HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead Cleaning (Gentle)

Geschrieben von: Nick
  • Kommentare: 16
HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead Cleaning (Gentle)

Schwierigkeitsgrad

Easy

Schritte

9

Zeitaufwand

6 Stunden

Einleitung

If your HP B210a has a clogged printhead, this guide can be used to try and clear the clog.

  • IMPORTANT: This does not fix every printer. These steps will not work on failed hardware!
  • Note: If the problem persists, it IS due to a hardware problem with the printhead in many cases. I am noticing more HW failures with these than I did at the time I published this guide where it was usually due to ink, so keep this in mind. Don't feel discouraged but it is beginning to happen more often. Time is not kind to entry-level printers, especially inkjets. This was originally published in 2010, hence the failure rate has increased now.

Guide Notes

  • WARNING: THIS PROCEDURE MAY DAMAGE PRINTHEADS WITH EXISTING DEFECTS! Use caution if you suspect an HW issue that could be made worse and finish off the machine, or write it off before trying! I am noticing more and more attempts fail so it is likely many of these are now having a hardware issue with the printhead. If you keep having problems the printhead is likely bad.
  • This guide is primarily made for the HP Photosmart Plus B210a and other REMOVABLE PRINTHEAD "564" printers.
  • Non-removable printhead models (Ex: Photosmart 6520) require special attention to preserve the calibration. These may not survive a lost calibration if SETUP cartridges are required.
    • If I have not tested your printer, I cannot guarantee the calibration preservation procedure will work.
    • WARNING: IF YOU TAKE AN INTEGRATED HEAD PRINTER APART, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO GO INTO THE SERVICE MODE AND BYPASS THE SETUP INK REQUIREMENT (trade ink disable) OR BE PREPARED TO THROW IT OUT! NOT ALL UNITS HAVE THIS!

Tested models for head setup bypass

  • Photosmart C6380
  • Photosmart Premium C309g
  • Photosmart Plus B209a
  • Photosmart Plus B210a
  • Note: This procedure should work on MOST of these, but getting it wrong nukes the stored alignment (and you will need new ink). Pay close attention unless you can buy a set of ink if you miss it.

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    • In addition to the parts listing, these items are highly recommended:

    • Ink protection: Plastic bag or ink caps

    • Strongly advised, not required if your ink is in good shape: Replacement ink for preparation process after cleaning (3rd party ink works, but very naggy), only use if your old ink gets burned out from the process.

    • Optional (Stubborn clogging): Gloves and 91% alcohol

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    • If possible, use hot distilled water.

    • If the water is dirty, get a fresh bowl - especially with sources like a coffee maker.

    • Before removing the printhead, hot water is needed. Remove the K-Cup holder and get a bowl of water.

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    • Print a test image as a baseline. A good image can be found here: SMPTE color bars.

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    • Remove the ink cartridges from the printer. Install the shipping caps or put them in a plastic bag.

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    • If the printer is plugged in while the printhead is removed, the calibration data may be erased. Verify the printer is unplugged FIRST!

    • When the printer is unplugged, lift the lever up and remove the printhead.

    • Remove the printhead as shown. IMPORTANT: Leave the scanner lid open, or put a note near the printer.

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    • Failure to clean this area may result in a Ink System Failure warning, and a lost calibration.

    • Using an alcohol wipe, clean the printhead interface to clear the Ink System Failure error.

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    • Only use alcohol as a final option. It may damage the printhead seals! IF USED, FLUSH WITH CLEAN WATER 3 TIMES.

    • Recommended circulation times: Alcohol: 5-10 minutes. Without alcohol: 15 minutes.

    • The water will get lighter as the ink breaks down. An ultrasonic cleaner may help break stubborn clogs.

    • Put the printhead in hot water. Repeat until the printhead is reasonably clean. Change the cleaning water frequently.

    • Wipe the printhead contacts and nozzles by hand to ensure these areas are dry.

    • Before reinstalling the printhead, let it air dry for ~3-4 hours. Using a fan may speed this step up.

    Do you mean in the last paragraph: Let it sit outside the printer for 2to 3 hours…..? Best, Michael

    contax -

    You need to let the printhead dry before it can go back in the printer or it won’t register in the printer correctly. I edited it so it makes more sense. If I missed anything, feel free to add it and I’ll take a look.

    Nick -

    Do we submerge the bottom portion, too include the screens on the inside of the printhead? It looks submerged on the second picture, with the plastic tupperware container. But not so much the first one.

    Thanks!

    Jon Hunter -

    It helps but it's not 100% necessary for the entire cleanup. Soaking the printheads screens for part of it is usually sufficient. Better to do it at the end to catch any ink that floated in the beginning then throughout unless you want to do it through the main cleanup and the final purge. I generally do not bother when it pulls tons and tons of ink out; you'll be wasting water - worry about the bottom part first where it will all be “forced out” from.

    The water also creeps up due to being soaked at the bottom.

