HP Envy 4520 Printer Problems

[ea56]

Yesterday I created a document on Pages, my iPad word processing app. When I attempted to print it I just got a blank page. I checked the ink level and thee black ink level was almost gone. I had a replacement cartridge o hand and replaced the black ink. Still no go, blank pages. I checked online and found that this is apparently a common problem with this HP printer. I tried to clean the printheads, still blank pages. I removed the new black cartridge and found that it exp. in 7-21.

Then I recalled how I’d had a similar problem with my old HP printer and I’d cleaned the bottom of the cartridge, where the ink dispenses with rubbing alcohol and that fixed it. So I removed the black cartridge, and carefully went over the area where the ink dispenses with a Qtip and some rubbing alcohol and let it dry for about 20 mins. Voila, the printer is once again printing in black!

Why hasn’t someone else discovered this yet? Its an easy fix. I sure wish I’d thought of this yesterday. I spent over an hour trying get this to print, thinking that it was the Pages app on the iPad that was the cause. All the while is was an old cartridge with dried up ink on the dispensing surface.

Eddie

 

[appnut]

Eddie, I have a marketing background in the printer industry. That indeed was one of our suggestions to customers. The other is to remove the cartridges and gently shake them to stir up the sedintary ink molecules. I had to do that with my HP ink jet printer on Monday as I hadn't used my printer since last spring. I personally detest ink jet printers, I'm far moer cofortable with laser printers. But my last two IJ printers have also been able to scan, make copies, and also has a fax capabiity that I won't use. Fortunately "inexpensive" laser printers now offer those capabilities. Color output is almost totally irrelevant to me mostly due to expense.

 

[henene4]

I have an OfficeJet 5230 and haven't used it in ages since I got so tired of it.

Main problem was the WiFi from the day I got it.
Replaced it during the return period and the new one was better but still bad.

Then after 2 years the WiFi just stopped working completely.
Had it exchanged under its extended warranty, but since I was printing more at that time I bought a different printer instead.
I was thinking about either an EcoTank from Epson or a laser printer - but I knew that the former has a TERRIBLE durability report at our store so an extended warranty was a must have.

Now I have a Lexmark MC2425adw.
It's a color laser printer with automatic duplex printing AND scanning.

It has a 4 year warranty from Lexmark after registration.
It usually costs about 400€ and you can get an EcoTank model from Epson or equivalent from HP for the same price with similar features - but a store had it half off as if it was a clearance model even though it was just launched, so it was a no brainer to get it.

Printing and scanning are great.
The WiFi itself is way better though the software support is very flakey at best.
But nothing I can't deal with.
Printing costs are very low per page, though the EcoTank models are similar and inkjet is generally better for most printing.

During my work in service I found that there are generally 2 kinds of inkjet printers.

One has the actual print heads themselves on the cartridge - those are usually lower end, cheap printers. You recognize them by the kind of foil like bottoms.
The second kind has the actual print heads in the printer itself. Those are usually somewhat more expensive but cheaper per page. Those you recognize by usually just having an opening to a sponge like material in the bottom of the cartridge.

Both have advantages and disadvantages.
Those with the print heads in the cartridge dry out quicker and easier - but if they do you can fix them easily the way you described or by just replacing the cartridges. It was very common for people to bring these in for service and having the same issue you described after picking them up 2 weeks later. Running the clean print head cycle also usually didn't fix the issue there.
Those with the print heads in the printer don't usually suffer that issue and can often be fixed by running the clean print head cycle several times - like up to 5 or 10 times. Though IF they do and that dosen't help, you can't fix them without taking the print heads out and soaking them in rubbing alcohol or a special cleaner. And that is usually quite labor intensive or quite expensive to get that done professionally.

One reason I often recommend certain cheap inkjet printers is the "ink as a service" model offered by many manufacturers. Though HP has the cheapest model there.

If you only print a few pages per month you often get away cheaper that way and if your cartridges dry up, they often give you free replacements.
So you can't really run into the issue you had where you have new cartridges that are bad because they are old.

And if you can get a printer that suits your needs for under 100 bucks AND you only print a few pages per month, paying two bucks per month ends up being a pretty good value often.

 

[mattl]

I bet all of us have horror stories dealing with printers.

 

I had/have a Canon MX830 that has been mostly serviceable for close to a decade. Last fall it started having issues.  It's a 5 tank model and with fresh ink I kept getting a fatal error message.  Ordered an aftermarket print head assembly, OEM was as much as a new printer.  Popped it in and it killed the printer, DOA. Tried the old printhead after a second major cleaning printer actually powered on but still error message.  Needed to get my Christmas cards out so I  went and bought the cheapest printer I could find.  It's really a POS but got the job done.  Most of the time my computer looses the printer and the scanner, pain every time I print or scan.

 

The old printer was a 3 in 1 and I rarely use the fax but a few weeks ago I really needed it but if one part of the printer does not work none of them work.   I'm sure its designed that way just to force replacing the whole unit.  I will never buy a Canon printer ever again. I do have the repair manual for the Canon and some cold winter evening I might tear it down and see if I can get it to work.

 

[DADoES]

 
Ink jet printers suffer that trouble if not used frequently and sometimes even when they are.

I got one of the HP (non-color) lasers from the ISP wayy back when we shut the business down in 2007.  It sat in my garage until 2015 at which time I put it into use with the same old cartridge still in it today.

 

[mattl]

Yup, laser is the way to go.  Just don't leave them on all the time as they do draw a lot of power compared to ink jets.

 

[kb0nes]

I saw this tweet a while back and it made me chuckle.

I kept a few HP InkJet printers alive LONG after they should have been history. Every other year they came apart and we’re basically washed in the sink. The large format model was the last to go. Got 18 years out of it! Once Win 7 came out I had to fake the driver as there was never a compatable driver for my model.

I had since bought a B&W laser (Brother, not doing HP again) and have been tickled pink with it. Have run about 30,000 pages on it now. Don’t assume because it’s a LASER it has high standby power consumption, my Kill-A-Watt shows 3va at idle. It’s a networked printer so it’s never turned off.

I did have to replace the large format printer finally. I ended up doing 2 things I said I’d never do, another InkJet and another HP. So far it has been a great machine and it even has an 11x17 scanner bed. Only complaint I have is I can’t run it with only black ink alone. The print head cleaning routine slowly depletes the color tanks even though it never prints color… Damn HP InkJet

Printers are the most infuriating part of computing for me. Hope you get it sorted.

 

[sudsmaster]

I can second Dadoe's recommendation for laserjet type printers.

 

I've had a Canon Laserjet type printer for about 20 years, maybe 30 years, no problems. Even get refilled cartridges at wherever. It's a "Color Image Class MF8050Cn". Has never let me down.