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w5ppf
October 29th, 2000, 01:09 PM
HP 722C Printer
CPU-HP Pavilion 500MHz 64mg RAM
ViewSonic A70 monitor
Windows 98 second edition

Problem description:

-No blue or yellow comes out on any printed media, colors on monitor OK.
-Verified by running the "clean cartridge test page" which is what the help file says to do if you suspect incorrect color output.
-Very evident that all I have is red and black output on printed color media

Steps taken to correct problem so far and other facts:

-Have had the problem for 4 or 5 months now, don't remember exactly what happened to precipitate this blessed event
-Replaced ink cartridges with OEM HP replacement cartridges
-Printer is over a year old but still under the extended warranty, CPU is still under 1-year old

NOTE: Extended warranty company has replaced the old printer with a newly factory refurbished unit, no change in problematic symptoms

-Uninstalled old printer driver and reinstalled new printer driver
-All other drivers and windows 98 updates kept current
-Checked printer cable for good connections on both ends
-Printer software two way communication diagnostic says OK
-Wired around my parallel port zip drive and went directly in to LPT1 to rule out problems with the Zip drive or it's jumper cable
-Numerous usages of the scan disk & defrag utility programs
-Plenty of room left on hard drive--more than 2 gigs
-Printer software checked with online support to make sure all dialog boxes correctly marked
-HP 6630 CPU under 1 year old, however HP refers me to printer support due to the problem every time I call
-Have to talk to the extended warranty techs unless want to pay HP to talk about the problem since the printer itself is out of factory warranty
-Extended warranty company has given up trying to help because they have replaced the printer, according to the contract that is the extent of their liability

My estimation of what caused the problem:

-One of the inevitable Microsoft Windows lockups where you are completely frozen and have to do a hard power down as can't go through regular shut down routine...causes fragmented files that can't be recovered and reused properly (by me anyway)...Scan Disk does it's thing, you repair the damage and hope something doesn't get ruined in the process...always does sooner or later. Have been at this PC business since the 286 processor days--some things never change--thank goodness for the improvements though.

What I think will work but want to avoid:

-Reformat the hard drive, run the recovery CD
-Reinstall all applications, updates, etc.
-This is like doing a root canal in my humble opinion and involves loosing a lot of info as have no full backup system at this time.

Will probably just put the software in the Grayscale print mode which of course works fine rather than loose data within various programs and go through the hassle. Hope to get R-W CD system someday so as to be able to make complete backups of entire hard drive which seems to be your only defense. Then I can reformat and restore lost data & see if the problem is solved. Can't imagine that it wouldn't be--so far that has done the trick in the past with real devilish problems I couldn't solve any other way.

Has anyone had a problem with missing colors not caused by the printer or ink cartridges and corrected it successfully? The system worked fine for a few years and then--zap---printed color became inaccurate--did not try to solve the problem till here lately. Don't remember what could have caused it but know I have the freeze ups and lost files & such on a regular basis. I buy & install new software every few weeks, could be part of the problem too rather than from corrupted files after freeze ups. This problem is evidenced through the printer diagnostic and can be seen in any printed media regardless of which software I am using. Will sure appreciate any help!
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/ubb/frown.gif

FrostyPhrog
October 29th, 2000, 06:08 PM
Hi
Welcome to Cybertechhelp. Did a little looking at the HP site and found a couple of things for you to try. If you have done these I will keep looking.


Subject:The C1823A color ink cartridge that you are using is quite old. Even after replacing the color cartridge and running a cleaning test your printer is still not printing blue, yellow and green.The C1823A color ink cartridge that you are using is quite old. You should be using a C1823D color ink cartridge.


Please try this self-test. You are finding that your DeskJet 722C printer can no longer print red. Try this test to see if the printer is able to pick up paper and print all the color and black inks correctly:

1) With the printer powered on, press and hold the POWER button.

2) Press and release the RESUME button FOUR TIMES

3) Release the POWER button.

The printer should print a very simple self-test showing two "columns" of black, and one each of cyan, magenta, and yellow -did this occur?

If these things don't work, then I would suggest you uninstall the printer and all the software. Go into device manager to uninstall the printer, or into add and remove programs to uninstall. Power down and physically remove the printer and power back up. Shut down again and plug the printer back in and let windows find it again and then install the drivers when prompted to do so.

I hope this helps. I will try to see if I can find any more information later.

FrostyPhrog



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don't listen to lafave <FONT COLOR="limegreen">I am not a troublemaker</FONT c>

If a man speaks and there is no woman around to hear him......is he still wrong?

[This message has been edited by FrostyPhrog (edited 29 October 2000).]

Harrie
October 30th, 2000, 01:53 AM
Hi, w5ppf! No knowledge by me, but sure looks like Frosty has you covered! Just wanted to say:

<IMG SRC="http://images.honesty.com/imagedata/2/1/1/16807211.gif" border=0>

w5ppf
October 31st, 2000, 08:41 PM
Originally posted by FrostyPhrog:
Hi
Welcome to Cybertechhelp. Did a little looking at the HP site and found a couple of things for you to try. If you have done these I will keep looking.


Subject:The C1823A color ink cartridge that you are using is quite old. Even after replacing the color cartridge and running a cleaning test your printer is still not printing blue, yellow and green.The C1823A color ink cartridge that you are using is quite old. You should be using a C1823D color ink cartridge.


Please try this self-test. You are finding that your DeskJet 722C printer can no longer print red. Try this test to see if the printer is able to pick up paper and print all the color and black inks correctly:

1) With the printer powered on, press and hold the POWER button.

2) Press and release the RESUME button FOUR TIMES

3) Release the POWER button.

The printer should print a very simple self-test showing two "columns" of black, and one each of cyan, magenta, and yellow -did this occur?

If these things don't work, then I would suggest you uninstall the printer and all the software. Go into device manager to uninstall the printer, or into add and remove programs to uninstall. Power down and physically remove the printer and power back up. Shut down again and plug the printer back in and let windows find it again and then install the drivers when prompted to do so.

I hope this helps. I will try to see if I can find any more information later.

FrostyPhrog





Problem solved. My new in the box replacement color cartridge had two
partially dried up colors apparently. I had no idea ink cartridges had
definite expiration dates especially if in the unopened factory box--they do
however, and now I will be very cognizant of that fact. Sometimes they are
left off the box or the stores put a label over the expiration date--I found
that to be true when going through stock at O. Depot & Comp USA and brought
it to the store managers attention. What tipped me off was my replacement
was a C1823A & now they use a C1823D for the HP722C. Remember: Don't stock
a bunch of ink carts and watch for the expiration dates!

Thanks for the help. I was very impressed with the speed and caliber of the
responses--much more helpful than the factory techs by far. You all did for
me what the boys that get paid for it didn't get close to doing.

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

FrostyPhrog
November 1st, 2000, 03:38 AM
Hi
Glad we could help and thank you for posting back and letting us know everything turned out okay.

FrostyPhrog



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don't listen to lafave <FONT COLOR="limegreen">I am not a troublemaker</FONT c>

<FONT COLOR="green">From the land of Jesse</FONT c>