Hi Everyone,

I have an HP OfficeJet 600 that says there a paper jam when there isn't.
It keeps asking to re-install the black ink cartridge even when it's been
done. I tried HP's instructions and cleaned the printer as instructed. I re-
installed the software many times with no success. This problem just
started last week and suddenly. I called HP and they gave options which
basically are to exchange for the same printer at $145, online tech
support at $25 an hour, upgrade to a more expensive all-in-one for
$206, I guess you get the point. I didn't liked the OJ 600 when cartridge
prices went from $50 to $80 to (black+color) replace. Is there a way
out of this trap. I want quality color inkjet printing with easy and
cheap refill cartridges. I checked google news groups and the best solution
was to find an older inkjet (i.e. Epson style color 880 inkjet) and
a refill service on the web. I know there are others out there that have
this same problem and would like to know if anyone has found a solution.

Thanx

-black prince

hi,

I have the HP Deskjet 932c - it's about 2 years old and no problems so far. It has separate black/ color ink cartridges which aren't cheap but are much less than 80 bucks to replace! If your Officejet is getting old, I'd probably just get a new one- I'm going through the same kind of thing with Maxtor drives but their customer support is execellent and my hd is still under warranty (this helps a lot!) - did you say HP is charging $25/hr for tech support

Hi Ren,

Seems all the major printer companies are playing the same game.
They sell the printer at discount prices and charge high prices for
cartridge replacement. Their cartridges are chipped (computer chip to
work). Checkout http://www.choicestationery.com/shop/acatalog/ for
low cartridge replacement. My OJ 600 prints, scans, copies, and
faxes. If any one of these functions fails the whole unit is useless.
I going to checkout Epson Stylus C80 which is a Deskjet and has separate
color cartridges and black. This means you can buy colors as needed
instead of the entire cartridge. It has excellent reviews and prices
at $109 on price watch. The software displays ink levels to warn you
if your almost out and print quality is excellent. I too bought into HP
reputation of high quality until I visited their forum and found so many
complaints with their printers going bad after warrentee. It's a good idea
to check cartridge replacement prices before buying a printer. My costs
for replacing black is $39.57 and color $42.78 without taxes. Refilled
costs are half this price, but only became available 8 months ago.

By the way, I just reciently had a Maxtor 40 GB HD go bad and
my warrentee was still good. I exchanged the drive without a
problem. The only cost was $6 to send the defective drive via
postal service. Their customer service was great and the new
drive arrived in 4 days.

Finally, its true. HP charges $25 an hour for online tech support for
HP printers out of warrentee (20 323-2551. They have a website
with some diagnostic help (which I tried) but this will not tell you if a
part has gone bad. It's just cleaning and re-installing software.

-Black Prince