MFC 5440CN Ink Empties in Less than One Minute After Install

[alizais]

This is very strange. I bought generic ink cartridges for all colors and it worked for all colors for a while. Then, one day, my black is empty while the others are pretty much full.

I replace my black ink with another generic ink cartridge and in less than a minute, it's empty! I physically check the ink levels and it indeed has no more black ink. I do it one more time with another full black ink cartridge, and as I'm standing there, the ink is quickly emptied.

It seems the printer is sucking out the ink until empty as soon as it's installed. Is there a problem with my printer? There is no error message except that the ink is empty and that is true. I know how to disassemble the thing and get all the parts for it but I don't know what is wrong. If I know what is wrong, I'll take it apart and replace parts if necessary.

Thank you.

[Big Al]

The ink has to be in the cartridge, on the paper or in the spitoon (the thing that catches the ink during the cleaning cycle prior to a print cycle) or somewhere in the bottom of the printer.

If the spitoon is full of ink then you have an electronic problem. Never saw this one myself but that does not mean it cannot happen. If the machine is not under warranty then it would likely be best to replace it. These things are considered somewhat disposable, are difficult to repair and parts difficult to find. Sometimes Ebay has new in the box units for sale of older machines no longer being sold in stores.

It might be worth a try to get a genuine cartridge and see what happens.

Al

[jhnharvy773]

I used generic inks for my printer for 3 months last year , sad to say that it just ruined my Dell printer. From then on,I just used OEM Dell printer cartridges (http://www.inkjetsuperstore.com/dell-ink-toner-cartridges)..