Technical information

The "Ink System Failure" failure message is common with either a failing permanent (built-in) printhead

or can randomly occur due to instable printer firmware. Typically this message can normally be cleared

by performing the following steps:

Photosmart C7100 Printer Reset Procedure (for “Ink System Failure" message):

1. Turn ON the printer.

2. Press and Hold the “Print Photos” & “Red Eye Removal” buttons.

3. Release both buttons.

4. You will see a new screen that says, “Enter Special Key Combo”… The Key combo is: press and

release in sequence the “Red Eye Removal”, “Print Photos”, and then “Red Eye Removal”

5. Scroll through the menu by pressing the right arrow button until the display says “System

Configuration Menu”. Select Ok.

6. Using arrow keys scroll to “Hardware failure status”. Press OK to clear.

7. Press CANCEL

8. Press CANCEL

9. Press CANCEL

10. Turn printer off, unplug power cord for 2 minutes, plug cord back in then turn printer back on.

11. Test printer by sending a print job.

HP 02 - PRINT QUALITY / POOR PRINTING / FADED TEXT / MISSING COLORS

Regarding your recent inquiry about the HP 02 cartridge print quality/missing color issue in your HP

Photosmart C6180 printer, let's first make sure that the printer is firing all 6 cartridges correctly. Based

on your problem description, it sounds like there either an air bubble in one of the printer ink lines or a

portion of the PRINTHEAD* could be dry, so you should first perform a "Clean PrintHead" procedure

from your printer’s ‘TOOLS’ button on the control panel.

NOTE: If one or more the colors were previously dry fired during printing (i.e. if you continued printing

using only a few colors to one, air may have been accidentally ingested into the ink lines between the

cartridge(s) and PRINTHEAD. To recover from this problem, you may have to run the "Clean Printhead"

procedure 2-3 times. Depending on your printer model, refer to the applicable video procedure:

http://inkjet411.com/?page_id=2377 (Printers without 1-9 keypad)

http://inkjet411.com/?page_id=2391 (Printers with 1-9 keypad)

However, if you have already attempted to clean the printhead and one or more colors are missing, then

it is suggested to run the ‘Tap 43’ printer diagnostic test to ensure the built-in PRINTHEAD (inside the

printer) is functioning properly*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Hr5YgSqT4 (Printers without 1-9 keypad)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEfCWJMpfZ8 (Printers with 1-9 keypad)