Designjet Z3200 Faulty Ink Cartridge Error, But Not Faulty

[Shelley84]

Hello Team,
I have a DesignJet Z3200 that's led a charmed life. Unfortunately, it's developed a hangup -- it keeps telling me to replace the Blue cartridge because it’s faulty. I had replaced Blue on August 1, and knowing what I know now, I had thought it was empty, but I think it must’ve given me the “faulty” message, I just didn’t see it. I only saw the replace Blue part of the message. Anyway, looking back at it and lifting the cartridge I replaced, it still has probably more than 50% of it’s ink.

So, anyway, I had ordered a new one and installed it around August 1. I didn’t use it very much, but had no issues with it until November, when I received what I thought was the first faulty ink cartridge message (but was probably the second). So, I contacted HP for warranty replacement because the ink cartridge was so new. I received the replacement, put it in, but then I had printhead issues. (Of course, for a printhead I don’t have sitting on the shelf so I had to order it.) In the meantime, I ran some printhead cleaning cycles and diagnostic images and it was good for a few days. All of a sudden, it started the faulty Blue cartridge message again.

I searched the Internet and used CoPilot and kind of went in circles, but tried all of this and then some:

• I’ve reseated cartridges and printheads more than once.
• I’ve rebooted numerous times in different ways, even unplugged the printer from the surge protector and plugged directly into the wall.
• I've turned the printer off and removed all the print cartridges and printheads, and replaced the ink one by one. All goes well, and once all are inks are inserted, I receive the faulty Blue cartridge error again -- before I even replace any printheads.
• I’ve cleaned the contacts for the ink cartridge and for the blue-green printhead.
• I tried to determine if the firmware is outdated, but I cannot find accurate information anywhere on-line as to the most recent version. I do know I updated it in mid-2023. At that time, I know it was the current version.
• As I mentioned, I’m on the third Blue cartridge that says faulty. In 11 years, I don’t think I’ve ever had a single faulty cartridge, much less three for the same exact color. So, I’m thinking this is a printer issue.  

One other thing I'll mention - I don't think it's related, but it's also weird, so I'll mention it here, just in case it helps. As I said, I had to order a new printhead -- Magenta-Yellow -- which I did because it's as if yellow's not printing, everything is coming out magenta when I run the diagnostic image - or any other images - but I have no errors and no empty ink. So, does anyone out there have some guidance on how to resolve this? How do I know if I have the most recent firmware? My printer is Revision B. The firmware I have currently installed is TR12-RB_17.0.1.1 — Is this the latest version? If not, will you please point me to or provide the firmware for upgrading. Any ideas out there? I appreciate the assistance. Thanks!