Shifty problem with DeskJet Plus 4155

[Wolvenreign]

Hello all,

I have a DeskJet Plus 4155, and it has this problem where it won't print anything on the page but will call the job complete. Where it gets shifty is that this problem has been solved in different ways each time, sometimes with a power restart, sometimes with unplugging and replugging the network cable, and sometimes you have to use blow-off duster on the feed to get it to work. But it's always the same problem.

Now we're having this problem again and none of our previous solutions work. Anyone have any suggestions?

Should mention that I've also checked all the software stuff, installed/reinstalled drivers, tried it on different OSs (Windows 10 and Linux Mint), made sure it was enabled, etc etc.

 

[FAST6191]

Shifty a new term for intermittent? I thought this was going to be an alignment issue or registration issue.

Anyway ew inkjet*. Normally I would say you can borrow my hammer if you want or relegate it to a scanner (I see it has an ADF so that is nice) but I shall be good.

*if it is not laser, continuous ink or dye sublimation then I consider it junk. Highly highly suggest lasers for normal use and drag a USB to the supermarket, library or something if you need colour photos.

When it does it what happens if you try using it as a photocopier? Removing it from the network (I assume that is how it is spoken to rather than USB) and power cycling would be much the same thing if it or the remote (or possibly router) needs a kick to get it working again.
Does it do anything when it claims it has done the deed? Nice bunch of yellow dots perhaps (a security/tracking feature) you can see if you bust out the serious magnifier. What happens if you print colours (don't know if the failure was black and white document thus possibly being the one).

Duster on the feed is an odd one. Have had it happen when it fails to grab paper, or optical sensors are coated in paper dust/toner/whatever but unlikely to be the case for this one. Whether it also gets an internal optical sensor during that I don't know. Might also be if you moved the printer as part of that then some kind of dodgy joint got made whole, or if the network cable is enjoying the "I only work at certain angles" part of a cable's life cycle then that too.

Traditionally nothing on the page despite the paper shooting through and nominally doing something is either out of ink (and actually out of it, not HP drivers declaring a your wallet too fat error) or clogged heads (power cycling doing a light purge, debug options** usually giving a better one at the cost of more ink used. Usually because the ink has dried in the cartridges because it has been more than 72 hours since last print, yet another reason to avoid inkjet).

Short of pulling it apart and cleaning the various optics and ink paths (always messy, and modern HP printers are not like their elders as they are cheaply made and held together with plastic as opposed to being valuable sources of precision stainless rod and everything accessible via a few covers removed), and a few clogged heads/nozzle fixes.

**check its web page on your internal network if you don't want to do the full bloatware driver package or are on Linux, or it might be on the printer itself.