Epson Photo R 300 printer problem ?

[macabethiel]

Can anyone help ? The wife's printer has stopped working, she put a new black cartidge in it and now it prints virtually nothing.
I had a genuine set of full Epson cartridges so I confidently put the full set in and it will not print anything in colour and it will not print a B&W document.
You get a very feint black outline if you print a colour picture.

I have tried the usual nozzle clean etc and ziltch. The printer is about 4 years old and is rarely used, no error messages are shown.

If its for the bin any ideas what to replace it with ?

 

[briggie]

Can anyone help ? The wife's printer has stopped working, she put a new black cartidge in it and now it prints virtually nothing.
I had a genuine set of full Epson cartridges so I confidently put the full set in and it will not print anything in colour and it will not print a B&W document.
You get a very feint black outline if you print a colour picture.

I have tried the usual nozzle clean etc and ziltch. The printer is about 4 years old and is rarely used, no error messages are shown.

If its for the bin any ideas what to replace it with ?

have you tried aligning the print head

 

[clivvy]

ok, silly questions first, sorry, but did you remove the sticky tape from the ink cartridges? Before replacing the cartridges, did you look inside for leaked ink? do you have any error indications on the printer-messages, flashing lights etc?
have you tried updating the printer driver?

you MAY be able to use a service software such as this:

http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

but I dont know for certain if it will help, and you use it at your OWN RISK! Im not 100% sure for your model, but if available, id also try a firmware update (not all printers have this option). It sounds to me like the ink head is blocked, but running a clean operation wont shift it, you'd literally have to remove the head and clean it, an dthats fiddly, messy, and no guarentee. I had to do it on our old A3 printer, worked ok for a while then packed in.

good luck!

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

does computer think its printed document.

does the spool folder fill and empty, usually a little
image of printer on bottom line of screen.

have you tried uninstalling driver and reinstalling,
is there more than one driver set up.

r300 was a pretty good printer, think i've got one
in loft as a spare, mind i prefer an all in one type
as so convenient to photo copy with.

maybe if find is actual fault with yours can make
one out of 2....

 

[macabethiel]

have you tried aligning the print head

Tried that but you get no pattern when you check the aligment. Just prints out a blank piece of paper.

 

[briggie]

Tried that but you get no pattern when you check the aligment. Just prints out a blank piece of paper.

are you certain you have removed the piece of sticky tape on the new cartridges ? i know it sounds silly , but its possible

 

[clivvy]

Tried that but you get no pattern when you check the aligment. Just prints out a blank piece of paper.

it doesnt sound like a driver issue, but its well worth removing the driver-reboot, then reinstall it. but ideally you need to get a new firmware on there, or reset the counters. But if you can, check the print head, its possible this is just gunked to buggery...normally epson printers freak out if you use non-epson cartridges, happened to us, only fix then is to reset its counters etc using he service software (liek in the link i sent)

 

[macabethiel]

have you tried aligning the print head

Tried that but you get no grid to align to as it just print nothing. The print head moves up and down and it ejects the finished blank page.

 

[briggie]

Tried that but you get no grid to align to as it just print nothing. The print head moves up and down and it ejects the finished blank page.

take cartridges out and check the tape has been removed

 

[macabethiel]

are you certain you have removed the piece of sticky tape on the new cartridges ? i know it sounds silly , but its possible

They do not come with a removable tape they are in a sealed shrink wrapper and the cartridges are punctured on insertion so as to speak.

 

[macabethiel]

does computer think its printed document.

does the spool folder fill and empty, usually a little
image of printer on bottom line of screen.

have you tried uninstalling driver and reinstalling,
is there more than one driver set up.

r300 was a pretty good printer, think i've got one
in loft as a spare, mind i prefer an all in one type
as so convenient to photo copy with.


maybe if find is actual fault with yours can make
one out of 2....

I have tried and done all you mention. It does complete the printing cycle with the print head zooming back and forth just virtually nothing on the paper it spits out.

I rekon it gunked up through lack of use and a set of non genuine cartridges in the past.

 

[briggie]

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...=yes&infoType=FAQs&oid=26322&prodoid=37368458

 

[Hilltop]

They do not come with a removable tape they are in a sealed shrink wrapper and the cartridges are punctured on insertion so as to speak.

But there is still tape over the vent on the top of the cartridge !!

 

[macabethiel]

printer woes

But there is still tape over the vent on the top of the cartridge !!

Interestingly my old cartridges were non-genuine and they had a tape on top that you removed. These are genuine T 0487 cartridges set of six side label says do not remove. Top label I managed to get one off but no vent just plain plastic underneath. No removable seals underneath except the one that pierces when you insert.

My old cartridges that had top vents were all over half full of ink when the printer stopped printing so I just replaced them in desperation.

It gives all the apperance of printing as the print head zooms about etc and paper is loaded and ejected as usual. Begining to think it must be blocked with dried ink on the working end.

I have removed a couple of the cartridges and they are clearly allowing ink out as you can see it on the outlet and mark a tissue with it.

 

[macabethiel]

printer woes

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...=yes&infoType=FAQs&oid=26322&prodoid=37368458

Thanks Briggie - the link its very good I will read it through and probably give them a ring if this does not work after I have tried everything again.

 

[macabethiel]

printer trouble

take cartridges out and check the tape has been removed

In the manual it clearly states do not remove any labels !

Labels on cartridge say do not remove on them. They come vaccum packed with just the self piercing section on the bottom.

 

[Darwin]

In the manual it clearly states do not remove any labels !

Labels on cartridge say do not remove on them. They come vaccum packed with just the self piercing section on the bottom.

ok still have to remove the tape at the top to let the air in or how does the ink come out ?