I have an iP4300 which although it has given good service I would certainly not say it had been over used being used mainly for high quality colour photography. After a period of a few months when it was not used it reported a print head error and I cleaned it with soaking in warm water until no colour was released. After that I was able to print both text and colour photos with high quality but after only a few sheets it showed the larger black tank as empty. It was about 1/3 full initially and after say half a dozen prints it was empty. I replaced it and was able to carry out a print head check which was fine except that the top section of a black grid was missing completely. I extensively cleaned the black head with only very marginal results. I therefore purchased a new tank and installed that and now I simply get the 5 orange flashes signalling a printhead failure. The error message does not allow head cleaning of any other maintenance procedure. I have manually further cleaned the print head with no success. Replacing the black tank with the former black tank leads to a flashing red on the tank and still the print head error. Also now the top paper feed is not recognised although it has paper (previously it got blocked and misfed the paper but that has been rectified.) There are no blockages in the printhead.
I find it difficult to believe that the printhead failed when it was OK a few days ago. It is cheaper to buy a new printer rather than a new print head!
