advice on a printer please

soolin

My trusty little HP Photosmart all in one printer model 4280 has just decided to play stupid games on me. Whilst it was happy to work properly and has never really given me a moments problem it now apparently can't detect any print cartridges at all.

I have followed the trouble shooting guide, cleaned everything, changed the cartridges and it still tells me there ar eno print cartridges detected (even though it was quite happily using them this morning).

I have zero patience , the last but one printer (a terrible Lexmark) actually got thrown out of the window in a temper as it barely worked at all. I am also trying to run a tiny business and desperately need to be able to print things today ready for mailing tomorrow.

My questions are firstly, is there anything simple I might have overlooked that isn't in the HP online trouble shooting guide?

Secondly, as I have quite a lot of ink in stock it would be useful to get another printer (preferably today) that uses the same ink. Is there a way of doing a reverse look up on which HP printers take which ink, I'm currently using 350 and 351.

soolin

OK, I've given up, I'm covered in ink I've tried every cartridge i have here and nothing registers on the blooming machine. I have now switched it off and have ordered a new one from Tesco to be collected tomorrow. It doesn't take the same ink so i'll have to write this lot off, which is a nuisance. However I can't manage a business with no way of printing delivery labels and receipts.

I'll just try and flog this one later for spares or just freecycle it or something. I will resist throwing it out of the window, although I am very tempted.

I can't see how one minute it is happy to print and the next minutes it tells me it can't detect either cartridge.

tonynw

Buy an epson printer far cheaper to run than any of the others aailable.

tonynw

soolin

tonynw wrote: »

Buy an epson printer far cheaper to run than any of the others aailable.

tonynw

I've tried an Epsom, barely lasted a year. I print huge amounts so put the printers under a great deal of strain and this HP has lasted longer than any so far.

spud17

Have you considered a Laser printer?

Much cheaper/page, you say small business, if only text then b/w lasers are even cheaper.

soolin

spud17 wrote: »

Have you considered a Laser printer?

Much cheaper/page, you say small business, if only text then b/w lasers are even cheaper.

Thank you, I might look into that. I print around 99% of my stuff text only, rarely if ever do i do a picture.

tonynw

soolin wrote: »

I've tried an Epsom, barely lasted a year. I print huge amounts so put the printers under a great deal of strain and this HP has lasted longer than any so far.

so how many sets of cartridges would you think you buy in a year ??

tonynw

tonynw

Cost of ownership ??

people think that if a printer only last 13 months they have been hard done by, but think or the costs.

epson printer say £60 say you use 10 sets of compat cartridges @ £10 per set total cost £160
hp printer say £60 say you use 10 sets of cartridges @ £25 per set total cost £310 at the end of 13 months if you bin the epson and buy a new epson for £60 it will be better spec than the 1 you have just finished with you will still have only spent £220 and will have a new printer with 12 months warranty chances are that for every 10 sets of hp compats you will only poss use 7 or 8 sets of epson compats due to the amount of ink in the cartridges.

tonynw

soolin

tonynw wrote: »

Cost of ownership ??

people think that if a printer only last 13 months they have been hard done by, but think or the costs.

epson printer say £60 say you use 10 sets of compat cartridges @ £10 per set total cost £160
hp printer say £60 say you use 10 sets of cartridges @ £25 per set total cost £310 at the end of 13 months if you bin the epson and buy a new epson for £60 it will be better spec than the 1 you have just finished with you will still have only spent £220 and will have a new printer with 12 months warranty chances are that for every 10 sets of hp compats you will only poss use 7 or 8 sets of epson compats due to the amount of ink in the cartridges.

tonynw

My HP though seems very good with ink, I buy compatibles the extra large ones and pay around £25 a set (colour and B and W) and they last about 3-4 months, the colour even longer.

My Epson used to get through some cartridges almost monthly, I had real issues with some compatibles as it would just not accept them so for the last few months i was having to buy real ones which cost an arm and a leg. When it finally refused to print any longer i had a bag of partly used cartridges where it would only print for say 2 weeks before refusing to do anymore, yet the cartridges could not have been empty.

I like my hPs as they appear to be basically idiot proof, and that's what I need.

The Lexmarks I used to buy as they were so cheap were very idiot proof, but the hardware reliability was appalling. I bought one at PC World once and it got to the stage where every 6 weeks or so it was going back, they would fiddle with it, tell me it had some sort of 'issue' and just give me a new one.

I'm not at all good with technology, if I can't load a cartridge, some minor fiddling with the settings to get it accepted and start printing immediately I get confused.

flyingscotno1

soolin wrote: »

I can't see how one minute it is happy to print and the next minutes it tells me it can't detect either cartridge.

Taking a wild stab and suggest the X-Bias spring/holder is broken. Happened to me.

interstellaflyer

tonynw wrote: »

Buy an epson printer far cheaper to run than any of the others aailable.

tonynw

No No No No No
Do Not Buy an Epson Printer
Especially the ones that take either the Monkey or Leopard inks, these printer drink ink, the cartridges hold very little to start with and they are deliberatly programmed to make you think a compatible cartridge will not work. I work in the industry so I know, best printers if you want a half decent amount of ink and reliable refills/compatibles are Canon machines that take 520 and 521 series individual cartridges.