Does Your HP Printer Prints Pink?



Most of us above 30 years old when we hear “Pretty in Pink” we get good flashbacks of that 80’s classic movie.  But is not so pretty when your HP printer is printing pink.  Some HP printer models like the HP DeskJet 1220C, the HP Deskjet 932c Deskjet 900 series (950, 960, 970, 990) or the original Photosmart line (P1000, 1115, 1118, 1215, 1218, or 1315) all use the HP 78 Tri Color ink cartridges.  It seems that this problem happens regularly.

What is the problem?
If your printer is printing pink there could be a few things wrong:

  1. The print nozzles may be dried out or not being cleaned properly by the service station.
  2. A cartridge has failed or is empty.
  3. The printer may have failed.
  4. If there is an incorrect color, the ink is mixed inside the color cartridge.
  5. The cartridge and carriage electrical contacts may be dirty.

What is the solution?
First of all it is important to find out if the cartridges can produce the correct basic colors.  You can by running the “Clean the Print Cartridges” found under Services in the printer driver properties.  The correct result would show black, cyan, magenta and yellow if the cartridges are good.This test could resolve two things that the problem is either with the printer or the printer ink.If the printer shows that your ink cartridges are producing their respective colors then you could do the following:

  1. Uninstall and reinstall the printer driver
  2. See if the configuration of the software is done correctly
  3. The printer itself is failing

If the test doesn’t produce the right colors then you have an ink cartridge problem.  Here you have a few cartridge cleaning ideas:

  • Cartridge Cleaning Tip 1: Clean the HP ink cartridge contacts using Q-Tips and Windex (Will from our Tech Support department swares by it).  Make sure it dries well before re-inserting the cartridge back into the printer
  • Cartridge Cleaning Tip 2: Unclog dried print nozzles by putting the whole tip end in hot water.  Heat a cup of water in the microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds and let it soak for 15 minutes, then ran it under the facet with the hottest water that comes out.  Dry everything off very well and let it air dry for at least half an hour.   Then install the cartridge and run the “Clean the Print Cartridges” for a few times.      

    Note: I would like to give credit for the last cleaning tip to Kevin that posted the answer in fixyourownprinter.com.  Thanks Kevin from all of us HP ink cartridge users!

 

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Comments

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