One or more cartridges appear to be missing or damaged

[Armstrong440]

Okay: I've seen this question asked and answered many times, but none of the answers have led me to solving my problem.

My machine is a couple of years old, and has always run flawlessly.  It gets very light domestic use.

I replaced an empty black cart, and received the above error message that the MAGENTA cart was faulty.  I re-seated the magenta cart and restarted the printer a couple of times, and the error message eventually disappeared.  Two pages into the next print job, the printer stopped and the same error message reappeared.

I replaced the magenta cart with a brand new one, and the error message persisted.  I again re-seated the magenta cart and the black cart and restarted the printer, to no avail.

Since then I have:

re-seated all the ink carts

cleaned all the ink cart contacts and the cart contacts on the carriage

replaced the new carts with the old ones, and then swapped them back again

all the while restarting the printer between each step.  The error message still remains.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do next?  The machine is out of warranty, so I can tinker with its insides, but I need this fixing urgently or else a new machine will have to be bought.  Getting it serviced is a non-starter because it would likely be cheaper to buy a new machine, plus I need it working (or replaced) within 36 hours.

Please note that I am VERY non-tech savvy, so please explain any actions I need to take in words of one syllable or less.

Help!

[greenturtle]

Hi,

Thanks for using the HP Forums.

Can you try out the steps recommended in this post:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Inkjet-Printing/My-printer-keeps-stating-that-one-or-more-cartridges-a...

If that still doesn't work, the printhead is likely defective. in which case would be time to replace with a new printer.

Thanks for choosing HP!

[Armstrong440]

Yep: I have checked the carts aren't clogged, that the contacts are clean and that the carts are properly seated.  I can't run a Clean Printhead routine because I can't get past the error message.

As this printer is less than two years old, I can assure you that I will NOT be choosing HP again.