Coffee Appreciation

I don't recall ever having steam exit the shower screen. But then I usually leave the portafilter in place when steaming. Is there any steam/water coming from the wand at all?

Maybe a slight drip of water...

When I first got the machine, I would keep the portafilter on, since it seemed to help build up the pressure, but after a portafilter 'sneeze' I decided against it - it seemed to work just as well without anyway.

I'll probably end up stripping it down later anyway. The more I read up on this, the more I get the feeling that I'll never get a really good espresso out of the Cubika anyway, so it might be better just to cut my losses and sell it to pay for a new machine. Of course I'd like to get it working again first so I can actually sell it on...