We have an old Lexmark Z45 printer and use “genuine” Lexmark ink cartridges for it. I don’t do a lot of color printing, and I know that the color cartridge is still fairly full (according to the little meter that pops up when I print). However, whenever I try to print something in color, it looks damned crappy. There’s almost no yellow, and it has bad blank horizontal stripes across it. Can I revive the cartridge somehow, or am I SOL?
Thanks!
Sounds like possibly clogged print head nozzles. Have you tried running the head cleaning cycle? How you do that varies, but in general there is a utility that comes with the printer for doing this and other troubleshooting functions.
Here is the Google cached page (no longer on the site or moved for some reason) from Lexmark, detailing the head cleaning process:
YAY! Worked like a charm. Thanks bunches.
Damned thing still prints for shit, but it looks a whole lot better!
Well, it’s a Lexmark. 
I’ve had great luck knocks on wood with HP printers. The only complaint I have is ink prices. The refill kits work pretty well, though. I find I can generally get 4-5 refills before a cart craps out.