Maybe the printer is wrong. Whatever the case, any cartridge left for a long time might give a false sense of its condition, especially if the printer uses a visual sensor to gauge ink levels, or if the device inside the cartridge intended for that is clogged with dry ink. Maybe you have a service available to check it for you. Otherwise, it may be prudent to put a good one in. G.R. Hanson wrote: >HP Deskjet 990cse. >Printer has been working fine. I ran out of black ink this week. > >I inserted a printer cartridge in black that was here buried under a stack of >stuff. I didn't know if it was a new one or an old one. It had the plastic >pulled off the print head so I am assuming it was one I had used before, but >strangely, when I did a check to see how much ink it has in it- it is showing >a full ink. > >But when I run the 'test' page it does when you close the door after inserting >a cartridge, one spot on the first line shows some black, and there is no >black anywhere on the rest of the page. >Printing a text test page in notepad - well nothing showed up. > >I did a print clean. > >I put some alcohol on the print head on the cartridge and cleaned it with >cotton. > >Anyway... any more suggestions? > >Could the think showing that it is a full black be wrong? I don't know how to >check that if it is the case. > >Re-Na Hanson / Arkansas USA > -- Regards, John Durham <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig> ICQ number 112663246 Fax/Phone 64 4 5286786 Award winning web site at http://modecideas.com?sig Order my latest e-book at http://modecideas.com/dmaxhits.htm?sig PC-HELPERS list subscribe/unsub at http://modecideas.com/discuss.htm?sig Good advice is like good paint- it only works if applied. -------list-services-below----------- Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig> Freelists login at //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi List archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/pchelpers PC-HELPERS list subscribe/unsub at http://modecideas.com/discuss.htm?sig Latest news live feeds at http://modecideas.com/indexhomenews.htm?sig Good advice is like good paint- it only works if applied.