Just a comment

[Marthe48]

I have a Canon XP340 printer/scanner. I ordered a new black ink cartridge and installed it today. The printer wouldn't recognize it. I went through some basic actions-took the thing out, put it back, unplugged the printer, plugged it back in. I ket getting a U162 message that the printer couldn't determine the level of ink and wouldn't print. I tried to find a go around on the Canon site, but it was not helpful.

I found a short You Tube video, which recommended using the reset button, so I followed the instructions, and by golly, it worked. I printed the page I had sent, and sent another page after that, and didn't get the message.

Right now, I feel like a tech goddess

[canetoad]

1. Well done!

[Marthe48]

2. Thank you

I had to brag a little

[Nictuku]

3. Ever wonder how the 'tech gods/goddesses' figure things out?

I'm 100%% certain that they all use Google/Youtube! (Speaking from 40/yrs experience as a female IT Tech/Support Goddess).

...Back in the day, before Google, we would have to find manufacturers site and download (painfully slow bit rates back then), drivers to make things work! God forbid you loaded the wrong driver for your monitor... I digress. You booted with one disk, then have to swap it if you wanted to save anything. Those were the days (not! Give me Plug-n-Play!)

But you must hear this, Marthe48: Job Well done! The manufacturers want you to only buy their ink, and they will steer you to their solution. It requires diligence, testing, and persistence! Again, Job Well Done!

I recently used Google/YouTube to help me figure out how to change the lamps in my car! It was a very proud moment.

Reminds me of this:

"Every Woman Needs a Man Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle!

(or, better put, Every Woman Needs Google/Youtube for General Life Help)

[Marthe48]

5. We got a Commodore 64

In the late 80s. I remember all of us typing in lines of prgramming to create a game, and then going through line by line to debug. Amazing what that taught us! Pretty much, all the help we had were in magazines, which we either subscribed to or bought at the store. Internet was a thing of the future. Computers have been part of our lives since then. I posted on this site awhile back about getting the new ink. I ordered it, and then was looking for something else in my basement, and found an unopened cartridge with a postage date from 2014. lol. I switched it out, and by golly, it worked. Not for long, but did surprisingly well for the age. I set the ink I ordered aside, and today, when I got a bad page, went through the process, ran into trouble, and as you say, thank goodness for Google and You Tube.

It's kind of funny. On the new printer cartridge, it pretty much says the cartridge is full, ignore the warnings from your printer. lol

Thanks for the memories and kind words!

[lastlib]

4. The "Hard Knocks Institute of Technology" is the best IT school in the world.

It's where I've learned virtually everything I know about computers.

[Marthe48]

6. Yes, hard knocks

We all liked the saying about 'you need a bigger hammer.' I even bought these inflatable hammers, about 30" long, and kept one in sight of our desks, a humorous threat to keep the local network behaving

[usonian]

7. Take it from a forever IT person. You (and I) are NEVER the first to run into a problem.

Someone else has already run into it and found a fix.

****NEVER***** call "tech support"
There are fakes out there masquerading as "official printer support".
And they play SEO (Search Engine Optimization) games to boost their search ranking.
They will get you to install remote management software.
BOOM, they just took over your computer.

Wonderful that you figured it out and made it work.
FWIW, I stopped printing in color and got a cheapie black and white Brother laser printer (and there's even a trick to make it print until the toner cartridge is really empty, instead of stopping when there is a bunch of toner left!) Found it like you did.

That said, many people really do need the color printing.
I have not tried printing at a photo/printing corner of a convenience store.