Message is that "one or more cartridges is missing or damaged" - new cartridge is installed..

[Helsy-netball]

Our current printer has been good (it's over 4 years old) but the error message saying that a cartridge is missing or damaged is a fallacy. I've been out an bought a new cartridge (Magenta) and we still get the same message. We mostly (almost always) print in black only but it seems (can't figure why...) that the HP printer will only run if it has all the cartridges in place AND the machine actually reads them to be in place..

I've followed the tips from the virtual assistant but  they haven't worked.

It's easy to say "go out and buy a new printer" but I'm not an advocate for the "throw away" approach

[Bob_Headrick]

The troubleshooting steps in the document here may help resolve the cartridge error on your HP Officejet Pro 6970.  When you clean the electrical contacts in the printer in Step 3 use a light to inspect the electrical connections in the printer.  Check if the electrical tabs for the cartridge with the issue look the same as the other cartridges.  If the pins are bent or misaligned it may be possible to gently bend them back into position.  Warning - be gentle!

[Helsy-netball]

Hi Bob

Really appreciate your response. I’ll give you the long version of what happened.

The problem started when we had to replace the black cartridge. The error that came up was magenta was missing or damaged. I went and bought another cartridge despite being very confident it wasn’t empty. We only ever use genuine HP cartridges.

No amount of removing and re-inserting would work. I went to the HP auto help thing and it wasn’t bad. Definitely not dirty contacts nor bent either. In years gone by the printer would have been grotty down in the depths. Our default setting is black ink and draft but that wouldn’t work either.

As we urgently needed a working printer we researched our Aussie consumer magazine “Choice”. We’ve used HP printers for 29 years without major drama so looked at HPs as our first option. When we searched sites with feedback from users we found the missing or damaged cartridge message was very common. At that point we had no fix to our printer so we went shopping….but not for a HP.

Later, after receiving your advice I thought, we have nothing to lose. We have a $70 black and a $30 magenta cartridge both in the printer and unused. I looked again at the contacts and no sign of bending. When re-inserting the cartridges the message was that all cartridges were missing or damaged! We’d gone from bad to worse.

I went through the same process four times. On the fourth occasion the printer maintenance cycle was much longer than on the other occasions. After completing the maintenance cycle the message then was that the cyan was low. I can live with that!

For now, we think that the printer may be working but it’s no longer connected to the computer.

It will soon be relocated to another room and if it works will be used solely for copying purposes

Thanks again