Dell A920 Printer Not Working

Major Geeks are the best! I was registered before, TG have not needed you guys in a while ... but now I'm staying at a friend's house, and she has this printer, inherited from her mother, I think ... anyway, I've done all the diagnostics/printer tests listed, and I can't find the problem. It acts as though it's printing (heads move across page, etc.), but there is no printout. Well, once there was a faint printout of a DOS command line ... which is the only reason I don't just think the cartridges are too old or somesuch.

I really need to get this fixed for her so I can stay here another night and not have to go to a hotel. Can anyone help?

Gratitude in advance ....
Xllurgy

 

Take out the cartridge and check to make sure the tape is off the opening. The length of time between use of the printer will affect the ink in the cartridge, causing some humidity to pack up the ink.
Take a paper towel & gently wipe the opening of the cartridge to see if the opening is packed.

Hope this helps.

 

As Yukon Cornelius says, ".....Aaaaaaah.... nuthin'." Tape is off, I cleaned heads, where there was lots of ink, ran printer again and still have blank pages.

Is it worth buying new cartridges? Seems odd both would fail ... Is there something else it could be?

Thanks in advance,
xllurgy

 

I did clean the heads with damp paper towels, but no dice ... I didn't try letting them rest on the damp, tho ... should I?

But basically, the thinking is the cartridges are shot and I should just go buy new? If I take the cartridges to Office Depot or wherever, can they look and see if they're dried up/clogged by humidity?

I've got a respite timewise -- now have overnight to figure this out ... So appreciating the help ...