David replies:

First, for future reference, the expiration dates on ink cartridges are not a scam. Cartridges have a shelf life, just like milk: Leave them sitting around too long, and all sorts of things can go wrong with them--the colorants can come out of suspension leading to clogged nozzles, the adhesive that holds the case together can get dissolved into the ink and destroy the ink quality, and for cartridges that include the nozzles in the cartridge, the nozzles can get irretrievably clogged. As with milk, the dates are purposely conservative, so the cartridges are usually good for far longer than the expiration dates indicate. That's why some people have come to the erroneous conclusion that it's a scam, but, as you've discovered, cartridges do deteriorate over time.

Second (and also for future reference): With any ink jet printer, you have to print fairly frequently to keep ink from drying up in the system and clogging up the nozzles. You should make a point of printing at least one page a week. The Windows test page or a built-in test page will do. It just has to be something that spits some ink through all the nozzles.

The good news is that the print head may just have a bad electrical connection. The first thing I would do is reseat the print head. If that doesn't work, take a look at this page on the HP Web site for a possible fix by cleaning.

Finally, if that doesn't work, and you have to buy something, I'd suggest a mono laser AIO, since you don't need the color capability. My current favorite in this range is the Canon imageClass MF-4150, which shouldn't cost you much more than you probably paid for the HP. My second choice would be the imageClass MF4270, which is esentially the MF-4150 with a network connector added.