OT: Lexmark printer problem..

[ColinP]

I know it's not the correct forum but I don't venture out of DC (don't need to..)

I just bought a Lexmark X85 multifunction printer (scanner, copier, printer). It's black so it matches my Dell - a prime consideration in the purchase !!

Anyway, tried a few photo prints - and they are crap to say the least. White lines / banding horizontally across the prints.
Done all the usual cleaning stuff via the supplied program and by taking out the cartridges and cleaning the ends etc.

Got onto Lexmark tech support, sent them the cartridges and some test prints, they have examined them and say they are OK and are sending them back, and will I try them again. Unless I'm missing something and there is a new method of fixing things where you just post them to Ireland and back again and this fixes them, I'm not too confident it's going to clear the problem.

I said to the tech support person "can you see the white lines right through the colour bands" and they said yes, but you'll get that because it's a line printer, so I said, so does that mean it doesn't do photo quality prints then, and she said it does !!
Just waiting for the cartridges to arrive back before I go through the loop again.

Anyway, does anyone have experience of Lexmark printers (particularly the X85) and can they print decent photos ?
Or had anyone had this banding problem ?

cheers,

Col

 

[GeoffS]

My only experiences with Lexmark printers were bad ones, but then I didn't have very 'high-end' printers either... I almost bought one of those, and then decided to just get a laser instead and leave the photo printing to the development lab

Good luck!

Geoff

 

[Confused]

OMFG! What a co-incidence!

I've been having problems with my X85, and contacted Lexmark today to try to get it sorted!

I've been having problems where it is not being recognised every so often (when my step-father tries to use it mainly ) in Windows XP. We have multiple users set up, and it HAS to be turned on, before anyone can log in, otherwise it screws up. Hell, even when it IS turned on, it still screws up!

I was told by the girl on the phone earlier to change the Print Processor from their own one, to the one built into Windows, and see what happens. I'm not holding much hope, but what else can I do?


After the experience with this piece of crap, I'd go back to seperate printer/scanner in a flash. I could have got an Epson C60 printer and an Epson scanner for about £100 from my old work, plus cartridges for about £1.50 each But, he (my step-dad) wanted this all-in-one POS.

I'm waiting to see what happens.


As for the printing, yeah, I can see some faint white lines on my printouts, and that's on a light grey background! I'd hate to see a black background



Confused

 

[mastertech01]

The only way I get decent results from Lexmark is to make sure of proper alignment and use photo grade paper and super fine print quality...very expensive ink wise. The best printer I have seen for prints were the HP Photosmart printers. Lexmark isnt a photo printer and your multi format printer will get worse results than their regular printers. Lexmark ink is extremely expensive and the print quality is only decent at best from my experiences. If you want photo quality get a photo printer or get them done professionally.

 

[muttley]

The best printer out now is a Canon reviewed by Tomshardware. The rating is "Next to the second comming."

I got one for 148 from Sams Club they are normallt $200 and recently there was a 50 dollar rebate. I sent in the rebate but don't know if I will get it cause it is a i850s just a sticker added on an a box that says i850s (Sams club or whatever.)
It is FAST.
It puts my Desk jet 932C to shame.
Ink is refillable.
muttley

 

[ColinP]

Thanks guys,

I'll give it one more try, then it goes back, I've still got an Epson C60 that does much better quality, so probably just buy a separate scanner...

cheers,

Col

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: mastertech01
The only way I get decent results from Lexmark is to make sure of proper alignment and use photo grade paper and super fine print quality...very expensive ink wise. The best printer I have seen for prints were the HP Photosmart printers. Lexmark isnt a photo printer and your multi format printer will get worse results than their regular printers. Lexmark ink is extremely expensive and the print quality is only decent at best from my experiences. If you want photo quality get a photo printer or get them done professionally.

For that matter, I've never seen a Lexmark that gets good results even on high quality photo paper. You can basically assume that any and all inkjets made by Lexmark will suck. Now some say that their laser printers work well with Linux; that I can not confirm.

