Any Ideas Why Old Printer Doesn't Print?

[MRG]

I applaud you for staying on '95. But after 20 years maybe an upgrade may be in order.

 

[imoldernu]

Solve the printer problem for less than the cost of a cartridge... $29.95

Canon PIXMA MG2520 Inkjet All-in-One Wired Printer - Walmart.com which include starter cartridges, and free shipping.

And solve the Windows 95 limitation with an upgrade to Windows 7 with 4Gig memory, dual core processor and a 750Gig hard drive. for $141.75... free shipping.

Dell Off-Lease, Refurbished Black 755 Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4GB Memory, 750GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Professional (Monitor Not Included) - Walmart.com same w/ 2 Gig mem.. $88.

Have been buying offlease computers for years, and never pay more than $150. Never had a problem....

Current model printers sell for $5 at Salvation Army and other resale stores. Nothing wrong with them, just that people who are not heavy users, decide to buy a brand new printer w/cartridges for less than what they would have to pay for cartridges alone.

 

[kaneohe]

Yea, this was my experience too. I could not justify the high cost of original manufacturer ink cartridges in such an old printer, and the off brand printer head on cartridge type were too unreliable. It was cheaper to replace the machine.

Thanks, one and all ,for your much appreciated comments/advice. I am clinging to the hope that the new one was bad but ............if I swab the printhead(?) with a moistened Q-tip and the Q-tip gets very discolored, doesn't that mean that the ink is there and available? Before the swabbing the metal is shiny .

I am going to miss this old system........not connected to internet any more but has spreadsheet capabilities. Perfect for security.. The newer Macs we own don't , AFAIK, have built in spreadsheet capabilities? Well, Numbers is there and maybe it's just being unfamiliar ,but it doesn't seem as versatile as Excel .
Then there is stuff like Google sheets but that's stored out there and I would have some concerns about that.

 

[MRG]

Have you used the later versions of Excell? If not you'll have some frustrating learning on it. So I'd pick my poison and go with your best bet. Good luck.

 

[rbmrtn]

Thanks, one and all ,for your much appreciated comments/advice. I am clinging to the hope that the new one was bad but ............if I swab the printhead(?) with a moistened Q-tip and the Q-tip gets very discolored, doesn't that mean that the ink is there and available? Before the swabbing the metal is shiny .

I am going to miss this old system........not connected to internet any more but has spreadsheet capabilities. Perfect for security.. The newer Macs we own don't , AFAIK, have built in spreadsheet capabilities? Well, Numbers is there and maybe it's just being unfamiliar ,but it doesn't seem as versatile as Excel .
Then there is stuff like Google sheets but that's stored out there and I would have some concerns about that.

I don't think you have to get rid of the old system ( although it might be worth some $$$, retro/vintage computing has a following ).

You can check this service manual for the printer, LEXMARK 1000 COLOR JETPRINTER SERVICE MANUAL Pdf Download.

almost all laser printers support PCL , you can install one and just use the HP laser 4 drivers. I have setup lasers on old unix systems just using a standard HP laser 4 driver. Some advanced functions may not work.

Check ebay for a used laser, win9x included support for most HP lasers and most all lasers are compatible with HP.

HP Support document - HP Support Center

 

[ERD50]

... The newer Macs we own don't , AFAIK, have built in spreadsheet capabilities? Well, Numbers is there and maybe it's just being unfamiliar ,but it doesn't seem as versatile as Excel . ....

LibreOffice. Free, open source. Works very well as an Excel/Office replacement (might have issues importing docs with macros, but these aren't common in simple stuff).

https://www.libreoffice.org/

Available for Mac, Win, & Linux.

I'll join the chorus for a laser printer. I nursed along some old inkjets in the family, as I could get very cheap carts for them (Canon BCI-24), $1-$2 each. But the last one finally was too much trouble to keep going (I drilled holes in old ink carts and flushed alcohol thru them, soaked print heads, replaced two print heads over the years and 4 different printers for family).

Then started buying cheap Brother lasers (HL2270DW) for the family ($9--$100). Up to five now, all working great. Set it for toner saver mode, and 'continue on low toner' mode, and I've got > 1000 from the starter cart (rated ~ 700), and TN450 replacements (rated at 2600) are cheap ($15, much less if you watch for sales). I very occasionally miss color, but I sure don't miss futzing with ink carts and clogs, etc.

You can get color lasers too of course, but they are more $, and larger and heavier, and the toner might be much more. If anyone can recc a good one, I'm all ears/eyes.

-ERD50

 

[grasshopper]

We bought a hp laserjet 5L in 1995 it was more than a few hundred bucks at the time. We would still be using it except it would not connect to our laptops, even with a UBS to parallel cable. a Brother HL2270DW wireless for $100 is a better way to go.

 

[kaneohe]

Just an update: first, thanks to all for the suggestions which I will bookmark for future use. Sounds like the laser and PCL might be the answer someday.

Fortunately it appears that my dream might have come true......that both the old and new cartridges were both bad but for perhaps for different reasons (or maybe the same). The old one was very low on ink since I had milked it for all it was worth and then I had perhaps drained the last drops by swabbing w/ a
q-tip in an attempt to clean what I call the printhead (maybe it's not).....the rectangular metal part on the bottom of the cartridge. The new one was the last one in stock from vendor A and I had purposely picked that vendor with a higher price to avoid the $5 cheapie from another vendor B. It also came w/ Prime delivery in a few days. When both didn't work, I was a bit concerned that I might have created the problem by cleaning the contact surfaces in the printer or something else in the handling.

In a last ditch attempt I ordered 1 of many in stock from vendor B for the $5 and free shipping which took about a week. It looked like a $5 deal when it arrived w/ ink all over and I had to give it a bath first. I then held my breath and said a little prayer , then smiled a bit as the test pattern emerged .

Turns out I now have a love affair w/ Amazon. They said they would refund the price from vendor A and not to even bother sending it back. Just like Costco when we take the bad fruit back.......they just toss it in the trash w/o even looking at it. The customer's word is gold........must work......we keep going back.

Lessons learned.........don't get the last cartridge in stock and don't avoid the
lowest bidder...........it worked great to provide existence proof that the printer was still alive.

 

[slaternuthink]

^ That's great kaneohe, it's so nice when things go the easy way. I have a couple of programs running on my 'old' Dell XP laptop that I will keep alive as long as practicable.

 

[gauss]

I disdain inkjet technology. I bought a B&W laserjet 4000 ~20 years ago and it is still going fine, with a minimum ($~$50) toner costs over the years.

I recently purchased a used color laserjet. Very pleased so far.

It seems that Inkjet technology is designed to enrich the ink suppliers and frustrate the end user.

-gauss