Not hairs or fluff stuck around the printing head is it or on the docking station where the heads rest when not in use.... usually on the right hand side. Other than that it could be a leaking head.
If the head is removable in the ip2600 remove it and very gently try wiping the heads on a piece of moistened kitchen towel, be careful though in case it IS leaking!!!!
If it's not removable, put it in print mode and switch off then get some kitchen paper, fold it into a thin strip place it under the head and gently move the entire head by hand up and down a couple of times...remove paper, close lid and switch back ON after the printer has reset itself try a proper print.
You can not move the head if you do not switch off during printing because it will be locked in the docking/resting position.
Dave
Firstly, thank you so much, Dave, for trying to help me! I really don't know where else to go.
There very likely could be hairs, probably kitty hairs, in the printer. Not sure how to fix that. We've had a big problem trying to keep the hair situation under control here. We have all linoleum floors in this apartment so there's no carpet to eat the fur so it tends to float around like tumbleweed. =( Right now I'm looking into getting a good vacuum. I didn't think I'd need one with no carpets but I think it will really help wrangle some of that hair. (some of the hair is mine, too.. not just kitty's)
I also wanted to mention that it's only black ink that's smearing and scribbling, not colored ink. I did take both cartridges out and dab them lightly on a cloth damp with alcohol. I did the print head alignment, the cleaning, the nozzle check, the deep cleaning, roller cleaning, and bottom plate cleaning, some of them several times, to no avail. But the marks are all black, not colored.
Other than that, I really don't know anything about the insides of printers so I'm not sure how to do most of the stuff you mentioned. How do I find where the heads are? The cartridges, when they're not in use, rest all the way over on the right side under a plastic hooded area. Would the heads be there?
Let's start with that piece of info first... then I can ask questions about the procedures you mentioned which I can't get into until I know where the heads are. (i'm sorry for being so ignorant on this. *frown*)
