So I had an "old printer?" Cut it out, Professor. I bought it new, and it went to Hell in a few months. THat it was designed by dwarfs three years earlier is no excuse for HP. It was a new printer. I learned later through legitimate bitching on the Internet that HP knew about this problem for YEARS before it hit me, and the only advice of any use from HP was to buy a new one. Small wonder! As I have said here and everywhere many times, HP's business model for printers is to sell the printers cheap, charge ridiculous amounts for ink cartridges, then promote a "fix" that says only "buy a new one." My advice: Suck it up. Buy one set of ink cartridges at a time. Set it to print "black only" unless you want a color picture. Run over the printer with your car when it stops working (then send it to recycling). Get a new printer (if HP, preferably one that uses the same ink cartridges). OR change brands.