Pen Failures

My HP Deskjet 5150 suddenly decided to stop printing the other day. It reported a “Pen Failure”. The little ink light on the front of the printer started blinking as well.

It happened just before I went to print out some driving directions, so it was rather inconvenient. I decided I’d try HP’s website to explain the error, because it’s rather cryptic, even for me.

That was totally fruitless. I resorted to fruitless Google searching. A couple people complained about it, but no definite answer was found. The best I could find was an ink module issue.

I pulled out my black ink cartridge and it stopped the blinking. My Powermac also stopped giving errors. I went down to Wallyworld and bought a new model 56 print cartridge. I put it in and all was well. Apparently the solution to a “Pen Failure” is a new print cartridge. Too bad HP doesn’t explain this.