the bottom.
2. The contact area of the cartridge should be rubbed briskly to remove the waxy lubricant material from the gold contacts.
3. The contacts inside the printer may also require cleaning. Using a clean, dry, lint-free cloth, gently wipe the contacts, from the top to the bottom.

After cleaning your cartridge, do the following to power cycle the printer.

1. Switch the HP 5610 off, disconnect the power cable from the printer and from the wall outlet.
2. Wait 30 seconds.
3. Plug in the power cable back in to your printer and then to the wall. Turn the printer on.

Then insert the print cartridges and try to make a copy and check for the result.

If your Dell A940 printer is showing Hardware Error 0502 you can fix it in the following way.

This error code indicates a physically blocked ink cartridge carrier. The carrier often becomes blocked when replacing your ink cartridges. They may not be fully seated in the cartridge holder causing the cartridge holder lids to remain open. To fix, you should:

1. Re-seat the cartridges making sure the lids are in place and fully closed.

2. Reposition the encoder strip.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday. In order to allow our employees to celebrate the holiday with their families we will be closed Friday, July3.

We’ll be back to work on Monday, July 6. Any orders placed over the holiday weekend will ship that day.