After many pitfalls and obstacles, I finally have a functioning printer in my studio. I was about to throw my Dell V715w out the second story window, when I decided to press as many buttons as I could at the same time (a very high tech strategy reserved ONLY for the extremely inexperienced). The goal was to switch the totally annoying all-in-one device off the "print mode" where I could not do anything because of a "problem with the print head. Consult the user's guide" prompt. Mind you, the user guide was of no help. Well, this seemingly futile attempt worked, and I got the device to switch to "scan mode", where it shall be infinitely more helpful than before! All of this was so frustrating because the warranty had just expired, and the printer was practically brand new. I felt depressed that my father had spent a fair amount of money on what he thought was a top of the line device (the reviews were excellent when the Dell V715w came out), and yet I couldn't get the thing to do anything except click and beep and sound like a broken closed captions record:
"Problem with the printhead. Consult User's Guide." "Problem with the printhead. Consult User's Guide."
I would have much rather consulted the User's Garbage, which was in fact out the window, on Main Street, Willimantic. Alas, it is always worth "one more try," you never know what might happen. In my case I got the Dell to switch to scan, and bought an entirely new Epson 1400 for my printing needs and desires. Funny thing with that, when I got it back to my studio it didn't print the black ink! Fortunately, Epson being the reputable company that it is, replaced my printer totally free of charge and it arrived after only two days. Magnificent!
