PRINTING PROBLEMS WITH DELL A920 INKJET PRINTERS

Question

I consider myself a bit of a printer expert as my job is IT support but this is with laser printers. These little home inkjets are driving me mad!! Is there an expert in the big wide world who can advise?? I have three A920s and they are all faulty. I also have a faulty 924!! The problem is that a colour cartridge will work well in one but not another and vice versa with a black cartridge. Not one of the printers will print both colour and black!! Some cartridges that I know to be full, will not work at all. I removed one black cartridge that was working well, stored it overnight in its clip but the next day it would not work at all and still will not!! I'm used to dismantling equipment and these are easy to get apart although there is not a lot to see. I have cut old cartridges open to find out how they work but this does not reveal much as the nozzles are miniscule. No wonder they block easily. Apart from carefully cleaning the contacts on the cartridge and the cartridge carrier, soaking the printheads in solvent and using the nozzle-cleaning programme on the PC etc there does not seem to be much one can do. One of the 920s was provided with the PC. The second was given to me by my daughter IN WORKING ORDER. The third was donated to me as it would not print at all. Normally I do my own refilling successfully but out of desperation, I bought new ones. Colour works fine in one printer. Black one will not work in any of them!!! These printers are very cheap so perhaps they only have a limited life. Once the warranty is out, they pack up! In fact it seems cheaper to buy a new printer than just the cartridges. How can that be logical? I did wonder if some of the tracks in the ribbon to the cartridge-carrier might have broken because of the constant movement? It's a possibility. As they are so cheap it is not economical to repair them and it was probably intended that they not be repaired in the first place. I could throw them away but I hate to admit defeat so fixing them has become a challenge. Can you help please?

fireberd · Answer

First, the Dells are made by Lexmark.  Lexmark, at least here in the US, does not have a good hardware record and is known for 'low price' consumer equipment.   I do not recommend Lexmark to my customers.   I have several customers, that I support, that have Lexmark's and they all have cartridge problems of one sort or the other.     With the Dell's, make sure you are using new Dell cartridges (the Lexmark's although look the same will now work).  Also, 'refilled' or 'remanufactured' cartridges tend to be 'at the user's risk'.    Much different than a laser printer (I used to work on HP Laser printers).

triumph2.5man · Answer

Thanks for your reply. I note your comments about Lexmark printers! I must admit that the cartridges I use are not Dell originals. I stopped using them long ago because of the cost, after the originals ran out. I fail to see how using the originals would cure the problem. Instructions with refilling kits state that cartridges can only be refilled a maximum of 6 times. Why is this? What happens to them? Do the nozzles wear out or just become blocked after a certain amount of use? I would love to know the answer but doubt that I ever will!

fireberd · Answer

Yes, you can only refill a certain number of times and they will start giving problems (actually they will give problems from the on-set as it will never show the amount of ink in the cartridge).  The ONLY guarantee of working is new OEM branded cartridges.   I have one customer that uses refilled cartridges on an HP and he can get about 3 refills before he starts having ink cartridge problems.     You can use OEM cartridges and not have problems or you can use refilled and have problems - up to the user.

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PRINTING PROBLEMS WITH DELL A920 INKJET PRINTERS

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