

On Epson, Canon and Brother ink cartridges, for fixed print head inkjet printers, you'll see a tear off strip, usually with a graphic which indicates that the tag is to be pulled. It prevents ink from entering the printhead where it dries to form an ink clog. This tape is used to seal and protect the printhead during shipping. On HP, Lexmark, Dell and similar disposable print head cartridges, you'll find a strip of plastic film on the bottom of the cartridge covering the printhead. This is easily overlooked but is quite simple to remedy.

If you've just recently replaced an ink cartridge and the printed page is entirely blank, contains blank gaps or missing text:

Transcript - how to solve issue of printer missing lines, printing lines, and skipping lines