Although I'm sure there are better printers out there, I'm very happy with the overall quality of my Epson Stylus Color 880. It's not a photo printer, but it still produces pretty good photos. For some anecdotal evidence, I printed a digital photo on an 8.5x11in. high quality glossy photo paper and entered it as a "digital salon print" in the local 4-H. The judge there (who was either an advanced amateur or professional photographer) had a hard time believing that it was really a digital photo. :Q

 

[Actaeon]

My brother used to be techsupport for Lexmark... Let me try and ask him about some of this stuff.

 

[ColinP]

That would be a big help, thanks


Col

 

[RaySun2Be]

MrFluffy's roommate works for Lexmark, so I've put in a query through him too.

 

[ColinP]

Thanks for that Ray.

Well, I just went and collected the parcel, and it contains one cartridge (the black one), so now I'm missing a colour cartridge...

I'm just off to write on the board..

"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
"I will not deviate from Epson again"
.........



Col

 

[ColinP]

Hey Confused,

there's a new patch on the Lexmark site, it appeared yesterday. It's only for Windows XP.

I can e-mail it to you if you like,

let me know,

Col

 

[RaySun2Be]

I've used HP and Lexmark printers, and I must say I really like my Lexmark Z52 much better than the HP Deskjet I was using.

Even though the cartridge prices were comparable, the Lexmark ink cartridges last much longer than the HP did. It seemed like every time we printed a few things, we had to replace the HP cartridges.

The Lexmark (knock on wood) hasn't given us any problems, and we've been using it for family and business printing for over a year now.

Of course I'm not usually trying to do any heavy duty photo quality printing, either.

 

[bunker]

Even though I hate to do it, I've gotta give Lexmark a little defense here. I have an older Z51 and the photos are excellent.

The only downside is the carts cost as much as a new printer to replace. I'm too damn lazy to refill but I have recently started buying remanufactured carts and they work just as well.

 

[ColinP]

^bump^

Still waiting for that colour cartridge...

Any news back from your contacts guys ?

thanks,

Col

 

[RaySun2Be]

Colin,
No word yet, I sent another reminder email.

 

[mastertech01]

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be
I've used HP and Lexmark printers, and I must say I really like my Lexmark Z52 much better than the HP Deskjet I was using.

Even though the cartridge prices were comparable, the Lexmark ink cartridges last much longer than the HP did. It seemed like every time we printed a few things, we had to replace the HP cartridges.

The Lexmark (knock on wood) hasn't given us any problems, and we've been using it for family and business printing for over a year now.

Of course I'm not usually trying to do any heavy duty photo quality printing, either.

They are definitely good daily use printers for general purpose. I have had 3 Lexmarks. I have done some photo printing but not a lot. But my expectations arent professional in nature either. I have a laser printer I have used for most of my B&W to conserve on the expensive Lexmark inks. I have a friend with an HP Photosmart printer and it blows away the Lexmark in photo work though. I just dont need that kind of quality on paper. If I did I would probably get them done at the printshop.

 

[Evadman]

not that it helps in any way whatsoever, but I like Xerox printers. I have a docuprint that I have printed about 80,000 pages though. (rough guess. I know I have at least 20" of paper here, with about 7 cases of paper being used, or so.) my brother has a epson cheapo, and my father uses a lexmark of unkown model number. I prefer the zerox over all of those.

 

[ColinP]

The replacement cartridges showed up, still the same problem, bad striping across photos.

So I rang tech support, and they are sending me a new one.

They don't want the old one back !!!!!!

Now to have a really good go at fixing the problem

Col

 

[mastertech01]

Originally posted by: ColinP
The replacement cartridges showed up, still the same problem, bad striping across photos.

So I rang tech support, and they are sending me a new one.

They don't want the old one back !!!!!!

Now to have a really good go at fixing the problem

Col

Thats not typical of them, they usually send a return shipping label for the old one. You are lucky.

 

[Freewolf]

Just pickup the Epson c62 that OfficeMax has on sale and it blows away the three Lexmarks I have. Easy to setup and much faster with better print quality. Nice printer for $80.00

 

[RaySun2Be]

Sorry ColimP, the Lexmark contact didn't pan out. No info there, he just thought it might be an alignment problem.

 

[ColinP]

Thanks anyway Ray, at least now I have a brand new - slightly faulty X85 which I can sell on Ebay (with an honest description), it could probably be easily fixed by someone with the time.

Just hope the new one they are sending me performs better,

thanks guys,

Col