HI, I am glad to find your explanation. I have followed HP's instructions, which didn't include soaking the print head, but will try that, too. What I am having trouble with now is that the printer screen says that "the print head appears to be missing, not detected, or incorrectly installed". I've redone it 3 times with no change. Also, the HP instructions did not say to unplug it and leave the cover open, so I left it plugged in and put the cover down. Since the printer is not recognizing the head, I have no way of telling if the alignment settings are messed up or not. Do you have suggestions for getting the printhead to be recognized? Thanks a lot.