Try this
Remove the cartridge and press the nozzles onto a damp folded paper towel for
about one second. You should get three distinct imprints, one for each colour.
Do not touch the nozzles with your fingers, the nozzles are easily contaminated.
If the magenta is missing you have a bad cartridge, if the magenta imprint is
as solid as the yellow and cyan then it looks like a printer problem (although
this sort of failure in a printer is extremely rare).
Tony
Okay, a report:
Dug out the installation sheet and found that the heads were installed
beneath the cartridges. Checked the cartridges: both have all colors
of ink. So, on to the print heads.
A google brought up the solution. Dried up print heads can be reclaimed
with paper towel and Windex. Pulled all three color heads and let them
sit on a folded up paper towel soaked in Windex for about ten minutes.
Wiped them off until they showed no color on a clean dry paper towel and
stuffed them back in the printer. It re-aligned itself, and a test
print showed perfect color.
Moral of the story? Probably best to use the printer more often, I
suppose.
Only one of the heads was fully clogged, but both others showed
streakiness. Cleaning all three restored them all; no clogs and no
streaks. Expenditure? Probably an unnecessary color cartridge
replacement, but the old one now has Scotch tape in appropriate places.
Otherwise, zero dollars!
Now, if only the same thing worked with an Epson 2200 that's been
sitting silent for over two years...
Thanks,
Longfellow