HP Photosmart 7960 ink well filled with globs of ink

[smsaether]

Received a message that my cartridges were stuck and discovered the ink well was fulled with globs of ink. With so much ink globbed up in the well, there has had to been a constant amount of leakage happening over time. (printer is was bought in 2004). I can't believe that one ink cartridge could have caused that much ink to glob up, and the globs were not all wet. Do not understand where it all came from. I've tried scraping out all the globs and left the cover open to try and dry it. (it has not leaked out of the printer well thank goodness). I put the cartridges back in and found more wet ink in the well again. Seems the color and black cartridge are leaking. Is it the printer causing the ink to leak? I've only used new ink cartridges. Can I save the printer?
Help needed please
Thanks, SMSAETHER

 

[gbaughma]

That's strange.... if you've tried new cartridges and you're still having a leakage problem... really one thing comes to mind:

Are you in the mountains or something, at a higher altitude? The lower pressure could cause the carts to leak....



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly exchanged his dilithium crystals for new Folger's Crystals." -- My Sister
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[Michael52x]

Nice idea about the elevation! Are these "new" carts 3rd party or OEM?
Does this unit get turned off\on a lot?
Cleaning occurs every start-up.
How is power set up? Direct to wall socket, strip? UPS?
Pull carts, and check the contacts in the carriage. Clean.
Carts do have a shelf life, and if expired, could cause leakage.Always check the dates on any carts you buy, and ask for the newest, or shop elsewhere.

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[smsaether]

I live in Florida, so no elevation no problem.
The printer is on most of the time...for weeks, but I'm glad you mentioned that it cleans every start up. The printer is connected to a surge protector and then to the wall. I've never checked the dates on a cartridge, I'll take note from now on. I never used any thing but new HP cartridges, and have never filled my own.

The printer is not used everyday, but certainly sometime during the week. Some weeks I have big projects and can use several packages of paper and a whole black cartridge or two, but then that drops off to just a few letters. I'm running a Large project this week (already finished up 500 sheets of doublesided printing, some in color. New cartridges were installed.

I've checked the well and so far I do not see any extra wet ink sitting in the well. I have not tured the printer off since I cleaned up the mess a few days ago. I have no idea why the ink globs in the well, but I hope the problem was solved with a clean up!

Thanks for all the help,
SMSaether

 

[gbaughma]

Well, it's always a possibility that you just got a bad batch of ink; it was too thin, and ran (instead of forming a surface-tension bubble like it is supposed to).

Additionally, if the cleaning pads for some reason were in constant contact with the print heads, it may have "wicked" the ink out.

If it's not doing it now, I'd chalk it up to a bad cart; keep an eye on it, but don't lose sleep over it.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly exchanged his dilithium crystals for new Folger's Crystals." -- My Sister
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com