on 1/22/2002 7:13 AM, Norman Maynard at nmaynard@thorntonfriends.org wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm an amateur (read: "Love of") photographer, working on a fairly > old PC with an Epson Photo 700 and a Nikon CoolPix 900. > > In the past few weeks, my printer has been behaving very strangely. > It will begin to print, get a few lines into (or a 1/4 page into) the > letter or photo or whatever I am printing, then will "screech," slam > the print head against either side of its travel limit and print > either nothing, gibberish, or 4 short lines of color and then > nothing. > > I can clean the heads, sometimes 2 or 3 times, and can usually coax > it to print out one or two more pages before having to do it all over > again. > > Frustrating. Anytime I feed it a piece of photo paper, I'm crossing > my fingers. Not to mention the paper and ink being wasted. > > The printer is 3(?) years old, and in the summer of 200, it acted > similarly to this and it cost me $70.00 to have it fixed. > > My options seem to be: > > 1) buy two new cartridges and see if that clears it up. (I am on a > very tight budget I should mention, so if this doesn't work, I've > thrown away $50.00) > > 2) Clean the heads about 8 times and see if that lasts > > 3) buy a new printer > > > I would love anyone's advice here, and thoughts on option 3. I am > considering the 780, the 820, the 785EPX (which got rave reviews from > Digital Camera Magazine) or the 890, which seems pretty pricey for > me. Pro's and cons on these printers? > > Lastly: when I brought the 700 in to be fixed, the woman there asked > me if I use my printer every day, which I more or less do, but there > will certainly be times when I do not use it for 3, 4, or even 5 days > at a time. Is my current problem likely linked to that, and am I just > going to re-create that problem with a new printer? > > The current troubles began when I replaced a non-Epson black ink > cartridge (one bought from Red River Paper Co.) with an Epson cart, > one which had been sitting in my drawer for a couple of months. > > Is it worth the new printer for the advanced technology - i.e., > borderless printing, better resolution, more longevity(?) in the > prints? > > Thanks for any input - greatly appreciated! > > > Norman Maynard > (Feel free to email your response to me directly, though I suspect > responses may be of interest to others, also.) > > - > Turn off HTML mail features. Keep quoted material short. Use accurate > subject lines. http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions. > Try putting some light oil on the metal rod/rail the print head travels on. David - Turn off HTML mail features. Keep quoted material short. Use accurate subject lines. http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions.