First Jamming, Now No Cartridge Recognition

At the end of November, I had a problem with paper jamming. The jamming was caused by a malfunctioning paper detector and the part had to be replaced. After the repairman installed the new part, he called to tell me that all of the ink lights were now on, and that he couldn’t test the repair because the printer wouldn’t function. Since I’ve had the same experience of having all the ink lights come on, I told him to simply pull out each cartridge and reinsert them. He said he did, and that didn’t correct the issue. He also told me that some of the cartridges were almost empty. So, I assumed that by making sure all of the cartridges were full, the ink lights would go out and the printer would function again.

When I got it home, I filled the low cartridges and fired the printer up again. All of the ink lights came on. In checking the printer utility, I get the message that none of the cartridges are being recognized.

I don’t have a chip re-setter. Will re-setting the chips correct the problem, or do I need to do something else?

Thanks!

The question is, is it the printer or the cartridges? Do you have any OEM carts lying around, even empty ones? If so you could put a few of them in and see if they’re recognised. It’s safe to do this, as the printer won’t get beyond this unless all carts are recognised. An empty cartridge will show as empty rather than than not recognised, so you should see the difference. For this reason, I doubt that a resetter will help, although I could be wrong.

If it is the carts, then I fear that he may have upgraded the firmware, and the new firmware is not compatible with the chips on the refillable carts. There are reports of this happening on the R1430, but I’ve not read of it on the R2880.

If it’s not the carts, then according to pp49-50 of the service manual, the other explanations for “Troubleshooting of No Ink Cartridge/CSIC Error” is that “Check that the CSIC FFC is connected to the CSIC Board connector and Main Board connector CN22” and that neither board is damaged. It’s possible that in reassembling the printer something has not been reconnected.

[QUOTE=Brian_S;10024]The question is, is it the printer or the cartridges? Do you have any OEM carts lying around, even empty ones? If so you could put a few of them in and see if they’re recognised. It’s safe to do this, as the printer won’t get beyond this unless all carts are recognised. An empty cartridge will show as empty rather than than not recognised, so you should see the difference. For this reason, I doubt that a resetter will help, although I could be wrong.

If it is the carts, then I fear that he may have upgraded the firmware, and the new firmware is not compatible with the chips on the refillable carts. There are reports of this happening on the R1430, but I’ve not read of it on the R2880.

If it’s not the carts, then according to pp49-50 of the service manual, the other explanations for “Troubleshooting of No Ink Cartridge/CSIC Error” is that “Check that the CSIC FFC is connected to the CSIC Board connector and Main Board connector CN22” and that neither board is damaged. It’s possible that in reassembling the printer something has not been reconnected.[/QUOTE]

Brian, I have an extra set of Cone carts. I’m wondering if I should fill them with ink and replace the current ones. Thanks.

Hi Robert,
The Cone carts arrive as full. So long as all you do is put them in the printer, check the status, then remove them you should be fine.
Good luck!
John

You shouldn’t need to put all of them in. You could put a few of them in, empty, and just see if the printer recognises those particular carts. As I said, the printer won’t attempt to pull any ink through so long as at least one cart can’t be recognised.

But I think it’s unlikely to tell you anything much. I.e. it’s unlikely to work. For this to work, all the existing IJM carts in the printer must have all failed simultaneously, and that’s virtually impossible. Could something in the repair have shorted them all out? Highly unlikely I’d have thought. Remember, the printer isn’t showing each cart as empty, as you describe it, it’s showing cart not recognised. That’s entirely different. If it won’t recognise the current carts, it’s hard to see why it would recognise the second set. I really think you have to find at least one OEM cart somewhere - full or empty - in order to test the printer.

[QUOTE=Brian_S;10027]You shouldn’t need to put all of them in. You could put a few of them in, empty, and just see if the printer recognises those particular carts. As I said, the printer won’t attempt to pull any ink through so long as at least one cart can’t be recognised.

