you could always put the activity-page back in the feed tray whenever you see it in the output tray.
I really like this idea. any chance you would be willing to share your script? -wes On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 1:36 PM, Pete Lancashire <[email protected]>wrote: > Any inkjet is not going to like going for a long time without > printing. BTW a 970 is > a great work horse, and comes apart so one can clean the 'drip pan'. I have > two > of them. > > I have a little init job that checks to see if the printer has done > anything i a week and > if not prints a little test line of a few vertical bars. That took > care of the clogging sadly > at the expense of paper. > > Before that a little soak on a wet paper towel for a couple minutes > always fixed things > > > > > > On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Denis Heidtmann > <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Keith Lofstrom <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 09:40:01AM -0700, Denis Heidtmann wrote: > >> > > Thanks for all the replies. The printer is sitting not connected > to > >> any > >> > computer. It goes through the alignment test, where the carriage > moves > >> > across the paper and a light shines down. I assume that this is > locating > >> > the paper edge. It then goes back and forth a couple of times, then > >> > abruptly changes to self-test. After 10 or 20 more seconds it changes > >> > to Initializing, ejects the paper, then goes back to the alignment > test > >> with > >> > a request for loading paper. No ink appears on the paper. This > endless > >> > loop gives me no opportunity to try anything other than power-off. > This > >> > leads me to discount computer drivers, etc. as the issue. > >> > >> This is surprisingly like the behavior of my HP2605 color > >> laserjet after we moved. > >> > >> The BIG MISTAKE was moving it with the toner cartridges in it. > >> ( Three moves equals one fire, as the saying goes, things get > >> broken and lost in the chaos of moving ). The second mistake > >> was using a refurb toner cartridge from Office Max, which > >> spewed little grains of red toner everywhere. > >> > >> Most importantly, a grain got into an optical calibration path, > >> a pair of millimeter-diameter holes running through one of the > >> plastic assemblies to an LED and a phototransistor. IIRC, my > >> laser printer has four of these, and uses them to detect paper > >> size and make tiny dots on the paper, which are measured to > >> precisely align the colors. > >> > >> I am insane, so I took it apart down to the hundreds of pieces > >> level ( color laser printers are complicated ), cleaned > >> everything, and got it working again. > >> > >> Before cleaning the holes, the printer would calibrate repeatedly, > >> then give up, with the colors misaligned by 5mm. After cleaning, > >> it is lined up within a hairwidth. > >> > >> I doubt there are as many sensors on a cheap inkjet, but optical > >> sensors are easier than switches, so HP may be using the same > >> trick (and have the same vulnerabilities). If the former owner > >> has dust or shedding cats, then the blockage may be something > >> besides dried ink in a cartridge. > >> > >> Consider asking free geek if they will loan or sell you some > >> partly used cartridges for this beast, for testing. > >> > >> But first you may want to do a deep cleaning. Cut-apart egg > >> cartons double-stickied onto a board can hold all the little > >> fiddly bits. These compartments correspond with notes in a > >> notebook. HP sometimes has detailed service manuals. I've > >> considered making many digital photos during disassembly, > >> but so far sketches in a repair notebook have been adequate. > >> > >> Keith > > > > > > Interesting. The Free Geek idea is worth a try. Taking this thing apart > > with the idea of getting it back together is a daunting prospect. I used > to > > be very clever at such tasks, but my short-term memory is getting too > short, > > so I would need a video with instant replay to make a success of the > > project. The lack of ink on the paper puts plugged cartridges high on > the > > list. > > > > A related question (if this printer never gets resuscitated) is what > color > > printers are on the recommended list? As a measure of our usage rate, we > go > > through cartridges on our present Deskjet 970 at the rate of one of each > > type every 1 1/2 years. A pair of cartridges costs about $67. A combo > > scanner-printer would be nice. Copy and Fax would likely not be used > much, > > if at all. > > > > -Denis > > _______________________________________________ > > PLUG mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
