Ink cartridge empty but it's not

[TeacherTech]

I have tossed 2 printers within 3 years, for these very same reasons (as all listed above).  The last was a 6110 All-in-0ne which when I replaced the black  cartridged, I continued to get the same message to replace the cartridge. I cleaned the contacts as directed by the HP User Guide. After removing and replacing it a couple of times, I then got a message saying that the cartridge was not aligned. I went through those steps several times. The message would alternate between need to replace black ink and need to align. 

I finally uninstalled and re-installed the printer.  When I attempted to print, I got a message to replace paper with the correct size paper. I am not sure what size it was looking for but the document was 81/2 X 11 which was the size of the paper. I talked to an HP tech. The suggestion was the same as the last time. Buy new printer.  I am a teacher.  My classroom and personal funds are very limited. I love my job and it requires much printing daily.

This is obviously a big problem with HP that should be addressed.  If they are considered as throw away items, they should be priced that way and so should the ink. It gets to be too expensives to troubleshoot with second or third cartridges for a printer that is 1 or 2 years old and then throw them all away.

[Floyd]

Check the expiration date of your ink cartrages, they expire... I found out just a few minutes ago.  I just replaced my cart, but the new carts i purchased when i purchased the printer.  I think that is wrong and they should replace them.  But worst of all is that my printer will not work at all now, untill I change the carts, I can't fax either and that is what I needed to do.

[webmom24]

I wrestled with this and finally tried the one thing I hadn't - uninstalling and reinstalling the software. That worked temporarily. Next empty cartridge and the same thing happened when I replaced it. I uninstalled and reinstalled the software again and so far I've replaced one other cartridge and it recognized the new cartridge. One thing I did differently this time was that previously I did not have the HP printer set as the default printer due to a compatibility issue with Word 2007. The last time I reinstalled the software I let the 5180 become the default printer. Don't know if this had anything to do with it or not and I probably won't know until I have to replace the next cartridge but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'd like to get at least one more year out of it and then I will look for another brand when I go to replace it. You're absolutely right - none of this equipment should be "throw away" it's just not ecologically responsible if nothing else.

[jeralph]

I'd be very surprised if reinstalling the driver on the computer had anything to do with solving the problem. The cart warning I'm seeing appears on the PRINTER, irrespective of connection to a computer.

[webmom24]

Actually my printer itself never indicated that I was out of ink. Originally I talked with a support person at HP who pretty much ruled it out as a "hardware" issue. It was a message that would come up on my computer telling me that I needed to replace a cartridge that had already been replaced or I would have to continue to print with black only. Reinstalling the software defintely made the message go away... my only issue is that I certainly don't want to have to do this procedure EVERY time I need to replace a cartridge. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have it solved for now. In any case I'm going to start keeping my eye out for a new printer since I think this one is unreliable at best.

[Muzza]

Add me to the list!

Same problem with the HP D7200 series printer I have.

[GRO]

I have a C7280 and it wasn't seeing my ink cartridges at all.  I did something similar to what longtimemacuser suggested but I modified it a bit as the process didn't work the first time.  With the machine on I removed all the cartridges.  I then closed it up and removed the power cord from the back.  I held down the ok and help buttons while I plugged the cord back in.  keeping them held down for a minute the screen went blank. I then replaced all the cartridges and closed the cover.  I turned it on and it went through it's very long initial set up.  Once it went through all that it finally saw my cartridges.  Good thing too, I was about to throw it out thew window!  I hope this helps you out.

[JohnInBowie]

GRO: nice procedure but it doesn't apply to anything except a 7280. Powering up an empty 7360 and holding down the cancel and print buttons results in a display of the digits 1 2 3 4 5. Replacing the cartridges and cycling power still shows the cart error. Guess it's a boat anchor.

[kane3162]

I have this same problem as well with my yellow ink... you know i think this is happening enough to land them in trouble with the law... if more people with this problem stepped up... after all selling printers that stop working after a year with the exact same error seems... well... fishy... yellow and magenta seem to be the prime suspects... (and btw im out $200 on ink since i thought that was it...) and I have found at least 4 other sites where people are complaing of this same problem

unless an engineer would like to step up find the problem and let the rest of us know so we can fix the **bleep** thing ourselves... (opened mine... everything seems fine... am really stumped...)

[JohnInBowie]

Actually, I went and bought the equivalent that has a wireless connection. I figured for $79 I can just throw it away when the ink runs out and still be ahead of the game. HP: shame on you for selling a product that's cheaper to throw away than to refill with new cartridges.