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HP Recommended

My B9180 gave me the "replace faulty printhead" msg after a period of disuse.  I'm using Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on a Mac Pro.  The printer has gone through several periods of disuse since I bought it used, but almost new.  Usually, I experience white lines in my prints after resuming use of the printer, which I've always been able to remedy via cleaning nozzels and/or printheads, either automatically or manually.  The last round resulted in the "faulty printhead" warning even after repeated manual cleanings.  Actually, the process of turning the printer off and back on, with and without unplugging, resulted in "replace" warnings for ALL the printheads several times, just 2 printheads a couple of times an now seems to be just giving me the "replace magenta/yellow printhead" consistantly.  The plastic strip which surrounds the ink nozzles is lose at thjis point on the PH.  My printer is out of warranty, but before I spend money on phone support and new printheads, I want to investigate other possibilities.  The book states that if manual cleaning of printheads doesn't work, HP support should be contacted, suggesting that there might be other possible remedies, before buying new printheads.   I would hate to start buying new printheads only to discover they still won't work due to some other problem.  I'm also concerned about the other printhead warnings, although they are not occuring now.

 

Also, during opening lid for PH cleaning, I noticed a lot of ink build up in 4 coarse foam pads, each in its own small tray located inside the printer on the right side.  some of these were overflowing./  I carefully daubbed out some of the ink with q-tips, but wonder if this condition might be or lead to problems.

 

Ideas?

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Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

Finally got tired of waiting on HP.  Was expecting response from Bob during "Forum Days" or whatever they called it.  My problems with their merchandise must not have concerned them too much!

 

FYI, I ordered a new magenta/yellow printhead, installed it and still had "replace faulty printhead warning".  Pulled out new printhead, cleaned of some kind of clear, jelly-like **bleep** of of gold contacts with a Q-tip & reinstalled.  Amazingly, printer started working.  (Took it a long time to do its "thump, bump & whirr" routine.)  Don't know how long it'll last.

 

My next printer will be a Canon or an Epson!

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HP Recommended

I would suggest cleaning the NEDD sensor as described in this document.  The NEDD detects the droplets being fired from the printhead.  If it is clogged it may result in erroneous error messages about printhead health and may also cause excessink to be used in servicing.


Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button 

If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.


HP Recommended

I cleaned the NEDD sensor and tried to print a test page via the "On, OK, Cancel" buttons, but the button combination apparently won't clear the "Replace faulty printhead: magenta/yellow" warning that displays as soon as I close the top door.  With this warning, the machine won't let me do anything.  At least it's being consistant in dispalying a warning for only the magenta/yellow printhead warning now.  (Not due to cleaning the NEDD.  I haven't seen a faulty printhead warning for any other PH's since well before the NEDD cleaning.  Still, after removing & reinserting the magenta/yellow PH, the warning for that head displays almost immediately upon closing the top door.)

HP Recommended

Finally got tired of waiting on HP.  Was expecting response from Bob during "Forum Days" or whatever they called it.  My problems with their merchandise must not have concerned them too much!

 

FYI, I ordered a new magenta/yellow printhead, installed it and still had "replace faulty printhead warning".  Pulled out new printhead, cleaned of some kind of clear, jelly-like **bleep** of of gold contacts with a Q-tip & reinstalled.  Amazingly, printer started working.  (Took it a long time to do its "thump, bump & whirr" routine.)  Don't know how long it'll last.

 

My next printer will be a Canon or an Epson!

HP Recommended

The link to cleaning the NEDD sensor just leads to the HP Support Page.  I searched for the article there with no success.

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