Marie - I have a HP printer that takes the seperate ink tanks (although not the same ones as you) - when I run it out of ink, I have the same issue. Or if I have not used the printer for a while. To open the Toolbox - go to your start menu on your computer. That is the big "windows" button on the bottom left of your toolbar. Select ALL PROGRAMS and navigate to HP Solution Center. When that is open - choose "Settings" and then look for "Printer Toolbox" - When you get to the Toolbox - first "clean the printheads" - then "align the printheads" That usually fixes it for me. Sometimes I have to clean the printheads twice to get it printing good again. I am also able to access this from the buttons on my printer. There is a menu button on mine.

You probably need to clean the contacts inside the printer. Unplug the printer without turning it off (this is to prevent the cartridges going to the idle position). Now remove the cartridge being careful to not touch the copper contacts with your skin. You will need a stack of paper towels or something to place the cartridge on to avoid staining anything with the ink. To clean the contacts, use either q-tips or a bit of coffee filter and some distilled water. You will need to scrub at the copper contacts inside the cartridge area with a slightly dampened q-tip or coffee filter, being careful to not drip water inside the printer or touch any of the contacts with your skin (don't want to spread oils around). Wait 5-10 minutes before reinstalling the cartridge, then plug her in. Just an FYI...HP does support their cartridges even if the printer is out of warranty and would probably walk you through the same steps before replacing the cartridge again. Best of luck, Pam

I can certainly sympathize with your situation...I have been without a printer for many months now because the ink cartridges are so expensive. I have a Canon Multipass 550 which has been a lifesaver in the past...being able to fax, copy and print...then when you do breakdown to buy one...install it and it still says empty cartridge, you really want to scream. But get this...the cartridge isn't the problem...it's the print head...to the tune of $50 or so and this is the third time I have replaced it and lord only knows how many cartridges were full before I wised up! Now get this....those print heads can be washed in your kitchen sink, dried on the counter and reinstalled...I sure am glad I saved the other two, i'll try that next time! But, now...I can't get the printer to print everything on the page....it prints one or two lines of the document, then skips a good paragraph size area and picks up the print again......any suggestions! and of course, it doesn't help that the manual is online and no hard copy is provided...I'm ready to do the old uninstall/reinstall thing and see if that helps! Technology sucks....here today, obsolete before noon the next day! and it wasn't a cheapee either...about $250- $300 smack a roos 2-3 years ago! Even with the cheapees....you spend a fortune on ink, that's were they make the money i guess! So what do I have to lose if the washing dosen't work......blank pages! Congratulations to anyone who can buy Canon Cartridges for $2.00 what is the secret! Here is a link that might be useful: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wilf.james/cartclen.htm

Last August I moved from Ohio to Massachusetts. Jan & I planned on taking about 3 weeks for the trip so we could get in some sightseeing photo time on the way. For the trip I packed my computer tower, 3 DSLR's and about 8 lenses plus an assortment of other odds & end. The remainder of my equipment was packed and shipped with an anticipated delivery date of 4 to 6 week. For my photo business I usually deliver the end item in digital format on a memory card or I have prints made through Adorama but I did need a new monitor for my computer so about a day after arriving in Massachusetts Jan and I went to Staples and got a nice flat screen(I had been using one of the old desktop boat anchors..LOL). Jan is just a beginner at photography and she said she wanter to get a photo printer for her computer, so we looked around to see what our options were. One a display in the isle they had the Kodak ESP 7250 All-in-one on sale. Normal list for the wireless model $129 and the hard wire model $99 less 25% for the next 2 days. I didn't know a thing about Kodak printers but in my mind it had three things going for it. 1.It was the cheapest printer in the store, 2. It is advertised at using the cheapest ink, 3. Would Kodak put their name on a photo printer that doesn't do a descent job of printing photos? When I got it home rather than mess with a detailed Wifi setup I just plugged in a USB cable from the printer to my router. Inserted the setup disc and sat back. Within moments I was watching a setup video that said it was all set up and went on to explain the features. Two paper trays. The top tray will handle up to 5x7 photo paper or business envenlopes and the bottom tray handles up to 8.5x11 legal size bond or photo paper. When your printing photos it will ask you which size you want and select the paper automatically. I had a pack of 8x10 generic photo paper so I loaded a sheet, went to my pictures and pulled up a photo then hit print. A couple clicks as it loaded the paper then it went silent. "What is wrong" I thought? About 10 to 15 seconds later I got my answer. nothing wrong, it just prints so quiet you can't hear it running till the finished print pops out. I then checked the print, and to say I was not happy would be an understatement. I can only eplain it in one word...trash. The print had way too much ink, was still wet and actually smeared when I touched it then the thought hit me, those are new ink catridges and usually you have to run a test print to set up the print heads. I checked the book, and sure enough, there is an easy test print to run, but I found something even more interesting. You only need to run the test print if you use non-Kodak photo paper. So here is the catch I thought. All genuine Kodak photopaper has a bar code printed on the back of the paper that tells the printers processor how to set the print head for that piece of paper. This means you can easily switch from gloss to semi-gloss or matt without changing the setup, but how much does genuine Kodak paper cost? To my complete surprise, while Kodak Paper is a bit high in Staples, at WalMart it is the same or cheaper than HP photo paper. When I began running prints on genuine Kodak paper I could not believe my eyes. The prints look better than those that we had printed at Walmarts 1hr service. To get a good test of the prints I selected 6 photos and put them on a memory card, then I printed them on this machine. I then took the memory card to 4 different 1hr photo service places around town and had them printed again, being careful to mark the back of the photos to know where they were printed. I then took all the photos to the photoclub meeting at our senior center and spread them on a table and asked everyone to select which they thought looked the best. Over 90% of the people who participated selected the prints from this printer. The printer also has built in memory card readers so it can be used as a stand alone printer, and the Wifi model will work directly from Ipods & Cell phones. Would I recommend this printer? Absolutely YES. in fact since I bought this one over half the people in our photo club have also bought one. I primarily use 4x6 paper, which is $7.00 per 100sheet for brilliant glossy white at Walmart. I have not priced the ink at Walmart but at Staples the ink is $19.89 for the color and $9.98 for the Black, but staples also gives a $2 rebate for any used cartridge you turn in. (Up to 10 empties per month). I just found a website this morning for cheaper ink cartridges for almost all printers. Thru the site I can get color cartidges for this printer for $9.98 www.inkjetSuperstore.com