My printer, an Epson Stylus Color 600, is a couple of years old. I used it
with my Mac successfully enough, and now I have it connected to the PC,
though working with Epson Color 800 drivers. But lately it has started to
print rather faintly, with white lines running through the black print.

I have replaced the black cartridge, but that didn't help. I took out the
colour cartridge and gave it a shake, and ink splashed lavishly out, so it's
presumably still full - and in any case it's not printing in colour with the
800 drivers. I have wiped the track across which the ink cartridge travels,
and this sorted it for a few days. Any other ideas, or should I toss the
thing?

I formerly had the 800 drivers, wherever they went, and even then it was
printing oddly, with everything a nightmarish red like a view on Mars.

What is the consensus on the best printer at the moment? I had and loved a
Hewlett Packard Deskjet 340, which was the workhorse of its time; it lasted
for years and then drank a cup of tea and expired. Apparently its
motherboard was drenched, but it's all right otherwise, so I still have
faint hopes of finding one whose motherboard is alive, since I have a
million cartridges of ink for it.

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