Lexmark X1150 - No Ink?

Hi, I bought this printer off from eBay and the seller said that it works. The original problem I had was that it kept jamming halfway through a print job. It said something about a cartridge stall. So I opened up the printer and took out the cartridges and re-inserted them back in. Presto...no more jamming. Now the problem is that the print job goes through but I see nothing on my paper (it's still plain white). I checked the cartridges and they look ok to me. Lexmark program said that each of the cartridges has over 50% ink (one has around 70% I think). I tried doing a black and white copy job using this machine and the same thing happens, the copy is just a plain white paper. Does anyone know what's wrong here? I want to open up this printer before (since I couldn't figure out the jamming problem) but couldn't figure out how to. Seems like Lexmark sealed this puppy pretty tight (removed two screws inside, but won't budge at all). Thanks.

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Hiya WeaponX,
many printers are damn annoying these days.

I'm guessing you've tried all the usual printer driver clean cycles etc? If not then, if you're in Windows, go to Control Panel -> Printers -> Printer Properties -> General Tab -> Printing Preferences -> Maintenance .. or something like that. Then click on print head/nozzle cleaning & print head alignment (I can't check a Lexmark driver .. but these are my Epson's terminology).

Did it say "cartridge" or "message carrier stall .. cannot communicate with the printer .. error 0000 .. press power key"? At first I thought that sounds more like the cartridge's chip (if it is one of those :-o) isn't recognised .. maybe it's not an "official" cart/chip etc .. but then I read the pages below & it seems the printer doesn't like the position of the holder of the cartridges & is basically asking the user to move it to the leftmost position!?

A bunch of people here (http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/22795) are getting that message, and the general consensus is to clean the contacts on the printer & cartridge.

"The transparet is the most important thing to fix it. Using rubbing alcohol and paper towel clean the strip. this problem get started when the assembly at the carrier stop position get filled with the dropping ink over the period of time. This assembly can be cleaned by removeing it after getting aceess to it after removing two sides and backs of the printer. There are 2 screws in the back should be unscrewed and rest come sout after pulling the snaps. This is what I did to fix the jam issue and then emcountered the carrier stall becuase my dirty fingers touched the transparent encoder."

I'm guessing their manual doesn't say how to take the damn thing apart .. but I'm sure customer services have this info, so maybe it's worth emailing them for a disassembly diagram .. but often these guys get worried & don't like to give out this kinda thing (warranty voids etc & the reason why they make it so annoying to take apart in the first place .. yet more nuisances) ;-). Still the guy above says it's just 2 screws & a bit of a tug!

Also this page (http://staff.taylor.k12.in.us/hardware/lexmark/lexmark.html) might be helpful ...

""Carrier Stall" or "the cartridges will not move" issues
Error: Carrier Stall
To check the cartridge carrier:
First unplug the printer.
Move the cartridges to the left by hand and take them out.
Try to print without the cartridges in the carrier and check to see if you still receive a "Carrier Stall" error message.
If not, put the cartridges back in the carrier and snap them in at the back. The message should no longer appear.
If the power light on the printer is not blinking, this error message may be caused by a communication error. In this case:
Remove any other devices attached to the USB/LPT port and uninstall the Lexmark printer.
Connect the printer directly to the PC and ensure that power is being supplied to the printer.
Reinstall the printer.

Error: Carrier Stall. Power light is blinking
Causes: The cartridge carrier may have lost its location on the print path or there may be a communication error."

So this seems to say there's nothing wrong with your carts, it's just the carrier .. I hope this is the case :-).

hope that helps!
I'm kinda busy at the moment, sorry, but I'll look into it a bit more tomorrow, if these ideas don't fix it.
Kam.

 

 

 

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OK, finally found time to do this. I wiped the printheads with some alcohol and nothing changed...still printing out blank pages. There were ink smudges on the paper towel when I wiped the printhead with alcohol. Not sure if that's a good sign or not...

Any other ideas? I'm not getting any errors now. It's printing normally, with the exception of the blank pages coming out.

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I've had this problem too, but with a completely different printer. It made a sound as if printing, but white pages came out. On the other hand, the cartridges were full (even replaced them). I figured out that it probably was the injector cone, below the cartridge. The cleaning cycles and so on didn't help and since this printer was quite crappy anyway, I tried to take the problem into my own tremulous hands :-/
I ended up with a very fine thin needle, trying to poke my way through the obviously congested hole, where the ink goes through, but as you can imagine... when you combine an idiot, a very small hole and a much too thick needle.. I didn't manage to clean the hole, maybe I could have made a bigger one :-( So I let it be and this piece of crap still takes on dust in my room.
So good luck :-) Maybe you can try some cleanser on this cone. Don't know your printer of course but normally there is another instance after the cartridge. Good luck!

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Well the ink on the paper towels seems to me like a good thing .. at least it seems the cartridges themselves are OK and aren't dried up or something. My old-ish Epson C44UX inkjet was the same. I tried the old safety-pin/hole jobbie, and I also tried to squeeze the carts to pour a LITTLE bit of ink into where the cart's hole met a small protrusion (that pierced the carts) within the head-part ... but I remember it took ages to get the thing printing properly again .. and I also remember it was very messy & frustrating (to the point where I vowed never to use it again .. and moved to a cheap HP laser which had more paper jams than any printer I've ever dealt with .. but that's cuz I was desparate to do manual duplex using el-cheapo thin/lightweight sheets!!). Damn, sorry for the divergence/rant.

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