How to revive an inkjet printer -- partially clogged/dried up?

Print heads commonly need to be replaced in high-end inkjet printers (the low end ones tend to be discarded when the print head goes bad, due to their low price point). You can try pulling it out and cleaning it with some isopropyl alcohol (90+% concentration) and that may fix it...but it may not.

Just as an experience report:

I recently had a printer with a clogged cartridge (HP Deskjet). Wiping the cartridge, cleaning with alcohol, soaking overnight and running the head cleaning program helped a bit, but printouts where still terrible.

I gave up, and let it sit for a week. When I tried it again, it worked perfectly. So apparently the soaking and cleaning can take some time to dissolve the dried ink. Maybe this helps someone.