Technical information

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5) As a last ditch effort, you may to want to consider performing a hot water flush on the PRINTHEAD
assembly - while this procedure is normally used in the recovery of 'missing colors' or correcting
substandard/poor print performance, a thorough cleaning may revive the PRINTHEAD functionality (this
procedure is not approved by HP, they will just tell you to replace the PRINTHEAD).
Flushing Procedure: http://inkjet411.com/?page_id=2412
a. Remove all ink cartridges from the printer.
b. Remove the printhead – in most cases you will need to pull up on the lever at right side of
carriage assembly to unlock the printhead. Lift printhead straight up to remove.
c. Over a sink, run warm tap water directly into the 4 ink ports for approximately 2 minutes – this
will effectively saturate the foam ports and blow ink out/thru the nozzle plate bottom.
d. Using a lint-free towel, remove water from rear/bottom electrical contacts. Ensure printhead
electrical contacts and exposed surfaces are fully dry.
e. Install the printhead into the printer. You may observe a “Replace Printhead message” so you
will need to cycle printer power by turning printer off and then on to clear the error.
f. Install ink cartridges and retest printer. You should observe a New PRINTHEAD alert message
followed by an approx. 4-minute preparation countdown prompt.
6) If, after following the steps above, this does not remedy the printer error condition, then you may
have an electrically defective PRINTHEAD* in the printer and it may need to be replaced with a new one.
The PRINTHEAD is normally covered under HP warranty for 1-year, otherwise you can obtain a new
PRINTHEAD assembly (note that printhead prices will range between $50 and $90 - it suggested to only
purchase a new OEM/HP printhead assembly vs. an aftermarket printhead assembly).
The Inkjet411 test labs have never observed a correlation between a refilled HP920 cartridge(s) and the
failure of the HP920 PRINTHEAD assembly. We trust you clearly understand our position with respect to
this type of micro-electronics failure of a PRINTHEAD (gradual micro-electronic degradation of the
PRINTHEAD is normal and should be expected with all individual ink tank printer models). We suggest
you discuss the possibility of a refund with your local Costco (for the refilled cartridge purchase only).
NOTE: The HP 920 / 920XL ink-series printer models have an electronic PRINTHEAD within the base of
the carriage assembly (responsible for pulling ink from the 4 ink cartridges and then firing the ink
droplets onto the paper) – this electronic assembly will eventually fail depending on print usage type
and printer duty cycle (i.e. rated for ~12,000 printed pages over life, but the average customer
throughput is closer to 6,000 to 7,500 pages). The PRINTHEAD is replaceable and can be ordered directly
from HP.com. For information on how the PRINTHEAD functions, please watch the following video:
http://inkjet411.com/?page_id=2054
*Typically the PRINTHEAD should not reach it’s end-of-life until after a minimum of 8 or more complete
sets of cartridge changes; officejet models typically have a higher print page throughput average, but
this is not always the case. While some printheads may last 15,000+ pages others may only last 1000
pages, actual results will vary. The printhead will eventually fail in time due to an internal micro-
electronics failure, due to the following leading factors: general customer print usage and printer care,
printer duty cycle (i.e. # pages printed per month), printing frequency (i.e. time between each print job),
print mode (i.e. draft vs. normal) and content printed (i.e. photos vs plain pages) and color mode (b lack
and white only vs. color/greyscale printing).