I have a HP printer, error message: The print carriage cannot move.
HP website wants the serial number, fair enough. Problem, I cannot find the S/N, it’s not in any of the places HP says it should be, I can find all the other information HP is requesting, S/N not so much. FWIW, I’ve done everything but take nonuser serviceable things apart.
Greatly frustrated, meandered long after the “Doing the same thing and expecting a different result “use by date.””
I don’t expect anything from this screed except doing some “Spleen venting”
I had an issue with my HP printer that was a few years old. They asked for my serial number and I entered it into the website. The website said my S/N didn’t exist so it couldn’t help me.
The way to fix a malfunctioning HP printer is to pick it three inches off the desk, rotate it along its long axis by ~30 degrees toward you, and heave it toward the nearest window. (Note: the instructions neglect to tell you to first open the window but experts agree that this is a recommended precursor.)
Two decades ago, HP made good stuff, and supported it. I still have a running B&W Laser printer from them from that era. That is long gone. Seriously, they’re an ink company that sells fragile printers to use them. And they want you to replace the printer, requiring more ink, than actually fix anything.
While I won’t quite go as far as @Stranger_On_A_Train (although efforts to keep my Mother in Law’s HP running means I was nodding energetically the whole time) I’d advise looking at another option if you can’t get it to work. I and most of my family that trust my electronic choices have gone with various Brother Series printers, although I always suggest a wired option because NO wireless printer I’ve ever had has been 100% reliable about connecting and staying on the network.
The Laserjet 4M was a masterpiece. Now they try and force you to only operate through their stupid app, which in addition to being annoying is nearly impossible when using a company issued computer because most employers won’t let you put software on the machine (this is particularly an issue with scanning)
Seconding the recommendation of Brother lasers if replacement becomes necessary. I have bought only Brothers for myself and my family for the last decade or two.
Yep, I used to work for a company that rented those. I’ve seen them dropped from chest level onto a concrete floor. After collecting all of the parts and snapping them back together, it worked just fine. Frigging amazing machines.
But that era is long gone, yeah. My last HP printer died last year after a couple of years of flakiness. I replaced it with a Cannon and have been pretty happy with it.
Stranger_On_A_Train, and everyone else who commented,
thank you very much, if for nothing else the hearty guffaw that followed some of the posts.
I found my serial number, right where HP said it might be!
The issue is the the S/N is not labeled as such. There aren’t sufficient words in my vocabulary to express my frustration, or at least words that I’d want to use
here at MPSIMAS.
Not that it helps the OP’s current problem, but I’ll add to the chorus of people who will never again buy an HP printer: I’ve had two HP inkjets in the last 15 years, and both turned out to be absolute nightmares when it came to connectivity and troubleshooting.
I’ll also join in the endorsement of Brother printers. I bought a Brother inkjet a couple of years ago, and it’s been awesome.
A related printer issue. I have one of Epson’s large tank inkjet printers. We don’t use it a lot and there is occasional need to clean the heads. Every morning I copy the crossword puzzles from the paper and recently the copies are coming out gray instead of near-black. Can’t figure out what (or if) is the problem. I’ve run head cleanings, but it appears that the color jets possibly aren’t working. Online searches say to replace the ink or the cartridges, but these are not options on this type of printer, as the tanks are stationary and ink is poured into them. Any ideas?
Hah. If it makes you feel any better, 25+ years ago I was having a problem with a server. Support needed the MAC address, and there was a command that was supposed to report that, but it wasn’t working. We spent several days on it and finally teased it into reporting the value. The next day I went to plug something in and noticed a suddenly familiar number on a sticker on the back…
Where HP has not destroyed their reputation through crappy hardware, they’ve finished the job with huge, buggy drivers.
