Ink smudges - leaking

[steve921]

I have HP Officejet 4620 e-All-in-One-Printer. It seems to be printing OK but the inside of the printer is pretty dirty. a couple of weeks ago the scrolling wheels started leaving inky mark lines down the length of the paper. I cleaned inside as well as I could but quite clearly ink had spread all around inside the printer and I had to clean up small puddles on ink from the table top.  The cartridges appear to be ok and print quality is acceptable apart from the dirty smudge lines. 

Do you have any idea what the problem might be? 

[Bob_Headrick]

There is a "service station"  where the cartridges are parked when not in use which includes an area for cleaning the cartridges.  It sounds like the service station area has overflowed.  It may be possible to clean the service station area as described in the post here.  Warning, it is a messy job, you may want to do this outside.

There are various things that can cause excess ink in the service area.  These should be avoided:

• Turning the printer off with an external switch rather than using the printer's switch.  This will cause the printer to do a more extensive cleaning when the printer is turned on.
• Running manual cleaning cycles from the printer front panel or App.

Both the above will do more cleaning, using more ink and leaving more waste in the service station.

[steve921]

Bob,

Thanks for the reply. It was indeed helpful in identifying the problem but I now need to find the solution.

i have to assume from your information that the problem is that I frequently have to turn the power off by removing the plug from the wall socket. I see that this is probably the cause of the excess ink but the printer gives me no option. With increasing frequency a message is displayed on the printer's mini screen saying something to the effect of Turn the Power Off. However,  at these times, the printer stops functioning and printer's Off/On button doesn't respond. The only option is to remove the power supply and plug it in again.

If you have any suggestion to resolve this, I'd really appreciate hearing it. Thanks in advance. 

[Bob_Headrick]

It would be helpful if you could report the exact error message on the screen when the power issue happens.

In the mean time I would suggest cleaning the interior of the printer as much as possible.  I would suggest turning on the printer, open the access door as if you were changing the cartridges.  Once the carriage moves to the center unplug the printer (without turning off) and then you can get some access to clean the service area on the right as well as the bottom section of the printer.  You can move the cartridges from side to side to get to different parts of the printer.  I would suggest using well-dampened paper towels to mop up free ink.  It would be best to put down a plastic sheet under the printer while cleaning.  I looked for a YouTube video that would help but did not find anything I would recommend.  (In particular, I would *not* recommend the video about taking the Officejet 4620 apart "for parts or servicing", the method there would be very difficult to put the printer back together.)

[steve921]

Bob,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I've taken a photo of the message on the printer screen. When this message appears, everything freezes up and none of the keys respond, leaving only one option as far as I can tell, i.e. removing the power cable. Thanks in advance if you can offer any suggestions.

Other than that, I had already been cleaning the interior with paper towels in the way you suggested.

cable.

[Bob_Headrick]

Hmm...  I am wondering, can you scroll the error message the next time it happens and get a bit more information?  It might provide a clue.

[steve921]

Hi Bob,

I tried scrolling down, and in fact tried pressing every button on the machine including the on/off button. None of them function though. Although the screen displays the message as in the earlier photo, everything else is frozen until I restart the machine after removing the power plug.

There is no particular pattern or trigger that makes it happen. Sometimes if I leave the printer on and return after a few hours, the message is displayed and I need to start with a renewed power off/on routine. This morning, I turned the machine on to print a five-page document but after printing one and a half pages, it stopped, and displayed the message, requiring me to go through the off/on routine again.

I can't think of any other information that might be of help, but if you can think of any other possible solutions, I'd love to hear back from you again.

[Bob_Headrick]

Sorry, I am about out of suggestions.  One possibility would be issues with the AC power in your area.  If there are short power glitches it could confuse the printer and leave it in an error state.  If you have an available Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) you could plug the printer into it may help.  Even a small UPS of a couple hundred watts should be adequate.

[steve921]

Bob,

We don't have problems with the power supply here so I can't really believe that the problem lies there. Thanks anyway for your suggestions and time. With a bit of luck somebody else may pick up on the original request for help and come up with a solution for me.

thanks again anyway,

Steve