"ink supply failure" on HP5460

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myfathersson

Anyone come across this error message on the Photosmart 5460?

Ink level check shows that the software cant read the photo black or
yellow cartridges but they are full. As a cross-check, the printer
prints those fuzzy low def pics from an SD card without going through
the computer / software with all colours printing 'normally'.

By normally, I mean that I accidentally printed a whole 8x10 page on
normal paper in standard mode and it printed OK. I then tried BEST
mode on 4x6 HP photo paper and I see slight banding on close up
inspection. But trying nozzle check shows this "Ink Supply Failure"
error message and it wont do any nozzle check. Nor will it now print
from the computer at all.
 
The means that the print head has died. It isnt clear why this should
have happened on a brand new printer where presumably the contacts
cant really be all that clogged.

It isnt replaceable.

I found one on line for $144, - about double what the whole printer
costs new from HP. They seem very keen users shouldn't buy one?

There is quite good review on this printer highlighting this at
http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-D5460-HP-Photosmart-Printer/dp/B001B19XR8.
He seems to have had the same problem and his printer kept working,
indicating that HP replaced it during warranty (or that he managed to
clean the contacts? He does seem to have used it a lot)
 
The means that the print head has died. It isnt clear why this should
have happened on a brand new printer where presumably the contacts
cant really be all that clogged.

It isnt replaceable.

I found one on line for $144, - about double what the whole printer
costs new from HP.  They seem very keen users shouldn't buy one?

There is quite good review on this printer highlighting this athttp://www..amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-D5460-HP-Photosmart-Printer/dp/....
He seems to have had the same problem and his printer kept working,
indicating that HP replaced it during warranty (or that he managed to
clean the contacts?  He does seem to have used it a lot)
Click to expand...

For those interested (and I cant believe there can be that many people
out there who have actually bought one of these printers) taking off
the head and laboriously cleaning it revealed a tiny amount of black
dirt on the contacts. Invisible to the naked eye but it does come off
with rubbing alcohol. Replacing the head and carts back in place
cycles the printer which DOES ACTUALLY print a few pages. From the
software. Which is suspicious, especially as by that stage HP support
had told me that the print heads had died.

Then, as if to say 'stop trying to get me to work' it gives the same
ink failure as before and everything stops

You neednt try this procedure again unless you are really desperate to
get this printer to do one more page before you chuck it out or tell
HP to replace it (if you are a real masochist.)

Clean it twice and you just get the dreaded PEN FAILURE which in HP
terms apparently means 'stop trying to be a wiseguy. If I say I am
dead, I am dead'.

Then you get a plethora of error messages on the printer's screen,
predictably telling you that with a dead head, it cant see the ink
which it pretends is depleted. Cancelling out of the 'ink depleted'
then prints the page.

If you get this far I dont know what happens next or how long the
situation lasts: Because then, midst the plethora of 'buy a new
printer' error messages coming from the software, the printer
apparently then continues working normally. I only got this far
because I too noticed that while the software was trying to tell you
to buy new cartridges and ultimately a new printer, I knew that it
could print properly from the card slots without the computer!

Good luck to anyone wrestling with this printer.
 
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