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Master
7,733 Answers
- Posted on Oct 03, 2010
Re: How do you clean HP print heads
- Cleaning a printer's printheads is an easy process. Here's how
it works (in Windows). Click the Start button (or in Vista the Windows
icon) at the lower left corner of your screen.
- Click on Control Panel. Next, choose Printers and Other Hardware, and then View Installed Printers or Fax Printers.
- When the Printer page opens, right click on your printer's name, and choose Printing Preferences.
- For
the Pixma MP530, the Printing Preferences has five tabs across the top;
choose Maintenance. Again, most printers should have a very similar set
of options.
- The first button is for cleaning the
printheads. You'll have to choose which printheads you want to clean
(the Pixma inkjet has five cartridges). The best bet is to choose All
Colors.
- Make sure the printer is turned on and that there's some paper loaded, then click on Execute.
- The
printer will print out a pattern with a grid along the top and six bars
of different colors. Two images will display on your monitor that you
can compare to the printed image. In one, the grid and colors are sharp
and clear; in the other, some of the grid boxes are missing and the
colors are striped.
- If the printout matches the sharp, clear image, simply click Exit and you're done.
- If
the printout has missing grid boxes or stripes, then click Cleaning.
Once that's done, you'll repeat the whole process so you can ensure the
cleaning was completely successful. It may take two cleanings if your
printheads are really clogged.
- If, after two
cleanings, you're still getting a poor result, there's a Deep Cleaning
option on the Maintenance tab that should do the job.
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