I am also having the same problem with my mums printer. Have you had any luck finding a solution? I just used Dell chat and the bloke said that he was unable to help me as he wasn't trained in printers.
My tip for today is to never buy a Dell printer...when I got my Dell I bought my trusty Canon printer. Dell Printers just look so cheap!
First of all, I purchased my Dell computer a little over a year ago. It is a Dimension 3000, 2.8 ghz, and has 512MB ram (I think the video card is Intel Extreme Graphics 2?). When I bought the computer they sent this printer along with it.
Now on with the problem.. a couple days ago someone in the family installed a new black ink cartridge himself, and when trying to print a document it came out partially red and partially black. So, not knowing that you are unable to print with only one cartridge, he took out the color one and tried to print with just the black one in there. It didn't work, so when he put the color one back in he just gave up. Several minutes later when trying to plug in a lamp, he unplugged the turned on printer by an accident. Ever since then, the printer has not been working. The power button on the printer is blinking, and when I open the printer to see the cartridges they do not move to the center. Instead, the cartridges shift slightly to the left and that's it.
Another thing is that when I first turn on the printer the light on the power button is not blinking. It doesn't blink until I either open the printer or I try to print something. Also, when I try to print something I get a message saying "Cartridge Stall" and then there are six steps. In step three it says, "Make sure the catridges are snapped into place and no objects are blocking their movement". I can't exactly see anything blocking the movement of the cartridges, but that seems to be what is happening.
I have tried contacting Dell. First, I was on their website and I saw you could actually talk to a Dell representative online, but when I put all my information in it said I was not a home user. So I emailed them, and so far I have gotten two emails with copy & pasted information that did not work. I am waiting on another reply, but I'm afraid that it will not be helpful.
I am in need of my printer soon, so if anyone has encountered this problem or knows of a way to fix it, I would be very thankful ![]()

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