What is the deal with my Dell AIO printer?

My Dell photo aio printer 926 won't print.?

• My Dell photo aio printer 926 won't print. I bought it 4 years ago and used it once and once only to test it by sucessfully printing a grocery list...so i know it can't be out of ink. I am getting a message that the color cartridge is low. I've run several test pages and not a drop of ink is printed. I tried cleaning it according to the manual. I don't know what this piece is called, but, I notice 2 receptacles are positioned at the far left. They are inky. I am wondering if they are supposed to be inside the cartridge caddy in order for the ink cartridges to feed/leak into them so they transfer/print the ink onto the paper (?) Are these 2 receptacles/wells meant to stay at the left of the printer? When i pop the ink cartridges out i can see right thru to the bottom of the printer. Is that normal? Thanks!

• Answer:

  For lack of use, you may have clogged ink cartridges. If not used, they will clog up Turn on the hot water until warm Put about 1/2 inches of water in a cup Put the print head portion (where the ink comes out) in for about a minute Dry off the cartridge using a soft tissue. Re-insert the cartridge into the printer. Run the normal cleaning software routine a few times