Up front, I'm too stupid to figure out whether it is the color or blank ink that is low, so that my photos have horizontal lines in them.

Here is my question:

If I pull out the color cartridge and replace it, and the "old" cartridge was still okay so I put it back in, will it mess up the shelf life on the "new" one if I remove it and try to use it later?

This sounds like gibberish, sorry.

grayscale only? Try to print something in gray only...and if you get lines, then it is your black ink.

Sometimes you get lines when the cartridge is not cleaned properly.

Our black did that but still had ink in it. So I carefully cleaned the holes with alcohol (it says not to do it--but it worked)

Then we ran a test sheet and the lines were gone. We don't print during the summer when we are
not here and we unplug the electrical lines (so the unit goes off and cannot maintain itself).
Our new HP does "stuff" by itself...sort of creepy, but now we think it is cleaning the cartridge.

what brand of printer?

some have a program that will show you how much ink you have
and many have a utility section that you can run some print tests to clean the heads {nozzle}
If you go to your printers & fax section in control panel -then click on properties of your printer and look for utility.
If you find that explore there to se if there is tests you ca do.

You might also look your printer up online @ the brand website is best option first- {Epson, HP, Canon etc} and find the support/drivers pages- there might be new updates or such you can download.

I just found a update for my wireless card that i didn't know about.

Some time ago i found a free software program that would let you override the printers controls, so that you could continue using the low ink, or a colour, when the printer would normally stop you and insist on a cartridge replacement.
It worked on XP, but not Vista.
A Google search should find it. If not, let me know and I'll hunt around for it.

it is usually a good idea if you start to see lines in your prints to use the utility to clean your print head.

go to the control apanel then to printers then right click on your printer and goto properties. usually nder properties you can see the utilitis for most printers. if not sometimes other printers have the utility on the install disk if it wasnt installed the first time.


the cleaning of the print heads every so often is a necessity if you havent printed in a while and the office/room is a bit warm as the ink will dry on the print head and the cartrige.


i use rubbing alchohol and paper towels and only rub in one direction. if your cleaning the print head manully be careful and use a qtip but dont rub back in forth just a single direction also. this helps to prevent dust bunnies from building up



roger..