Question Do I need a new printhead - HP 315?

[Niwo]

After replacing the empty LC ink cartridge, all prints went bad. Printed printhead status plot and LC was completely missing. Cleaned all printheads a couple of times and LC partially came back. (see attached image). I thought a few more cleanings would solve the problem but they didn't. Probably 10 more cleanings were done but the LC still remained the same.

Does replacing the LC/LM printhead would solve the problem? Before the ink replacement, everything is ok. Why would replacing an empty ink cartridge could cause the printhead to fail? strange.

Anyone could provide some color? Really appreciate any help!

I really have mixed feelings about the HP Latex. On one hand, i like the print quality and features a Latex provides. On the other hand, the printer and the software seem to have a lot of bugs. Had to spend extra $2000 to replace the Flexi that came with the hardware with Onyx. And now a likely printhead problem only after very moderate use.

 

[ikarasu]

Never had one fail to a change. Is it under warranty? I'd call hp... They'll send a new one out 2nd day to you. A failed head isn't a big deal..it sucks, but we just buy a backup of each and warranty any failed ones we have.

 

[Niwo]

Never had one fail to a change. Is it under warranty? I'd call hp... They'll send a new one out 2nd day to you. A failed head isn't a big deal..it sucks, but we just buy a backup of each and warranty any failed ones we have.

Thanks for the reply! I purchased the machine last summer so it should be within warranty. You are right, a failed head is not a big issue. I hope it's just a head failure, not something else.

 

[ikarasu]

If you.goto Printhead and click It, it'll tell you if it's in warranty or not.

Did it ever say potential print quality problem? Sucks that it's a Light ink.. every other ink has two heads, and you could.just swap to make sure it's the head.

You can try a manual cleaning. I had my black heads die after the machine say for a week...did 5 cleanings and it was still bad. I did a manual and it came back.

It's a last resort before doing a warranty exchange / throwing it in the trash, but at that point you have nothing to lose...and it might get you back up and running.

Did you shake the cart before inserting it? Or try removing and shaking it some more, try another cleaning and see if that helps.

 

[Niwo]

If you.goto Printhead and click It, it'll tell you if it's in warranty or not.

Did it ever say potential print quality problem? Sucks that it's a Light ink.. every other ink has two heads, and you could.just swap to make sure it's the head.

You can try a manual cleaning. I had my black heads die after the machine say for a week...did 5 cleanings and it was still bad. I did a manual and it came back.

It's a last resort before doing a warranty exchange / throwing it in the trash, but at that point you have nothing to lose...and it might get you back up and running.

Did you shake the cart before inserting it? Or try removing and shaking it some more, try another cleaning and see if that helps.

Thanks so much for all the good tips again! I did shake the cart a bit but will try again.

 

[FrankW]

What kind of bugs you had with the software?

 

[Niwo]

What kind of bugs you had with the software?

Well, when it arrived, Flexi crashed all the time. After some back and forth with their support, they fixed it by sending me a file to replace what came with the original package.

What forced me to switch to Oynx is that Flexi is totally unusable for my application. You can see from my attached example it's not able to print the bottom corners, which are mirrored. Their support acknowledged the bug but let me wait forever for the fix. They never got back to me.

Also, it doesn't provide the most basic feature to print fold marks. I have Canon's photoshop plugin and Qimage that provide these feature, not to mention Onyx.

I have to say Flexi is not for me at all.

 

[Carlos Valencia]

After replacing the empty LC ink cartridge, all prints went bad. Printed printhead status plot and LC was completely missing. Cleaned all printheads a couple of times and LC partially came back. (see attached image). I thought a few more cleanings would solve the problem but they didn't. Probably 10 more cleanings were done but the LC still remained the same.

Does replacing the LC/LM printhead would solve the problem? Before the ink replacement, everything is ok. Why would replacing an empty ink cartridge could cause the printhead to fail? strange.

Anyone could provide some color? Really appreciate any help!

I really have mixed feelings about the HP Latex. On one hand, i like the print quality and features a Latex provides. On the other hand, the printer and the software seem to have a lot of bugs. Had to spend extra $2000 to replace the Flexi that came with the hardware with Onyx. And now a likely printhead problem only after very moderate use.

Hi yes if you have tried cleaning that printhead and it didnt resolve the issue then i would replace it. Check the warranty date on it though, it might still be under hp warranty so Hp would replace it free of charge. Also be sure that nothing is done that is not done through the screen first. that includes replacing the ink only after you have told the printer that you would be doing that. Also, do not turn the printer off ever as this stops the computer from doing its own maintenance. We love Hp latex and sell many. thx Plottermaster

 

[ikarasu]

Well, when it arrived, Flexi crashed all the time. After some back and forth with their support, they fixed it by sending me a file to replace what came with the original package.

