My printer is dead!

My HP Photosmart had run out of ink, so after spending £20 on new cartridges I was disappointed to find out that adding the new ink cartridges killed my printer. Leaving me with a repair bill which is a lot more than the printer cost to buy!

Last year I bought the HP PhotoSmart B110a in the main so I could print direct from my iPad using AirPrint.

I was impressed with, what was a very cheap printer, both in terms of print quality and scan quality. I particualrly liked how I could scan from my iPad as well as print. My older Canon multifunction required me to install drivers and software, the HP PhotoSmart had an embedded web server in it so all the functionality was available through a browser.

The printer was running out of ink, so I placed an order with Amazon for some new cartridges, cheaper than going to Staples. I did order proper HP cartridges too. Before they arrived I know some members of the family tried to print, but apart from an incomplete print out I wasn’t too worried.

The new cartridges arrived and I went through the process of installing them into the printer, something I had done a few times before.

After installing them I shut the lid and expected to be able to print… but no there was an error message on the screen of the printer.

Ink System Failure
 0xc19a0023
 Please turn printer Off and then On

Well I did that… no change.

I searched the web, and after a little difficulty found this HP page. Went through all the processes with no luck, still getting the error message. The printer hasn’t responded to any of my attempts to fix the problem. The printer is reporting that the printhead is “damaged”. I am not sure how installing new ink cartridges would have caused the printhead to fail…

I actually can’t remember when I bought the printer, didn’t blog about it, like I should have, and as a result I have a feeling that it is out of warranty. The HP site says it is… but that is based on when the retailer bought the printer, not me!

The “solution” appears to be to replace the printhead. Now having done some searching, it will cost about £40 to replace the printhead. My dilemma is that a replacement HP PhotoSmart printer (the 5510) is £70 and I have no guarantee that a replacement printhead will actually be a solution.

I have a horrible feeling that if did spend £40 on the printhead and it didn’t work, I would have wasted a fair bit of cash and would still need to buy a replacement printer!

The scanner part still works so it’s a bit of a quandary on how to move forward. I can still print using my old Canon printer (but not from the iPad), hmmm, not sure what to do.

6 Replies to “My printer is dead!”

  1. You still put coloured dots on mashed up wood pulp? How very quaint. I suppose tapestry is still going so it’ll be a while before this other anachronistic way of recording things disappears. Can hardly remember when I last printed something (I’m exaggerating for comic effect as some reports/papers/posters for work do need printing, but it is very rare these days)

  2. I have the same problem, I am very annoyed right know. I have heard that this is a common problem with HP and they do this on purpose so that its cheaper to buy a whole new printer! jokes on them! just make sure you DONT buy a HP product again! and NEVER recommend a HP product EVER!

  3. I too have the same problem with my HP B110a printer. my black cartridge was fully empty and other color cartridges have about 20% to empty so I replace black cartridge first but after replace black cartridge ” ink system failure 0xc79a0023″ message appears on control panel..then I thought replacing all cartridges will solve my problem but after replacing all four cartridges also the same error message appears..!! I tried to reset printer as hp suggest including removing power code but nothing works ..!! if anybody have any solution except printer head replacing please let me know..

    1. From everything I have read the only solution is to replace the print head, but even then there is no guarantee that this will work. Also the print head is more expensive than replacing the printer. In the end I threw my printer out and replaced it.

  4. I expect it is to late, but I will post this reply it might help some one comes to this page for help.
    I had the same issue with my b110 printer and I was about to trash it, however, I found in YouTube a howto clean the print head which I followed and got my printer back to normal successfully. I suggest you search the YouTube for that howto.

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