Epson Photo Stylus 1400 Reset

[websnail]

Ah so I did miss something... Still n'all... 3am my time, days work and a 6 month old baby to look after (complete with exhausted mother, wife, etc...)...

Little patience on the reply front wouldn't go entirely amiss...

 

[rckowal]

Sorry mate, I wasn't intentionally being impatient with you but I've become some what frustrated with this 1400. As a result, I was just trying to get information that I could understand.

I truly appreciate the help you have provided to me. In fact, I don't know how you can find the time to take care of your family & business matters, yet be so helpful on so many different forums. My hat's off to you.

Richard

 

[websnail]

Believe me Richard I understand frustration and impatience although it is rather alarming to realise that your son has just demonstrated the trait and you catch yourself thinking "Oh {deity} that's me!"... *blush*

I can't say I blame you regarding this thing though, but might I suggest a word from the wise who has tread this path before and (after running screaming for the hills) found that the thing actually sorted itself out after a couple of weeks away... Usually it's one of these epiphany moment of clarity that comes with time away from a problem or something physical in the printer like ink settling, etc... but either way, a little time away can only be a good thing..


... and I would like to add the disclaimer that at no point do I expect nor welcome anyone taking it upon themselves to quote my own words back at me when I completely ignore this sage advice and do a rock star style "printer out of an attic skylight" routine... Do as I say, not as I do... *ahem*

 

[rckowal]

I have been using a CIS for several years problem free, then I ran into the "Service Required" issue. It was easy enough to reset the waste ink counter using the Epson utility provided for this job. Concurrently, I removed the CIS ink cartridge set to do "some house cleaning" inside of the carraige.

After re-installing them, the printer will not recognize the CIS cartridges that worked well until the waste ink reset. To see if the printer would recognize OEM Epson cartridges; I installed an old (2 - 3 year) set that I had on hand. It would not recognize them as well, even though they had the OEM chips on them.

I can now see some thing I overlooked in the this post. Perhaps it makes a difference in diagnosing this problem. To explain, I said that the printer is not recognizing the cartridges. Perhaps I should have said that it is not identifying their status correctly.

Actually, it goes through a normal start-up sequence up until the point where it should normally do some ink cleaning. Then, the status monitor reports that there are cartridges installed but the ink level in some of them is too low to proceed. Concurrently, the red "ink empty" light comes on as it should when there are empty cartridges installed. I also failed to say that the printers CIS ran out of black ink just after doing the first ink counter reset. That's when this condition started.

I am seeing the exact same thing with an old OEM Epson (ink level unknown) as well as known to be full refillables &/or CIS cartridges.

By the way, I have again cleaned the wire connectors as well as the contacts on the chips at least six times now using 2/3 Windex & 1/3 alcohol on Q Tips. They were all bone dry when cartridges were installed. Under high magnification, no misalignment of contact wires or chip locations can be seen.

Regards, Richard


Best regards, Richard

 

[The Hat]

rckowal

You could try shorting out the contact pins on the offending cartridge. Turn on the printer wait till it has a problem with the ink status then remove the cartridge and using a screw driver touch it off the pins in turn and see what response you get. Then take out all of the cartridges and turn the printer off for a couple of minutes, turn it back on again and add one cartridge at a time closing the lid each time as if all the cartridges were installed building up to the complete set installed. This can have an effect like resetting the ink monitoring..

 

[rckowal]

Thanks for the tip The Hat.

I'll try that after I get the printer carriage together. With so many respondents all but certain that dirty wire connectors, chip contacts, ad nausea are the problem, I have removed the wire connector board at the back of the carriage, as well as the ribbon cable that connects to it. They have now been thoroughly cleaned with Windex/alcohol home brew. This will remove any & all doubt that this critical area is now "squeaky clean". I'll post the results when I'm done.

Regards, Richard

 

[websnail]

I'm beginning to think the problem is that the printer feels like a boy that mum has just scrubbed, de-ear-waxed and dressed in a tux... If anything it's probably sulking because it liked being dirty!

Ok... fanciful and imaginative but I'm out of suggestions so this is what's left...

 

[rckowal]

I'm beginning to think the problem is that the printer feels like a boy that mum has just scrubbed, de-ear-waxed and dressed in a tux... If anything it's probably sulking because it liked being dirty!

Ok... fanciful and imaginative but I'm out of suggestions so this is what's left...

I'm nearly at the end of my string as well. But since I've found that the ribbon cable connecting the (chip) wire contacts to the main board wasn't fully seated in it's socket, that's still being explored.

If that doesn't work then I'm going to declare myself officially insane. Seriously though, I have learned a great deal about the working innards of Epson printers so the project wasn't a complete waste of time.

Richard

 

[The Hat]

rckowal

You obviously have nothing better to do with you time, like the rest of us on here...

 

[websnail]

You obviously have nothing better to do with you time, like the rest of us on here...

Speak for yourself... I have a mountain of nappies to change, mouths to feed, etc...