Photosmart 3310 printing issue - seemingly ink leaks and alignement failures

[NAouin]

Hi, sorry to bother but I'm facing an issue with a Photosmart 3310 All-In-One.

- I'm running windows XP.

- The printer is Wi-Fi connected to several to my private LAN.

- Got no error code regarding the issue

- All cartridges used within the printer are genuine HP and photo paper also was 10x15 HP (the one provided with cartridges packs).

- The printer is a bit more than 4 years old now, and it suddendly went completely nuts two days ago. The printer wasn't moved nor damaged, it simply suddendly started printing blue characters into black&white texts and ended with ink stains.

As I already experienced similar problems with some other printers, I though of cleaning the cartridges and aligning them, but it didn't change anything. I finally changed all 6 ink cartdridges with new ones, but all the same. I cleaned again, tried to align, but again, no possible way to achieve alignement. "Alignement failure" came out at that step.

Here are some pics to illustrate since I tried out several printings to make sure it wasn't a short term issue solving itself with cleaning or alignements : printer problem pics

It is noticeable that not two prints come out the same way, some are mainly blu, others yellow or green....

Right now, I don't kow where to begin with this problem. There seems to be a leak at the printing head (assuming magenta) and another leak with blue (can't see it on the pics, its located at the bottom on the left hand side, but couldn't get any suitable pic due to the plastic cover on the printer.

So, I'm just wondering about the following things:

- What suddendly happened to the printer ?

- Is it worth repairing ?

- How to proceed ?

Any ideas ? Thanks in advance for any reliable advice.

[NAouin]

Forgot to add if it is of any relevancy, the printer was equipement with a recot/verso module a few weeks after buying. But the feature wasn't really used that much in the end.

[DexterM]

Thanks for the pictures. Makes it easy to identify the problem. The "service station" of the printer is usually located at the right, which is where the printhead was located in the pics. This service station has a sponge pad that collects residual ink during printhead cleaning process. Overtime, this sponge could reach its threshold, and the ink may start "leaking" from it. It also seems like the printhead nozzles are coming in contact with some part of the printer, though I can't exactly say which one. I don't think it'll be possible to fix this. If possible, you could take it to an authorized HP service centre, or call HP Tech Support for printer upgrade options.

[NAouin]

Hey Dexter thanks for your input.

For the pics, you're welcome, I though some examples were more relevant than trying to explain this with my por european english

If my understanding is correct:

- ink leaks => may be due to the sponge pad which collected more than enough ink

- other printing problems (colors, alignement and such) => there may some physical contact somewhere. Strange, nothing got into the printer to my knowledge. But ok.

Still what do you think about the alignement process failure. I've read sowhere there is a thin "plastic film" in the rear, and it seams full of ink too (magenta from what I could see through the wholes in the printer cover). Could be it be related ?

Fianlly, not sure I completely understood your two last sentences:

"I don"t think it'll possible to fix this" => does it mean you don't think it can be repaired (or it may too expensive) or does it simply mean that I as a personal can't do anythin with embedded printer tools ? Which in turn would mean an HP service could clean it up and fix it ?

"call HP Tech Support for printer upgrade options" => don't understand this. What do you mean by an upgrade option ? Would you mind precising some more ? Also when you say call the HP TS, does it mean I have additionally to pay the buy the 20$ smart friends service or is it a direct number to get information on the upgrade options ?

Thanks in advance.

[DexterM · Accepted solution]

The alignment is probably failing due to the incorrect colours being printed on the page. The printer scans each line or section of the alignment page using a special sensor inside the printer, and checks for all ink colours and their patterns and placement. If any of these are not what the printer expects to be, the alignment fails. I'm not sure which plastic film you're referring to. But I don't think it should matter, as the cause of the alignment failure is quite evident.

I don't think it's possible for you to do any thing to fix this. Taking it to a service center would be a better option, cos they have the tools and expertise and training to do such things.

The upgrade process differs from one country to another. I'm not sure about European countries, but in the US, you can call tech support and upgrade to a newer printer with similar features as yours. HP has TS lines for printers, which is very different from Smart Friend. You don't need to pay any fee to call them and speak to them. If you're in the US, call 1-800-474-6836 and choose Photosmart All-in-One printer as your product to be transferred to the printer dept.

[NAouin]

Thanks for the additional precisions. Just FYI, in france I have a phone number, leading me to vioce guide saying something close to this:

"you can get support online or buy HP smart friend service to contact HP directly" o_O

Dunno really what to think about it...

Anyway, thanks for the replies again, since you're the first person giving me relevant informations on this issue. I'll try to find my way out through the website, and see options.

[DexterM]

Have you already looked at THIS contact list? It's for Tech Support in France. I hope it helps.

[NAouin]

Yep, unfortunately this is the number I used to call for PhotoSmart printers !

I spent another hour surfing through the web site, its amazing how it's difficult today to get a phone number for someone to call to make my way out with the support.

- I finally found the web form to fulfill to purchase a replacement printer. All I know is it would cost me around 107£

- I found dozens of phone number to get pre-sales people to talk with. Of course, as long it is about selling ....

- I found  no single number to get information on the replacement procedures or HP service center locations around my place >.<

Isn't this amazing. This kind of stuff could damage a reputation. But of course, as in my company, the personal consumer isn't the highest priority 😞

And the world goes by !

Feeling lonely somehow o_O

[dakealii]

Hello,

I have that exact same problem.  Mine actually had worse leaks because it seems that mine had ink sprayed on the side walls of my machine as well. 

Well after reading other dismall forums about calling support and my printer is out of warrenty i figured doing it myself was better than someone telling me to replace the ink...  Auto mechainic traiining kicks in and tells me to find the leak first clean the machine then run the machine once and you should see pretty quickly where the leak comes from.  So i dissassembled the entire printer and cleaned it thoroughly, i even went as far as disassembling the print head jets because that is where i thought most of the ink was leaking from.  I made that print head look new and cleaned out the sponge as mentiioned. 

Long afternoon short, put it together, reset the machine with the OK, Cancel, Color, Black, power button reset trick.  Ran a few test pages and found that the leak is from the print head assembly.  There was a small rectangle gasket that connects the jets to the assembly that seems to have worn out and didn't seal the individual inks to their respective jets... hence the purple ink leak you have and the green, and purple ink that leaks from mine. 

I'm going to see if i can get a cost on the print head assembly and see if this is worth purchasing to fix.

[NAouin]

Hi,

thanks a lot for the info, I also though about repairing it myself, but I'd previously try to get some more info on the options I have. So far, I still didn't manage to get in touch with someone reliable able to answer me on my questions regarding the repair and exchange program for out of warranty printers. I still don't know if I get the same printer as an exchange or another one. I'd rather prefer the same one, since I still have cartridges and so..

So right now I'm on hollidays for two weeks, but I'll get back to the printer issue once I'm back from holliday 😛

Thanks again.