My printer has not worked in several months. I’m by no means a computer expert, but I’ve exhausted every means, I think, of trying to fix it, either by computer, using this special cleaning solution and cleaning sheets, changing the ink cartridge, etc. It hardly even pretends to print- it very quickly goes through a couple runs, then spits out a blank page. My computer says “this device is working properly.” Maybe noteworthy, maybe not, is that several of my friends also have this problem with their printers. I have run a virus program, which tells me that one file (or whatever) is infected, but it doesn’t say what is infected as nothing seems to get rid of it. Could the printer be infected? Anybody know?
I had the same problem for a while. Unplugging it and plugging it back in worked sometimes, but uninstalling and reinstalling the printer drivers seemed to work more often.
I’m guessing we’ll need a brand and model name/number.
Oh thanks, and so quickly- Crappy Lexmark Z23. Should break down and buy a decent one, but not a big priority right now. Wouldn’t be a big deal if I didn’t write real old-fashioned letters still, but hate to handwrite. Any assistance you can give would be very appreciated. I’ve pretty much exhausted any trouble-shooting screens available, restarted, unplugged, installed and reinstalled everything. Should I buy a new printer cable, just to see it if works?
Many printers have some sort of test page you can print without being connected to a computer. If yours has one, does it look OK?
Um, er, I don’t know how to do that. And I moved and lost all paperwork and cds that came with it. Buy a new one, huh? 
You can download drivers, manuals, and stuff from the Lexmark website. Z23 Stuff is here. I’d try downloading the newest drivers, uninstalling the old ones, and installing the new ones.
I THINK that’s the one I used to have, actually. It got so irritating between that and the network problems, I bought a new printer. When you install the new drivers, it should prompt you to print a test page. I found reinstalls would keep it happy for a while, though.
I will try this… if it doesn’t work, screw it. I’m dipping into the Starbucks money and buying a new one. Damn, I’m cheap. Thanks for your help!
This is just IMHO, but I would avoid lexmark; more than any other manufacturer, they are employing the strategy of pricing the printers very low, then when the customer is hooked, charging high prices (in some cases more than the price of the printer) for tiny little ink cartridges, which are equipped with electronics specifically to make them impossible to refill.
I’m a big fan of HP printers; you’ll pay a little more for the printer, but you’ll save it on consumables (particularly as non-branded consumables are widely available)
True as far as it goes. A cheap Lexmark is gonna suck - just like cheap anything. The better Lexmark models do damned well, and the ink catridges aren’t that small, either. I went through a 500 sheet pack of paper on a single black cartridge with my Z-52 - I just replaced the cartridge a couple of weeks ago.
HP catridges have (or had) a bad tendency to dry out or stop up if you don’t use them often enough. My parents used to use HPs, and spent more on replacing dried out cartridges than I do buying new ones for my Z-52 when I use them up.
On the other hand, Lexmark color inks aren’t too whoopy. They generally fade pretty fast if they get exposed to too much sunlight. HP inks are worlds better in that respect.