    Nick -

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    • Wait until the printhead is bone dry to install it, or the calibration is lost if it errors out. IF THIS HAPPENS, THE INITIAL PREPARATION PROCESS WASTES A LOT OF INK (Non-XL: 1/2, XL: 1/4)!

    • A mini "Printhead Preparation" step will occur and is unavoidable and happens when power is applied. However, this wastes far less ink.

    • Once the printhead is satisfactorily dry, reinstall the printhed and ink in the printer. Plug the printer in.

    Where the print head sits when turned off is full of goop is it supposed to be

    Island Iridology -

    I did everything correctly and still have the 0xc19a0003 error message. I can’t access the touch screen still to do anything else now what

    Island Iridology -

    If it has regular issues with that error it tends to be a bad printhead most of the time sadly.

    Nick -

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    • All ink cartridges must have ink left.

    • If you still have issues, try adding ink with the cleaning utility. A new printhead is ~$80.

    • If you have a 5-color "photo" printer (C/M/Y/K/PK), print a photo from your phone or camera if you print photos regularly or run the SMPTE bar test as a photo.

    • After replacing the printhead, test the printer. Match the previous settings and check for improvement.

Abschluss

If your printer is working correctly, it was just a clog. Persistent issues usually total out the printer as a unit.

Tinte & Feder

Nick

Mitglied seit: 11/11/09

82172 Reputation

9 Kommentare

While/when soaking the printhead, I used a small intact artist's paint brush (no hairs falling out of it) to help loosen the globs of ink. I changed the water several times as there was a lot of ink.

Also, the first time I tried printing after soaking/cleaning the printhead (my issue was that the regular black cartridge showed it was NOT empty, but printing black documents wasn't working), I still had a blank page. Next I tried aligning the printhead but got a "failed," or similar, result. Next, I printed a "print quality report" from the printer's Tools menu and that seemed to be fine, so I tried printing the invoice I originally was having issues with, and voila, it worked!

Thanks.

Dave -

Thanks this worked and all is well again

The one things that I had to do: I put the machine back together when it looked dry and the machine would not work. It refused the print head and complained that the ink packets were used. I tired it about 4 times with the same results. So I set it all aside and let it dry out over night. Wha La it worked. I put it all back together, the machine did it's thing and suddenly everything worked perfect.

Thanks again for saving me from having to buy a new machine.

Barbara -

HI, I am glad to find your explanation. I have followed HP's instructions, which didn't include soaking the print head, but will try that, too. What I am having trouble with now is that the printer screen says that "the print head appears to be missing, not detected, or incorrectly installed". I've redone it 3 times with no change. Also, the HP instructions did not say to unplug it and leave the cover open, so I left it plugged in and put the cover down. Since the printer is not recognizing the head, I have no way of telling if the alignment settings are messed up or not. Do you have suggestions for getting the printhead to be recognized? Thanks a lot.

carinchapin -

Thanks so much!! It worked! Never would have guessed!!

Helen Liss -

I am using refilled cartridges for the Photo-smart 6520 all in one wireless (mainly) . I am trying to get the printer to not give me problems due to the chips being read by the system and knowing that they are previously used. I took the cartridges out last night and also the print head as described. There was a WHOLE LOT OF INK (mainly black) in several places inside the printer that I did not like. Even with the print head out, I had to continue to move the carriage and clean "leaked" drops of mainly black ink from the path on the metal part. I also had to carefully clean it from the white rollers. I cleaned so much ink from the print heat and it seems that the colors side it pretty much clean. It is the black side that concerns me. From underneath the print head, that nozzle seems to still have some dried ink there. I let it dry overnight, am in the process of a hard reset, and will be plugging it in again and inserting the cartridges during that process. I will try and check back for comments.

iceberg32 -

This method worked quit well. I used refilled cartridges. The printer treated the cleaned print head as new because it essentialy is all the ink chambers are empty. All the activity fills the chambers and gets the ink flowing so it is neccesary. I put an extra .5ml of ink in the cartrides to compensate for this. By the way the 564 and 920 carts are incredibly easy to refill.

jeaniroz -

Only if you avoid the non XL's like the plague. The non XL has a physical wall that renders it useless for refilling.

If you are referring to the initial printhead purge it does out of the box, you didn't unplug the printer or you did not do the bypass correctly, or it's too new for the bypass to work. The printer here never did that. If you are referring to the existing printhead doing printer preparation that's normal.

Nick -

I had done all the this with ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL 99% , Diluted all the clogged ink went out But: once reinstalled the printer show : Missing Printhead OMG . Sucking

Narongrit PHI -

Did you clean the contacts on the printer itself? Every one of these I’ve done this on has ink back there and it will cause this error. Use a eyeglass wipe if you need to; it will work.

If that doesn’t work, there were hidden printhead problems at play. Hope you have extra ink… The prep process wastes a LOT of ink.

Nick -