a set of 2 colour cartridges will cost $56 (link to Dell USA store).
Purchase remanufacturered cartridges. These are empty cartridges that have been professionally refilled and tested. You can buy these in the UK for £16.99 for the black and £18.99 for the colour from Selectafont. If anyone knows of such a supplier in the USA then please let me know so I can list the details here.
Refill the cartridges yourself. You can buy a refill kit designed for the lexmark Z605. These typically include all of the items needed to refill your old cartridges yourself, including the ink, a small drill to make a hole in the cartridge case, and a hypodermic needle to inject the ink. You can buy these in the UK for £6.99 for the black refill kit and £9.99 for the colour from CartridgeMonkey. In the USA you can buy a black refill kit for $9.95 and the colour for $14.95 from 4inkjets. With a refill kit you can refill your cartridges more than once - sometimes as many as 3-5 times. If you plan on refilling your ink cartridges then it is important to not let the old cartridge run dry. You should refill the cartridge as soon as print quality starts to deteriorate.
UPDATE (7th October 2004)
Some people have reported slight differences in the installation procedure than were originally written. These differences have been indicated in the instructions where necessary.
It seems that these instructions do not work for people running Win98 first edition (not Win98SE). This is because, as far as I know, the original Win98 does not support USB printers at all. If you have managed to get the printer working on the original Win98 then please let me know.
To extract the EditedDrivers.RAR file you will need a RAR extractor. You can download WinRAR from this link.
My email address has changed - divad.h@gmail.com - please let me know of any success stories.
UPDATE (19th September 2004)
It turns out that the Dell 720 will also install on WindowsME using the same process as below.
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These Dell 720 printers only ship with Windows 2000 and XP drivers, which is fine for most systems, but because these printers are so cheap they are ideal for use with older computers such as laptops, etc. The instructions below outline how to get your Dell 720 printer working with Win98SE by using the drivers designed for the Lexmark Z605.
Bear in mind:
The Lexmark drivers are compatible with the Dell 720 because they seem to be identical printers, but the "Lexmark Solution Centre" software that is also installed does not support the Dell. This means that the advanced features such as print alignment, head cleaning and ink-level reporting are not available.
The print monitor still works.
You can still set the printer settings through the Lexmark driver, such as print quality, duplex printing, etc.
Follow these instructions carefully. The printer should remain OFF at all times. As long as the power cable is connected to the wall, the computer will detect the printer when the USB cable is connected.
To start with, ensure that:
The printer is connected to the mains but is turned OFF
Windows is loaded.
The USB cable is connected to the printer, but is NOT connected to the computer.
You have downloaded the LEXMARK PRINTER DRIVER, and the edited files.
Run the file you downloaded from the Lexmark site (CJ9X600LE.exe). Select to extract the files to C:\LXKZ600 and untick the box marked "When done unzipping open...". Click UNZIP.
Extract the edited driver files (EditedDrivers.rar) to your desktop. Copy the two files to C:\LXKZ600 (you will be asked if you want to overwrite any files - Click YES). Do not delete (or MOVE) the extracted files from your desktop, as you will need them later
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Step 1 - install the USB printing support driver
Connect the printers USB cable to your computer (printer should be turned OFF but connected to the mains)
Windows should detect the printer as "DELL PHOTO PRINTER 720".
When asked for a driver, point Windows to the folder C:\LXKZ600, and follow the prompts until the driver is installed.
Click Finish
Windows will detect the Dell Printer again, and ask for another driver. When Windows opens the driver wizard YOU MUST CLICK CANCEL. UPDATE: Sometimes the driver wizard will not open, and Windows will automatically try to install the printer. In this case you may be asked for the "LEXMARK DISK". Enter the path C:\LXKZ600 into the dialog box that is presented and click okay. If the dialog box will not close then it has been reported that clicking CANCEL will not hinder the rest of the driver installation.
Unplug the USB cable from the PC.
Step 2 - install the Lexmark solution centre
Open the folder C:\LXKZ600\ENGLISH - this contains the "Lexmark Z605 Solution Centre".
Double click the file SETUP.EXE
You will be asked to select the port that you want to use the Solution Centre with. Make sure a checkbox is placed next to the item in the list called USB001 (no other boxes should be checked).
You will be prompted to enter the name that you want the installed printer to be called. Enter "Dell 720 Colour Inkjet".
The solution centre will be installed.
You will be asked to select the cartridges that you have installed, click the top item from each dropdown list. Click NEXT. UPDATE: John C. has kindly pointed out that the cartridges that should be selected are 26 (for the Colour) and 16 (for the Black).
You will be asked to print an alignment page. CLICK EXIT.
Step 3 - copy the edited Dell printer driver
Copy the file entitled LXBCPR.INF (that you extracted onto your desktop earlier) to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\
You will be asked if you want to overwrite the existing file. Click YES
Plug the printers USB cable back into the PC.
Windows will detect the printer and ask you for a driver. Point the driver wizard to the directory C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ UPDATE: You may not get asked for the location of the driver - it may install automatically, in which case the step above and below are not necessary.
Click NEXT and follow the prompts.
Step 4 - test the printer
The printer should now be installed.
Turn on the printer, go to the Printers folder.
Right click the printer icon, select PROPERTIES, and when the properties window opens select PRINT TEST PAGE.
UPDATE: If you encounter any problems after following these instructions, try rebooting your system before retrying step 4.
Email: divad.h@gmail.com
