Please Help, Epson 1400 Cannot Recognize Ink Cartridges

[just2print]

quote: "The point is never remove or change cartridges while Printer is offline."
First, what does it mean for the printer to be "offline"? thx
Also, to the poster who said he put in a new motherboard - does a printer have a motherboard??
My Epson 1400 had a CISS installed by the guy I bought it from. (There is a history of a problem and having the printhead replaced by him. But I will just cut to the current problem). The black ink started printing out text that looked like double letters. So I wasn't using it for a couple months. Then the yellow showed bad in the nozzle check print. I tried all the things to start with like head cleanings; refraining from multiple head cleanings as I've seen that advice online. I tried manual cleaning per instructions I've found online. I printed those purge images until the black did not print at all. So I just made the plunge and cut the CISS lines; and installed a set of refillable cartridges I bought off someone on eBay. The printer will not recognize them at all. Will not even complete that back and forth motion it does in the ink change position. Those refillable cartridges are very difficult to get in and out; do not seem to be quality.
I just don't have anyone to consult with (since the guy I bought it from refuses to even answer my email after I told him I can't keep putting money into the printer. $20-$30 just to ship it one way.)
After I went past the point of no return and cut out the CISS; then the refillables won't work, I shut it off, hung my head and walked away. (I'm now wondering if the CISS cartridges will work as refillables?? )
I'm in printer wilderness here. I loved this printer. It was my dream printer: wide format and prints on discs. If anyone can offer me any hope or advice or insight, I would be most grateful.

 

[Mastah]

Just finish fixing Epson 1400 with cis, took a long time to figure out why printer doesn't recognize ink system. So I,
1. Press ink button to position head and then unplug printer.
2. Check ink system for irregularities and clean up.
3. Gently install one by one ink cartridges and make sure good connection or contact.
4. While printer is still unplugged, turn on\off button off before plugging printer back on. ( note that you unplugged printer while it was still on to unlock head).
5. Once printer is plugged. Turn printer on.
Printer should do normal start up and do a refresh boot\check of ink system.
Mine worked after I did step #4 instead of just plugging in without turning printer off.
If that doesn't work, try replacing head. Hope this helps. God Bless.

 

[websnail]

4. While printer is still unplugged, turn on\off button off before plugging printer back on. ( note that you unplugged printer while it was still on to unlock head).

Can you clarify this one for me.

Are you saying that before you plug the printer into the power to press the power on/off button? or do you mean, before you connect to your computer?

If it's the former I'm not sure how you could do this for rather obvious reasons and it's not a rocker switch, so I'm, not sure how it could work.

Cheers.

 

[Greg Fitzgerald]

Hi. it's a little bit late To try maybe, but who have an issue with ciss not recognizing can try my solution. First of all remove the ciss while the Printer is off. Than restart Printer without any cartridges inserted. Reinstall ciss again and ciss will recognized. The point is never remove or change cartridges while Printer is offline. Hope this will help

I had similar issues after using a kit to clean the cartridge head. The printer was telling me all carts. needed replacement despite being new.

My solution:
1. Press on the blinking ink drop button until the cartridge tray is exposed enough to open the cover. Unplug the unit. (If you just turn off, it will push the tray far enough to the right to make opening the cover impossible) Remove all cartridges. Plug back in. When it finishes it's powering up sequence, go through the process of replacing one cartridge at a time. Each time you will see that when it goes through the reset process, it stops at the color that it thinks is out. Keep pressing the ink drop button until the carriage returns, insert the 2nd cartridge... continue this until all 6 cartridges are replaced. Worked like a charm for me.

 

[Milton Mariano Castaño]

You have to check the F2 fuse on the motherboard. This fuse is very close to the transistors. Search images on Google. check that it has conductivity with a multimeter. if it has no conductivity, Buy the fuse and replace it, remember that this fuse is a protection for other parts of the main board. I could not buy the fuse so I did a bypass:
weld a thin copper filament into the fuse contacts (bypass), after that the problem was solved and it began to recognize the cartridges. IMPORTANT!!!! CHECK THAT THE MAIN BOARD DOES NOT HAVE INK OR ANOTHER LIQUID. THAT FUSE IS BURNED GENERALLY WHEN THERE IS MOISTURE ON THE mainboard. LET it DRY OR DRY WITH A HEAT GUN.

 

[jfcarbel]

I seem to have same problem. And couple days before I tried using printer, I recalled a loud crackle/pop in office. I assume some equipment had fuse blow or capacitor pop top.
I now wonder if the printer equipment malfunction on motherboard would have made this sound.

Also what I see is that the refillable carts had all orange error lights lit above each cart, but as I popped each one in/out and hit ink drop button those lights went away. But in the printer preferences the ink levels just show every cart as grayed out. Is this what one sees with this type of failure?

Wondering if there are any good printer repair shops in the Chicagoland area that could take a look at it. I love this printer and want to fix it.

UPDATE:
Took apart the unit and the CB53 motherboard capacitors look just fine and are high quality Rubycon. But I believe the ink levels grayed out is typically a hardware problem as I ensured its not software, drive or firewall issue. Any ideas? Think of just spending the $80 on a new mainboard from Aliexpress. Unless someone can tell me another reason for these ink levels grayed out and PC to printer communication errors.

 

[Milton Mariano Castaño]

I seem to have same problem. And couple days before I tried using printer, I recalled a loud crackle/pop in office. I assume some equipment had fuse blow or capacitor pop top.
I now wonder if the printer equipment malfunction on motherboard would have made this sound.

Also what I see is that the refillable carts had all orange error lights lit above each cart, but as I popped each one in/out and hit ink drop button those lights went away. But in the printer preferences the ink levels just show every cart as grayed out. Is this what one sees with this type of failure?

Wondering if there are any good printer repair shops in the Chicagoland area that could take a look at it. I love this printer and want to fix it.

UPDATE:
Took apart the unit and the CB53 motherboard capacitors look just fine and are high quality Rubycon. But I believe the ink levels grayed out is typically a hardware problem as I ensured its not software, drive or firewall issue. Any ideas? Think of just spending the $80 on a new mainboard from Aliexpress. Unless someone can tell me another reason for these ink levels grayed out and PC to printer communication errors.

Check the F2 fuse in the mainboard and the previous answer.