A GREENER REFILL has found that a good portion of the customer inquiries on their cartridge performance are able to be addressed in real time without the need to talk to our support department or the hassle of exchanging their cartridges. To help expedite the process it is recommended that you look through the below categories and see if the specific issue you are having is discussed. If it is not, or if the process does not fix your issue, please contact A GREENER REFILL and we will assist you.

Ink cartridge is not recognized

Poor print quality

• Faded or light print
• Lines and/or streaky print
• Cross contamination (colors have mixed)

1. Make sure there is nothing obstructing the print cartridges electronics (blue tape or other debris). Wipe cartridge electronics and print heads (gently) with a lint free cloth.
2. If still not recognized, remove cartridge from printer, POWER OFF the printer, remove power cord and any other cables for up to 2 minutes, POWER ON the printer, reinstall the cartridge, then run the head cleaning cycle.

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In general, the first step to take in troubleshooting poor print quality is to run your printer’s cleaning cycle up to 3 times. Also, remove your print cartridges and visually inspect the now empty socket (called the cartridge carrier) for paper fiber or other debris. You can use a can of pressurized air to blow out the inside of the printer. Please check your printer’s user manual for any printer specific troubleshooting tips.

NOTE: The below troubleshooting steps are only for ink cartridges which have a copper portion on the bottom of the cartridge (called the Print Head). Any step which requires wiping/wetting the print heads will not work on certain Epson, Canon and Brother ink cartridges as some of their cartridges do not have print heads on the ink cartridges (they are actually contained in the printer itself).

Faded or light Print

a. Print head not primed (ink needs to be pulled into the print head)

1. Run the printers “Clean Printheads” option (refer to your printer’s owner manual for directions). If this does not fix the issue then the next two steps require you to remove your cartridge.
2. Lightly wet a paper towel and with the print heads facing down firmly press the paper towel onto the print heads and hold for 5 seconds. You should see a “footprint” (either a black rectangle/blotch of ink or a rectangle/blotch of the 3 colors of ink – cyan, magenta, yellow.)
3. If you do not see a “footprint”, place cartridge with the print heads facing down on a wet paper towel for 5 minutes (Please be aware that the ink will bleed through the paper towel and possibly stain whatever is underneath. It is recommended to put the paper towel on something like tin foil).
4. Reinstall the cartridge and run the “Clean Printheads” option.

b. Print quality settings - Draft Mode – check your printer settings to see if you are printing in “draft mode.” This mode purposefully uses less ink resulting in light print.

c. Cartridge ink is low or empty – As your print cartridge becomes very low or empty it is normal to start seeing poor print quality, or no print at all. Replace your cartridge with a newly remanufactured cartridge.

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Lines and/or Streaky print

a. Print head clogged (dried ink) – run the printers “Clean Printheads” option (refer to your printer’s owner manual for directions). If this does not fix the issue then the next two steps require you to remove your cartridge.

1. Lightly wet a paper towel and gently wipe any dried ink or other debris off the print heads.
2. With the print heads facing down lightly press the paper towel onto the print heads and hold for 5 seconds. You should see a “footprint” (either a black rectangle/blotch of ink or a rectangle/blotch of the 3 colors of ink – cyan, magenta, yellow)
3. Reinstall the cartridge into the printer and run the “Clean Printheads” option.
4. If this didn’t fix the problem put the cartridge with print heads facing down on a wet paper towel for up to 5 minutes (Please be aware that the ink will bleed through the paper towel and possibly stain whatever is underneath. It is recommended to put the paper towel on something like tin foil).
5. Reinstall the cartridge and run the printer cleaning cycle.

b. Printer carrier dirty (paper debris or ink)

1. Take an old cloth and wipe out any debris or ink. Do not use paper towel as this can cause more debris inside your carrier.

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Cross Contamination (colors have mixed)

Many times the contamination is contained within the printhead and not in the cartridge ink well.

1. Remove the cartridge. Lightly wet a paper towel and gently wipe any dried ink or other debris off the print heads.
2. With the print heads facing down lightly press the paper towel onto the print heads and hold for 5 seconds. You should see a “footprint” (a rectangle/blotch of the 3 colors of ink – cyan, magenta, yellow). This blotch should show the three distinctive colors.
3. If this didn’t fix the problem put the cartridge with print heads facing down on a wet paper towel for up to 5 minutes (Please be aware that the ink will bleed through the paper towel and possibly stain whatever is underneath. It is recommended to put the paper towel on something like tin foil). Reinstall the cartridge and run the printer cleaning cycle.
4. Reinstall the cartridge into the printer and run the “Clean Printheads” option.
5. If this still does not fix the problem then the contamination is within the ink well and cannot be fixed without the proper equipment. If your cartridge was purchased from A Greener Refill, this type of failure would be covered under our 100% Guarantee/Warranty.

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