Is a rescue mission required?

I think they're about par for the course.
I played with a home made pinhole lens on an ESII with Kodachrome slide film back in 1977 to see what would happen. This is what I achieved.




and with a normal lens (long forgotten which one):

Looks very promising. What do we make of the comment on that link after the photos regarding that the camera was not supposed to be displayed and that Ricoh Japan ordered the headquaters in USA to remove it from display?

I've put one on back order, let's see what happens. A bargain if comes for the £132 advertised.

A Canon entry noted.

Mathematically, a 399 x 600 pixel image actually printed out at 300dpi would measure just 1.3 x 2 inches! Obviously it can really be printed out at any size but it is still pretty tiny to produce an exhibition print. Are you sure you haven't still got the camera original somewhere? If not I've got a feeling you're going to be disappointed, but it does depend on how they wish to use it. It would be fine on a smartphone at that size and many early digital cameras only produced photos at 640 x 480 pixel resolution (the actual dpi is irrelevant.)
Anyhow, I hope that perhaps the image is larger than you state and all goes well. In any event, well done for getting it selected and is it possible to upload it here for us to have a sneek preview??

I haven't actually got one, but if I did and that happened I think I would take it out. Do a default setting of the camera. Re-insert it and see if it can be set up again. If that fails get in touch with the supplier for a replacement/refund.

If you are using a K-3, is the flucard in slot 2? If it isn't it may explain why the camera isn't seeing the card because apparently it needs to be.

Some third party inks can be dire and clog the heads in no time. Yet others can be just as good as originals and run for ages without clogging. What can help is to alternate between an original and budget ink so that if any clogging starts with the budget ink, the original helps clean the head when it is its go.

The refill kits can work well, especially if the cartridges aren't chipped (electronically that is rather than not damaged or come with fish :wink but they can be messy to handle and sometimes can flood the head if there's a slight air leak in the wrong place, but get them to work and you save a fortune compared to the cost of originals. If the cartridges are chipped, a replacement chip or device will be required to reset the data on them.

To solve a clogged print head, if the print head can be removed it can be washed through under running tap water. That can also be necessary after a leaky ink cartridge has been inadvertently installed (and that could have been a bad original manufacturers replacement cartridge just as much as a refillled cartridge or a brand X replacement.)

A seemingly completely clogged print head may respond to a few seconds in an ultrasonic cleaner. A boot sale printer required this treatment which proved completely successful. There's nothing to be lost by trying this.

Sure it wasn't an April 1st report? Certainly sounds like one!