A clogged printhead shows up as thin white lines through text and photos, a missing color, or a nozzle check full of gaps. Inkjet printheads fire ink through hundreds of microscopic nozzles, and when ink dries in some of them, or air gets in, they stop firing. Most clogs clear without opening anything if you work patiently and avoid back-to-back cleanings. This guide covers cartridges with built-in printheads and printers with a permanent printhead, including ink tank models.
What you might be seeing
- Thin horizontal white lines through text or images
- One color is faint, streaky or absent
- The nozzle check pattern has gaps
- Colors look wrong, such as greens printing blue
Common causes
- Dried ink in the nozzles
- After weeks without printing, ink at the nozzle openings thickens and blocks them.
- Power cut before capping
- Switching off at a power strip can stop the carriage before it parks, leaving the nozzles exposed to air.
- Air in the ink path
- A cartridge or tank that runs completely dry lets air into the printhead.
- Unsuitable ink
- Ink not made for your printer can leave deposits in the nozzles.
- Dry, warm room
- Heat and low humidity speed up drying at the nozzles between print jobs.
How to fix it, step by step
Work through these in order and test a print after each one. Most people are done within the first few steps.
Each cleaning cycle sends ink into an internal waste pad, and too many can fill it and trigger a service error. Cover the work area before handling cartridges, as ink stains.
Print a nozzle check pattern
Load plain paper and print a nozzle check from the control panel's maintenance menu, or the Maintenance tab in Printing preferences. The pattern is a grid of fine lines for each color, and gaps show which colors are clogged and how badly. Keep the page, because comparing it with later checks tells you whether each step is helping.
TipWrite the step you just finished on each check page.
Run one cleaning cycle and check again
Choose Head Cleaning or Clean Printhead from the same menu. If you can pick a color group, select only the clogged one to save ink. Print another nozzle check when it finishes, and run a second cleaning only if the pattern improved but isn't complete. Stop after two cycles in a row; more just drains ink and fills the internal waste ink pad.
Rest the printer, then repeat
Leave the printer on, or switched off at its button so the head stays capped, for several hours or overnight. While it rests, ink in the head softens dried deposits at the nozzles. Then print a nozzle check and run one more cleaning if needed. Stubborn clogs often clear on the first cleaning after a rest, even when back-to-back cycles did nothing.
Print a page of solid color
Create a document with large filled blocks of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, or just the clogged color, and print it on plain paper at normal quality. Real printing pushes a steady flow of ink through every nozzle and can clear a partial clog more gently than a cleaning cycle. Print two or three pages, then compare a fresh nozzle check.
Use the deep cleaning function once
If ordinary cleaning hasn't worked, look for Deep Cleaning, Power Cleaning or Ink Flush in the maintenance menu. These use far more ink than a standard cycle, so top up tanks or make sure cartridges aren't low first, as the printer may refuse otherwise. Run it only once, then rest the printer for several hours before checking again.
Soak the nozzles on a cartridge with a built-in printhead
If your cartridge has a small metal nozzle plate on the bottom, it carries its own printhead. With the carriage stopped in its loading position, unplug the printer, remove the cartridge, and hold a lint-free cloth dampened with warm distilled water against the nozzle plate for a minute to soften dried ink. Blot rather than wipe, and keep the copper contacts dry. Reinstall it once each color leaves a clean mark on the cloth.
Replace the cartridge or printhead if gaps remain
With built-in printheads, a new cartridge also means new nozzles, so it's often the cheapest fix. For printers with a separate or permanent printhead, check whether the manual lists a user-replaceable printhead and compare its price with the printer's value. A permanent printhead that won't clear after rest and deep cleaning usually needs professional service.
How to keep it from happening again
- Print a page using every color each week
- Switch off with the printer's power button, not a power strip
- Replace cartridges or refill tanks before they run dry
- Use ink made for your printer model
Common questions
How many cleaning cycles is too many?
Two in a row is a sensible limit. If the pattern hasn't improved after two, rest the printer for several hours before trying again. Running five or six back to back mostly wastes ink and moves the printer closer to a full waste ink pad, which needs servicing.
Can I clean a printhead with alcohol or glass cleaner?
It's best not to. Household cleaners and alcohol can damage the nozzle plate coating and the adhesives that hold the printhead together. Warm distilled water is safe for softening dried ink on cartridges with a built-in printhead, and a manufacturer's cleaning fluid is fine if your manual recommends one.
Why does my printer clog when I hardly use it?
Nozzles stay clear because ink keeps moving through them. When a printer sits idle, ink at the openings slowly dries even with the head capped. A short color page every week uses far less ink than the cleaning cycles needed to clear a clog later.
This guide is general information written for common home and office printers. Menus and button names vary between models, so check your printer’s manual where a step differs. Printer Problems Solved is independent and not affiliated with any printer manufacturer. See our disclaimer.