What would cause a color ink cartridge not to work..shows as full but will not print out?

I have gone through all the troubleshooting problems with no luck...I have even cleaned off the bottom of the cartridge to remove any gunk and when I did, it showed color on the cloth I used...I am stumped...I realize it may not be as full as shown when I print, but why would it show that if not full...the black cartridge is ok, so I am leaning more in th direction that the cartridge itself may be defective in some way....any suggestions?What would cause a color ink cartridge not to work..shows as full but will not print out?
just because no one else suggested this - are you sure you removed the tape from the top of the cartridge? also check that the holes on top are uncovered. maybe there's some tape residue blocking it. if the holes on top are covered, air can't get into the cartridge. if air can't get in, ink can't get out.What would cause a color ink cartridge not to work..shows as full but will not print out?
try cleaning it, let the printer do the cleaning in its maintenace. but it'll use up your ink. but if it still doensn't work, maybe it is defective. if your using canon bubble jet, maybe you need to replace the cartridge (its printer head is attached to it), not just the ink. good luck
Walgreens (Photo Dept) will do a free diagnositic electrical check if you take it in to them. If the cartridge tests ok, reload your print drivers from CD-ROM or go to the manufacturers Web Site.
Depending on the printer model, it could quite possibly be completely empty, but showing full... Especially if you have removed and re-inserted the cartridge. If you took the cartridge from another printer, then it will almost certainly show full. The cartridge itself doesn't tell the printer how much ink is in the cartridge, instead the printer keeps track of the ';serial number'; on the cartridge and watches how much it has printed from that cart. If you take a completely empty cart from one printer, where that printer is showing it as empty, and put it in another printer (that is compatible) it will show the cartridge as full with most printer models. Most printers keep track of the last 3 unique ';serial numbers'; it has seen.





It's also possible something in the printer has burnt out, in which case it's not worth repairing, but I'd try a different cartridge first.





If you do have to replace your pritner I would advise you to absolutely avoid Kodak... Regardless of what appears to be lower ink prices.'





Kodak's support system and drivers are probably worse than ***ANY*** other printer manufacturer in the industry, bar none. Forget sharing your printer to other computers, forget anything but a ';canned'; response to questions, I don't know if their support people CAN NOT read plain English questions, or whether they just FAIL to do so, but answers from them will NOT be answers to your question, unless your question happens to fit their canned responses.





At the moment they only support a very limited number of operating systems, and even after more than a YEAR of promises, they do not yet have ANY kind of support for Linux even though the Linux community has offered to produce the drivers FREE for them, if they would only supply the specs needed to write the drivers. They are obviously either completely incompetent, idiots, or being paid by Microsoft not to release linux drivers. (Or a combination of the above) I wouldn't trust them a bit at this point... Supposedly Linux drivers have been in the works for over a year... Who knows if they will ever get it right (Or windows 2000 drivers, or the ability to share from a wireless print server... You can't even share between SUPPORTED operating systems... and who knows if they will EVER support the next version of windows?)





I've also seen some complaints of problems with the print heads, not sure if that is a legitimate complaint, or just some users not doing something right. Since their support won't even get back to me to get some drivers so I can use the printer and test it myself, I can't verify or deny this.





Stay away from them and go for a good printer that has decent after-market cartridges available for them. Many Epson/Canon printers have good after-market inks available, since thier print heads are not integrated into the cartridges themselves.