How to Tell If Your Printhead Is Bad or Damaged? Signs and Tips!

Question: How do you know when the printhead is bad? I've tried everything, but I can't seem to unclog my black ink, and now I'm wondering if the printhead is damaged.

Answer:

How to tell if a printhead is bad, when considering how to establish whether or not your printhead is bad or damaged, there are a few indicators and considerations which are better and can diagnose if the printhead is indeed bad. You would usually first try a printhead clean or flush. Ultimately, these processes are designed to clear up any blockages from dried ink or debris that may prevent ink from flowing through the printhead as it should. If you are getting ink to come out during these cleaning cycles, your printhead is not clogged—albeit you may still have some issues with it (partial clogging, inconsistent flow, etc).

But if you’ve performed several cleaning cycles and continue to have problems — especially with one color, such as black ink — it may be a sign that something else is wrong. Failure to respond to cleaning cycles, or persistently clogged nozzles, may indicate a physical problem with the printhead itself. This may be because there's debris that's too persistent to be removed or because the physical damage is done to the printhead's internal components.

It’s also worth noting that over-cleaning can do more harm than good. Continuously cleaning can be rough on the printhead over time; in some cases, it can make a situation worse. So many users get fixated on having a perfect nozzle check, but it's more a matter of assessing how well the printhead is printing overall. A missing pixel in a nozzle check, for instance, doesn’t always mean your printhead is completely kaput. You can often hide these imperfections by switching to high-quality print modes, which make up for missing ink by manipulating the print patterns. It’s not a permanent solution, but it can help make your prints look better.

With that said, printheads do wear out, and there will eventually be a time when your printhead can’t be made to work again even after attempting cleaning or running in high-quality print mode. These kinds of breakdown will then lead to deterioration in the printhead that could be irreparable due to wear, debris buildup or even physical trauma. Eventually, though, you may have to accept imperfection or replace the printhead altogether.

This will depend on the error codes issued by the printer itself (some printers display a specific message on the screen, which can be helpful in the case of a specific error code). Check for a few common error codes:

Error Code 0x610000f6: This error is a sign of an issue with the printhead and usually indicates it either needs cleaning or replacing.

Error Code 0x97: A broader printer error that may, though not necessarily, be related to printhead failure.

This is because printer issues can sometimes be a very hands-on affair. So we cannot offer you remote troubleshooting, suggestions or support on printer repairs. We do offer a mobile corridor and repair service through our local diagnostic farm (https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service [https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service]), and with how popular it is, it is first-come first-serve, so it may be a couple of weeks before we can get your printer in for a drop off. We have rather processes either to fix your complete printer or to fix some components along an easy guide on what to do. However, we know that our rates aren’t the cheapest, and so we strongly recommend that you try self-help by doing some research online.” You may begin by going to YouTube or using our YouTube channel link (https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologies [https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologies]) and search for videos of a specific topic using the search icon on the right-hand side next to the "About" section of the top menu bar. Since I get scores of questions every day focusing on specific issues, it’s hard to recall every video we’ve made over the years, so using YouTube’s search function is your best bet. (Plus, YouTube may recommend other helpful videos.)