Does colour printer ink go off?

[Pennies]

I've just got my photo printer working after 4 years in storage but the colours are all wrong. I've shaken the cartridges to try and get them going but it's not really working.

Do colour ink cartridges go off?

yes they can dry up iirc

i think i tried cleaning the print head when mine went.

yes, cleaning the print head.

.

how?

um was ages ago, but think there was an option under print. this was an apple mac from years ago though didn't work for long either .

Have had endless problems with printers getting clogged up.
The head cleaning option may be in different places depending on the printer. Try Control panel - Printers and Faxes. Right click the printer in there and you should see something like 'printer preferences'. From there its about looking around all the tabs until you see the head cleaning option.

There may also be a Test Print option so that after the head cleaning you can print a simple pattern to see if it worked ok.

If the cartridges are that old though you may have to get new ones anyway.

I get mine from Cartridgesave

glad the expert has turned up

OOOh you sound like you know what you're talking about. Thanks for that, but am on a Mac so it is never straightforward like it should be.

In the event of this thing never working again, what would you say is the best photo printer out there right now?

I missed that you had a Mac. Maybe this will help, but I don't know if this is up to date info.

"In the Apple menu select System Preferences. Then Open Print & Fax. Make sure the correct printer is selected and, depending on OS version, click 'Open Print Queue...' or 'Print Queue..". Click the Utility icon, select the printer and click maintenance. From the pop-up menu, click "cleaning". Then select the ink tank that you want to clean then click ok."

As for best printer I don't know what to suggest. Probably one of the HP range though the ink can be quite expensive I believe. I'm a bit out of touch with versions so maybe others have recent suggestions for good ones

or try licking it i actually tried that, i was so desperate for the thing to print

What about lighterr fluid on a cotton bud?