What forced me to switch to Oynx is that Flexi is totally unusable for my application. You can see from my attached example it's not able to print the bottom corners, which are mirrored. Their support acknowledged the bug but let me wait forever for the fix. They never got back to me.

Also, it doesn't provide the most basic feature to print fold marks. I have Canon's photoshop plugin and Qimage that provide these feature, not to mention Onyx.

I have to say Flexi is not for me at all.

If you upgrade for I think it was $1000, or pay $50 monthly you get them options that onyx offers.

I never have that glitch either - Flexi isn't too bad. But coming from onyx myself, I hate it. I use onyx at work... At home.i run a 110 latex, and If I could justify buying onyx I would in a heartbeat.

I do 90% of my work including bleeds/good marks in illustrator and Photoshop and just use Flexi for basic printing / color correction. Flexi definately isn't as polished as onyx is.

 

[Niwo]

If you upgrade for I think it was $1000, or pay $50 monthly you get them options that onyx offers.

I never have that glitch either - Flexi isn't too bad. But coming from onyx myself, I hate it. I use onyx at work... At home.i run a 110 latex, and If I could justify buying onyx I would in a heartbeat.

I do 90% of my work including bleeds/good marks in illustrator and Photoshop and just use Flexi for basic printing / color correction. Flexi definately isn't as polished as onyx is.

It's an update to onyx thrive 221 and my vendor charged me $2000. Onyx is way better but I don't like using the dangle. What if the dangle got lost?

 

[Niwo]

Hi yes if you have tried cleaning that printhead and it didnt resolve the issue then i would replace it. Check the warranty date on it though, it might still be under hp warranty so Hp would replace it free of charge. Also be sure that nothing is done that is not done through the screen first. that includes replacing the ink only after you have told the printer that you would be doing that. Also, do not turn the printer off ever as this stops the computer from doing its own maintenance. We love Hp latex and sell many. thx Plottermaster

Thanks Carlos! Yes I think I made the mistake just replacing the ink without following the on-screen instruction. won't do that again. also won't turn off the printer again. You guys are so great!

 

[ikarasu]

If it gets lost you pay xx and they'll give you a new one. It's plugged in 24/7 though...only chance I'd see if it getting lost is if someone stole it. We use the dongle version at work... Besides moving the station, it's.never been unplugged.

 

[Niwo]

If it gets lost you pay xx and they'll give you a new one. It's plugged in 24/7 though...only chance I'd see if it getting lost is if someone stole it. We use the dongle version at work... Besides moving the station, it's.never been unplugged.

Good to know it's xx we pay, not xxx.

Yes it's plugged in 24/7. It's just I am currently sharing work space with somebody else. So a little bit concerned.

 

[FrankW]

The problem with the corners is solved with build 2898.

I work for a dealer, we sell and support Onyx and Flexi, and for my opinion both products have their glitches. While Flexi is easier to use, Onyx is easier to automate. Depending on the application, I would recommend sometimes Flexi, sometimes Onyx.

 

[FrankW]

If it gets lost you pay xx and they'll give you a new one. It's plugged in 24/7 though...only chance I'd see if it getting lost is if someone stole it. We use the dongle version at work... Besides moving the station, it's.never been unplugged.

The dongle is the licence proof. When it is lost, you need to buy a new licence. A replacement dongle for little money is possible only if you could deliver the old (perhaps damaged) one.

A software vendor told me once „if someone steal your car you wont get a new one for free either“.

With Flexi-Licences you do not need a physical proof ... if someone steal your computer with the activated licence, you can disable the licence in your saicloud-account (or SAi do it for you) and activate it on a new one.

 

[TomK]

Do the folks @ Onyx realize it is 2019? Dongle's are dinosaurs...they need to move to an online license/activation system. I use Flexi, and while Flexi has a ton of problems, and most days I hate it, the ability to license online/release the license, etc as needed, is pretty cool.

 

[AGCharlotte]

printheads are only warrantied for ~1000ml of ink. Expect to be changing them every few months.

 

[ikarasu]

Do the folks @ Onyx realize it is 2019? Dongle's are dinosaurs...they need to move to an online license/activation system. I use Flexi, and while Flexi has a ton of problems, and most days I hate it, the ability to license online/release the license, etc as needed, is pretty cool.

They have an online method called thrive. It's great because you can use it on multiple computers on the network at the same time.