Chuck, I have a 522C hooked to my daughter's PC. Great little printer, just keeps chuggin' along..... Not a high speed unit, but I've gotten a lot of years of use from it. Very rugged and dependable. But your wife may have pushed yours past the point of no return. Turn off the printer and GENTLY move the print head to approximately the middle of the printer. Close the cover, turn on the power, and cross your fingers. This may reset the print head, but it sounds like the printer is shot. It is repairable but the repair costs would probably be close to the cost of new low end printer that can print rings around your 520. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck Finnigan" <[log in to unmask]> > my wife uses an old HP520 deskjet at home since she has a laser printer at > school. yesterday, she neglected to follow instructions for replacing the > cartridge and moved the carriage to the left without pushing the install > button or turning of the printer. the carriage is now stuck to the right and > now amount of fiddling has corrected the problem. > > does anyone know how to fix this? can it be fixed? > > i've searched the manual and HP's web site only mentions that the printer > can be damaged by doing this. The NOSPIN Group provides a monthly newsletter with great tips, information and ideas: NOSPIN-L, The NOSPIN Magazine Visit our web site to signup: http://freepctech.com