Expert help please - Photosmart A646 ink cartidge problems

[kjfent]

I got an HP Photosmart A646 photo printer from a friend of a friend. He assured me he barely used it and it was working great when he used it last.  However, I am having issues with the ink cartridge and proper printing.

First time I tried it, it would only print cyan and magenta - no yellow. Jumped through all basic trobleshooting hoops. My final attempt at fixing was cleaning the cartridge contacts. No better.

Let it sit for a couple weeks, while I cooled down. Tried it again.

This time it only printed magenta and yellow - no cyan. Once again, tried all troubleshooting measures. No help.

A little more info -

This is a new, genuine HP ink cartridge and I'm using HP matte photo paper

Ink cartridge alignment failed

Printer Status says "Unknown Ink Level"

Help me, please, if you can. Have a boatload of photos I need to print.

Thanks in advance - K

[-JohnB-]

Hi there kjfent,

This article covers print quality issues for your printer. Give the steps outlined a shot and let us know if it helps.

Best of Luck!

[kjfent]

No luck.

I believe Solution 5 is at heart of problem.

When I click on Printer Status, I see "Unknown Ink Level"

- there's a question mark in blue circle on top of ink cartridge icon.

As I said, I cleaned cartridge's contacts - twice.

Also, when I first start printer up and it tries to align cartridge, it says:

"Failure - Print cartridge alignment failed. See the product documentation for details."

The paper that comes our only shows magenta and yellow printing.

What next?

[kjfent]

How can I get this/my question reviewed by experts tomorrow/Sept 20?

[-JohnB-]

kjfent,

This printer may require servicing but it seems we have two seperate issues. Lets use this article for 2 way communication errors. Two way communication problems are usually the suspect for ink levels not displaying. If this does not work problems with the cartridges or printer itself could be the core issue. Next try this article while it generally deals with ink cartridge errors it does walk through all the steps we need to clean the ink cartridges and manually perform an alignment. Let us know the results.

Best of Luck!