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my hp printer stopped woking. someone PLEASE help!?

I have had the printer for maybe about 2 or 3 years. I've never had any problems with it before. We'd buy the hp ink for it until i heard about getting those refill cartridge things from like Walgreens, and how they were more inexpensive. We bgan to get those instead, we only got them up to like 2 or three times, the third was the last one. that was when it stopped working. I put them in but it only kept saying " print cartridges missing or not detected" I went back to the store to tell them about the situation & they checked them & said they were fine & that it was probably my printer. I would notice that ink wouldnt last much & itd be very drippy; some even spilled at the bottom of the printer. I've even considered buying the hp ink to see if thatll make it work but im afraid of it being more $ down the drain. Could it have been that "inexpensive" ink, that seemed to actually be costlier in the end,should i go back to the hp ink, or is it possibly my printer? Help. What do I do?

Public Comments

1. When you get the error "print cartridges missing or not detected" with an HP printer, that's the time to get a new cartridge for the printer.
2. That's a really tough decision to make, try more ink cartridges or try to fix or replace the printer. It's really hard to say as to where the problem really lies. It could be the printer or the cartridges. Most often those cheaper knock-off or refilled cartridges aren't as good as they seem up front and can cause problems. It's possible that the ink may be the problem or caused it, but it's hard to say. What you can try is checking and carefully cleaning the cartridge electrical contacts on the cartridge and in the printer too. If they get dirty from ink, they can cause issues like that. Use a clean, lint-free soft cloth to wipe them down and try them again. You can use a little alcohol on it if you want to make sure it gets clean. If it still doesn't work, then it's really a toss up as to if the cartridges are to blame or if the printer is. I've seen cases where the printer just stops recognizing the cartridges and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it except buy a new printer. I'm not really a fan of inkjet printers since they seem to have so many issues and people are always complaining about them, ink is expensive, ink can dry up easily, there really isn't any way to fix them as they are so inexpensive to buy in the first place that it's not cost effective to try fixing them, etc... Unfortunately if cleaning doesn't work, it's a decision you'll have to make. Best of luck.