HP 694 Injet problem

[LawyerRon]

My HP 694 Injet suddenly started printing poorly. The black is streaking when ever I print text or photos. It's long streaks, not just smearing. I tried a new cartridge and no luck.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[Smoke24]

Ron,
If yours has the same software as my HP's 1175 or 722 you can go to the printer tool box and choose product services. Try the clean the print cartridge option, then realign them and print the test page and see if it helps. You may need to go through this two or three times to get it back to normal, I did it three times on my 722 after about a years worth of use and it worked fine.

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We have done so much for so long with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

[This message has been edited by Smoke24 (edited 05-16-2000).]

[LawyerRon]

Hey Smoke,
I did that about 4 or 5 times and no go. Maybe I'll try it again.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[Smoke24]

How old is your printer and how much use does it get. It may be that the hole that the print head slides on is worn down and lets the head touch the paper or the paper rollers may need tightening down. They do adjust to a point for thicker papers. My 722 had an adjustment on the side of the case for that, just a small plastic lever. If using heavy photo paper it had to be let out a bit.

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Take Smoke's advice as fact if it works and fiction if it don't!!!

[Omletteboy]

Sounds like print head problems for sure.

[LawyerRon]

Hey Smoke,
You may be on to something. The printer is about 5 years old but was never heavily used. The symptoms are the same with an old or new printer cartridge. Since the print head in on the cartridge, it must be something independent of the print head in my opinion.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[Smoke24]

Ron,
On these HP's the cartridge mounts to the print head and it moves back and forth across the page as it prints. The 722 I have has the head mounted on a rod about 3/8" diameter that it slides on. Try removing all the covers you can and give everything you can get to a good cleaning. It may need it after 5 years and may solve your problems.

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Take Smoke's advice as fact if it works and fiction if it don't!!!

[LawyerRon]

Hey Smoke,
Your 722 must be different. On my HP694, it looks like the print head is on the bottom of the cartridge. I don't see anything seperate from the cartridge that can be cleaned.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[archie]

A couple of years ago, there was a similar problem [black streaks] with my HP692 and I replaced the B&W cartridge - no difference. I then cleaned the bottom of the colour cartridge with a kleenex and it was fine.

[LawyerRon]

Hey Archie,
I replaced the color cartridge too when I replaced the black one. I'll check it again though.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[joshmu]

Okay, several things. First - never clean the metal bar. It's lubricated and will rust. Second - the clean cartridge option is actually for cleaning out the little ink jets in the cartridge. This is useful if you start to get white horizontal lines in your print (which is caused when 1 or more of the jets becomes clogged.)
The official term for what your running into is Fiber Tracking. Dust and paper fibers build up on the Semi-dry ink at the bottom of the printer assembly.
1st) get some Q-tips, at couple of lint free cloths (coffee filters work well) and a bottle of alcohol.
2nd) Open up the printer as if you were to replace the ink cartridges .. then unplug the printer (this keeps the Ink cartridge carriage from moving back to the right)
3rd) remove both printer cartridges
4th) dab a Qtip in the alcohol and clean the bottom of both cartridges. If you look at the bottom (the part that points down) you will see it is "sectioned" in 3 parts - 2 copper on the outer edges and a silver color in the center. Don't touch the silver! this is where the ink comes out and you don't want to damage them. Keep wiping the copper areas until no more ink comes off - this could take a while.
5th) Get 1 of the coffee filters damp with the alcohol and then fold it in half. Slide the coffee filter under the Ink Cartridge Carriage (where the ink cartridges go) Once you have fed it back as far as it will go, lift it up so it is in contact with the carriage and then slide the cloth back and forth. Keep doing this until no more ink comes out.
After you're all done, put the cartridges back and plug the printer back in. Try printing.
All HP ink jet based printers (including the Office Jets will require this cleaning about once a year.)

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Josh
joshmu@aracnet.com
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Suggestions Only, Not responsible
for damage caused by following
my Suggestions.
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=EAX491

[Tuf]

I have two HP inkjet printers that will pick up small fibers and streak the ink. Look very closely at the bottom of the cartridge. You will most likely see something, carefully clean the bottom of the cartridge without depositing more lint on it. You'll need some good light to do this.

[LawyerRon]

Hey joshmu & tuf,
Thanks, I'll try that tonight. What both of you indicated makes perfect sense to me and I have otherwise been unable to solve this problem! I'll keep you posted.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[LawyerRon]

UPDATE:
Joshmu was right on the money. "Fiber Tracking" it was. Everyone with HP inkjets should read his post above and print it out. I was about to give up on this HP694 because I replaced both cartridges and still had the same symptoms. Now it prints like the day it was new.

Thanks again Josh.

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"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"