Requesting HELP while sharing Christmas Cheer

Make Time for Small Reflections

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season!

If you're caught up with everything and have time to play, I'm just a little jealous. I've encountered a frustrating 'snag' with my HP Photosmart 6180 'all-on-one' printer and haven't been able to print the Christmas Cards I created to send to family & friends this year.

After successfully reconfiguring it to access my newly 'encrypted' router, I encountered messages to replace two ink cartridges (yellow & magenta) which I did, but now when I try to print I'm told I need to replace the yellow cartridge or print in black only. I've tried three new yellow cartridges ... all to no avail.

When I print a 'test page' all the colors including yellow print just fine so there's obviously a 'glitch' in the messaging system or between the printer & computer.

I've talked with Staples 'tech support' ... discovered my printer is 5 days out of the extended warranty I purchased 3 years ago but the technician did his best to help me trouble shoot ... then referred me to HP's web support where I get an HP Chat error message that I've tried to copy & paste here, but some of the HTML codes aren't accepted by the Blogger editor so I've deleted the message in order to publish the post.

At the HP Support Forum I found I was not alone ... apparently a number of folks have experienced the same issue but I see no answers there, and I'm at my wits end. If anyone out
there has experienced similar issues, I'm open to suggestions about what to try next (short of buying a new printer or buying cards to send this year).

At the moment, I'm thinking New Year's cards may replace Christmas Greetings from me since I've missed the Monday deadline to get them in the mail in time for delivery before the 25th.

... and now on to happier thoughts!

I received this in email and decided to pass it along
with a reminder to have a safe celebration
on Christmas Eve ...
IF YOU SEE A FAT MAN ...

Who's jolly and cute,

Wearing a beard and

a red flannel suit,

And if he is chuckling

and laughing away,

While flying around

in a miniature sleigh,

With eight tiny reindeer

to pull him along,

Then let's face it...

Your eggnog's too strong!

Click for others participating in Ruby Tuesday this week

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

I've created this award because
finding comments when I log on does
'Make My Day' ... I know activities
of the season take our time, so these
comments left the last few weeks deserve
special recognition! It's reserved
for YOU who have commented in the
last three weeks. Feel free
to enjoy and pass the gift along
to those who create in you 'a song'

Addendum - 3:45pm Tuesday, 12-22-09

I appreciate all your suggestions and figured I'd add an update ... just because. I plan to send email once the problem is resolved ... one way or another.

FYI - before posting my plea I had tried a number of things including 'Powering Down, Disconnecting, Waiting for 30 seconds then Reconnecting' ... after which I was again able to print a test page that shows everything is working properly (including the Yellow cartridge), however the error message appeared immediately following the test print ... sigh!

I suppose replacing the printer (as Ron W & others suggested) is the simplest fix and I may wind up doing just that because it's still giving me the same error message about needing to replace the Yellow cartridge even though it's new and it will no longer allow me the option of printing in Black only. The frustrating thing is that it's just 3 years old and was working fine until this happened, others who experienced the problem were able to resolve it w/o replacing the printer, and it just seems WASTEFUL on so many levels to this 'Dutch' gal raised to be prudent with money & resources not to mention sensitive to environmental issues.

Initially I was heartened to learn that others who experienced this problem were able to resolve the issue by following the steps below found after a Google search:

"Hold the * down while pressing & releasing the # key to reveal a prompt to 'Enter Special Key Combo' which is the numbers 1, 2, and 3 pressed sequentially ... yielding a support screen R0631M. From there I pressed the right arrow key a few times until I reached the System Configuration Menu where I pressed OK and got a 'Hardware failure status' message ... pressed OK to CLEAR then Cancel to continue."

Alas ... for me the error persisted ... so unfortunately this did NOT resolve my printer problem and I continued to seek a solution.

Next I spoke on the phone with Katie at HP Tech Support who was quick to inform me my printer is out of warranty and suggested I buy a new one, but when I pressed the issue assertively but politely ... she finally emailed me instructions identical to information in the Owner's Manual. Following them made no difference.

After trying each of the steps suggested by visitors learning more than I ever wanted to know about various HP printer menus ... I uninstalled the HP software ... downloaded the newest drivers from HP.com ... reinstalled the drivers & my Photosmart C6180 printer all-in-one ... but am still getting the same message and the printer won't turn off until I unplug it.

Sheesh! What a wasted day ... sigh. Methinks I'll take Molly for a walk to clear my head ... but thanks again for dropping by to offer suggestions and/or commiserate. Hope you all enjoyed the rest of the holiday humor & graphics.

Thought for Today
"In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'"
Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"