Epson P400 simultaneously blinking lights (on 3 printers!)

[Outedgekim]

We use our P400 printer for printing film for our screen print company. We are literally on our 3rd printer in a year and how they all go out.... the ink and paper light blinking simultaneously. We are told it is not a software problem. We cannot figure out why we keep getting these lights on each one. We thought it was the all black system we purchased but with printer number 3 the same thing happened only a few prints in after what we thought was a head cleaning with a professional product. NOW the head is locked on 2 of the printers and we cant even recover the ink cartridges. My 2 questions are 1. HOW do I unlock the head (the power cord trick isnt working) the head is not doing its normal back and forth upon start up on either of the 2 newer printers and 2. WHY do we have this problem. The original printer went in August, we replaced it with a very new (ish) clean printer in September, this printer worked fine and then went bad in January, we ordered #3 off ebay (paid way too much) and was told it worked. It did, for about 15 minutes after cleaning and 3 great prints and then it had the lights of doom flashing too!

ANY IDEAS?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Are you running on refill inks ? How do you cheat the paper sensor with your films ? Is there any kind of blockage in the paper path - a paper/film jam ? I'm a kind of puzzled that you need to do head cleanings when you run the printer on a regular base .

 

[Outedgekim]

Are you running on refill inks ? How do you cheat the paper sensor with your films ? Is there any kind of blockage in the paper path - a paper/film jam ? I'm a kind of puzzled that you need to do head cleanings when you run the printer on a regular base .

We have used both genuine epson and refill inks. currently the all black system is our most recent use, as we only need to print in black. It is a package system we purchased from the company that we buy our separation software from. The newest purchased printer that worked for a short time and started the blinking lights... never saw the all black inks, we put in genuine ink. We have even tried connecting the printers to other computers that do not have this software installed. We cannot do anything with it and Google has been no help. I have called 3 service centers and no one knows anything.
We do not use the printer every day but at least 1x a week, sometimes many days in a row, it is vital for our business. The newest purchased printer we had to clean as it was clogged up so badly.
What we cant figure out also why we cant unlock the heads. The method of unplugging after turning on isnt working like it did on the 1st printer.
as for the film detection, its never been an issue and the printer wont even read regular paper. The first p400 we ran flawlessly for 2 years before we got the lights of death.... so we just recycled it and started new. Now 3 printers later, there has to be something we are missing. The epson sc P400 is the recommended printer for this use.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The newest purchased printer that worked for a short time and started the blinking lights..

as for the film detection, its never been an issue and the printer wont even read regular paper.

Does this mean that you purchased this printer from a specific company which made some changes to the printer - e.g. to the paper detection sensor ? Can't you get any support from this company ?
I ran a P400 for quite a while but decommissioned it because of some problem with the pump at the cleaning unit, I cannot tell you how to disengage the printhead manually, you probably would need the service manual for that. But as far as I remember there is a gear driven spring loaded lever at the bottom, at the left bottom side of the carriage which can be moved sideways with a screw driver.

 

[stratman]

Found a video that gave me a idea of what you are doing. They show at least three Epsons used for film printing - the Artisian 1430, the P800 and what appears to be a T3270.

I am not an Epson person but a clear, concise and detailed history would be good, beginning with just before your first printer failed.

What environment is the printer operating within?

Is it possible there are electrical surges in the power?

What software and operating system do you use?

Did you make any changes in procedures, software, or materials before any of the failures? Did the printer's firmware update before any of these failures?

Describe what it is you do with the printer (procedures) and what materials (ink and paper make, type, size and weight) are used. Have you tried different materials? Details matter.

Describe the error given - an actual code or just lights flashing? What lights are flashing? Is there a repeated pattern to the flashing lights? Does it match anything from the list on the link below?

https://epson.com/faq/SPT_C11CE85201~faq-289021?faq_cat=faq-topFaqs

Any other printer/computer errors or unusual printer operational occurrences?

As @Ink stained Fingers said, could there be a jam and why did you need to clean the print head? What was your indication that a print head cleaning was needed - appearance of the print or an error code?

How did you clean the print head. Details matter if this involved removal of the print head.

Have you talked with Epson? You said you were told this was not a software issue. Who told you that and what do they think is going on?

That this has happened with 4 printer, some quite rapidly, most likely means this is a procedural issue - something you are doing that causes the problem. But, other causes have not been ruled out yet such as electrical sags/surges, firmware update that recognizes and rejects third party inks/chip, a printer that is not able to meet the demands placed on it, the third party software somehow causing an issue, etc.

 

[stratman]

Does this mean that you purchased this printer from a specific company which made some changes to the printer - e.g. to the paper detection sensor ? Can't you get any support from this company ?

That's what I was getting to in the last question of my post but not as well as you put it. The video I posted has a link to their company and does sell printers and the aftermarket ink, cartridges and software to print films.

https://www.screenprinting.com/coll...m_output&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube

 

[palombian]

In the old times we printed overhead projection slides with the office laser printer.

 

[Outedgekim]

Does this mean that you purchased this printer from a specific company which made some changes to the printer - e.g. to the paper detection sensor ? Can't you get any support from this company ?
I ran a P400 for quite a while but decommissioned it because of some problem with the pump at the cleaning unit, I cannot tell you how to disengage the printhead manually, you probably would need the service manual for that. But as far as I remember there is a gear driven spring loaded lever at the bottom, at the left bottom side of the carriage which can be moved sideways with a screw driver.

No this is just the recommended printer we have used for years to print out our film. It has no problem sensing the paper. That has never been an issue. 1st was bought from Epson directly- No edits or modifications, 2nd was bought from a out of business company similar to ours - no modifications and the 3rd off ebay and no modifications. Epson tech support is a bunch of idiots that just type in your problem and try to trouble shoot the problem. Each time I call them they say something different.
Currently at this juncture I just want to find out how to disengage the print head from there I plan to figure out this blinking light problem.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I must admit that I'm a kind of puzzled that you have that many similar problems with several P400's in a row, there must be more than just some ink probably clogging the printhead but I'm not clear what is happening.
Please have a look to this video explaining the function of the printhead lock, it is quite the same like that with lots of Epson printer models, and it shows you the white plastic finger locking the carriage movement, you should try to move it manually out of the way.

 

[pozzello]

Can you check the printer monitor utility and see what error code is being given?