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StinkweedPayton

Q: 100% except ink on paper....Why?

I recently acquired a HP Deskjet F4235 All-In-One Printer/Scanner. I installed all the software requirements from Apple. Ink is reading Good. Paper is in correctly. It scans great. It goes through all the motions for printing except for the main one. Its not putting ink on the paper. I first just googled it since it wasn't really designed by Apple and found quite the thread going in a support forum. It had been being discussed about for years that HP was the culprit. In injecting their machines with corrupt software that would force consumers to buy more of their ink products on a more frequent basis. I have no ideas of what to do now. To believe the hype or to find someone with hands on experience to look at the hardware. I just thought that someone else might have a simple non-techie answer for me.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), iOS 8.1.2

Posted on May 12, 2015 5:52 PM

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Q: 100% except ink on paper....Why?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang May 12, 2015 6:35 PM in response to StinkweedPayton
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    May 12, 2015 6:35 PM in response to StinkweedPayton

    From what info I've been able to find on this model, it's rather old now, and was intended for Windows only. The only Mac drivers I could find for it were ones written by other programmers who just wanted to make it work. And those were way back for Snow Leopard 10.6.x and older.

  • by StinkweedPayton,

    StinkweedPayton StinkweedPayton May 12, 2015 7:02 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2015 7:02 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    I plugged it in and my Mac automatically went to Apple. It was like a plug and play dream. Like I said everything seems to be working fine except the ink isn't coming out. I was actually considering taking it apart and blowing through the tubes like working on a car...lol 

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang May 13, 2015 6:45 AM in response to StinkweedPayton
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    May 13, 2015 6:45 AM in response to StinkweedPayton

    If the printer has been sitting around for a while, then the print heads are likely completely plugged with dried ink. No matter how much you pay for them, that's the bane of all inkjet printers. You have to use them almost constantly to keep them from plugging up. Not sure if putting in new ink cartridges would even help. It would depend on if the design is that the cartridge itself also is the print head, or if it just feeds ink to the head. If it's the latter, you'll have to unclog it somehow.

     

    There should be a way to do a cleaning. Give that a try with the existing ink cartridges.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root May 13, 2015 12:34 PM in response to StinkweedPayton
    Level 9 (69,881 points)
    iTunes
    May 13, 2015 12:34 PM in response to StinkweedPayton

    I don't have that printer, but all 3 of the HP printers I've had gave you an option to clean the print heads using the utility. System Preferences/Print & Scan/Options & Supplies/Utility.

     

    Screen Shot 2015-05-13 at 3.32.24 PM.png

  • by StinkweedPayton,Helpful

    StinkweedPayton StinkweedPayton May 20, 2015 10:57 PM in response to StinkweedPayton
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 20, 2015 10:57 PM in response to StinkweedPayton

    We've tried all the built in utilities and I've even got myself an HP account and advisor rep who stated it was just a matter of purchasing their exotically priced ink. I'm weighing out its worth since you can purchase a whole brand new scanner/printer now for the same cost as the ink itself. Imagine that? A consumer based planet.

  • by Kurt Lang,Helpful

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang May 21, 2015 6:45 AM in response to StinkweedPayton
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    May 21, 2015 6:45 AM in response to StinkweedPayton

    Consumer printers (read, anything under $150), use the razor blade model. Sell the handle for practically nothing, or even give it away, and get you on the seriously overpriced blades. Inkjet printers are the same. You know darn well it cost HP, Epson, Brother, etc. more than $40 to produce the printer you just bought, but they get you in the long run by selling a couple ounces of ink, which is mostly water, at $35 a pop.

  • by StinkweedPayton,

    StinkweedPayton StinkweedPayton May 23, 2015 2:43 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 23, 2015 2:43 PM in response to Eric Root

    I priced the ink and both the black and the coloured are about $20 (Can) a shot. I've tried all the options for cleaning that come with the printer unit. I am thinking I got it for free so I may just tinker with the inkjets etc since I looked online and can get a brand new model for cheap. The scanner works great though. Thanks for the help people.