But I think it’s unlikely to tell you anything much. I.e. it’s unlikely to work. For this to work, all the existing IJM carts in the printer must have all failed simultaneously, and that’s virtually impossible. Could something in the repair have shorted them all out? Highly unlikely I’d have thought. Remember, the printer isn’t showing each cart as empty, as you describe it, it’s showing cart not recognised. That’s entirely different. If it won’t recognise the current carts, it’s hard to see why it would recognise the second set. I really think you have to find at least one OEM cart somewhere - full or empty - in order to test the printer.[/QUOTE]

OK…I put three OEM carts into the printer. The Utility indicated that the printer was “busy,” so it gave me no indication of the cart status. I then re-installed the IJM carts and the Utility reverted back to not recognizing the carts. So, what conclusion might be drawn?

To be honest, I don’t know.

On the printer, what happened to the lights on the printer? The key question is whether all eight lights were still red, or only the five for the IJM carts? If eight lights are still red, then I think it’s time to talk to your repairman about that cable connection.

If the lights for the three OEM carts didn’t turn red it means that those three are recognised, so I’d be asking the repairman if he upgraded the firmware for the printer. As I said earlier, upgraded printer firmware is a known cause of the R1430 no longer accepting third party carts, and I’ve never heard of anyone solving this. I.e. AFAIK you can’t downgrade, or at least I’ve never heard of it being done. But the 1430 is the only printer that I can recall hearing of where this happened.

If only five lights turned red then I guess you could try the same test with a few from your spare set of IJM carts, but I’m still sceptical whether than will make a difference.

You said that you’re desperate to finish a print job. If it recognises OEM carts but not either set of IJM carts, then I think your only solution is to do that print job with OEM.

[QUOTE=Brian_S;10031]To be honest, I don’t know.

On the printer, what happened to the lights on the printer? The key question is whether all eight lights were still red, or only the five for the IJM carts? If eight lights are still red, then I think it’s time to talk to your repairman about that cable connection.

If the lights for the three OEM carts didn’t turn red it means that those three are recognised, so I’d be asking the repairman if he upgraded the firmware for the printer. As I said earlier, upgraded printer firmware is a known cause of the R1430 no longer accepting third party carts, and I’ve never heard of anyone solving this. I.e. AFAIK you can’t downgrade, or at least I’ve never heard of it being done. But the 1430 is the only printer that I can recall hearing of where this happened.

If only five lights turned red then I guess you could try the same test with a few from your spare set of IJM carts, but I’m still sceptical whether than will make a difference.

You said that you’re desperate to finish a print job. If it recognises OEM carts but not either set of IJM carts, then I think your only solution is to do that print job with OEM.[/QUOTE]

The three OEM carts didn’t turn off the lights. All the lights were still active. Would rather not return to the OEM carts. I guess I’ll be back to the repairman tomorrow.

Thanks for your help!!

I don’t quite know what to make of that. The fact that all eight lights were still red with three OEM carts suggests a hardware problem to me rather than a problem with the IJM carts, but the fact that the utility indicated that the printer was “busy” and gave no indication of the cart status is a little confusing. Unless perhaps the three OEM carts were all empty? Is that possible? An empty cart will also cause a red light, but the utility should show a different message. How long did you leave the printer and utility? Perhaps close and restart the utility? What happens if you insert the three OEM and leave the other five slots empty? I think you need to try a few things to maximise your chances of getting useful diagnostic info.

I understand that you don’t want to return to OEM, but I think your best chance of convincing the repair person that there’s a hardware problem that wasn’t there previously is if there is a set of OEM carts in it when you take it back. Not empty would be best, but even empty ones should show in the utility program as empty and not just “not recognised”. At least that’s my experience.

[QUOTE=Brian_S;10033]I don’t quite know what to make of that. The fact that all eight lights were still red with three OEM carts suggests a hardware problem to me rather than a problem with the IJM carts, but the fact that the utility indicated that the printer was “busy” and gave no indication of the cart status is a little confusing. Unless perhaps the three OEM carts were all empty? Is that possible? An empty cart will also cause a red light, but the utility should show a different message. How long did you leave the printer and utility? Perhaps close and restart the utility? What happens if you insert the three OEM and leave the other five slots empty? I think you need to try a few things to maximise your chances of getting useful diagnostic info.

I understand that you don’t want to return to OEM, but I think your best chance of convincing the repair person that there’s a hardware problem that wasn’t there previously is if there is a set of OEM carts in it when you take it back. Not empty would be best, but even empty ones should show in the utility program as empty and not just “not recognised”. At least that’s my experience.[/QUOTE]

OK…next phase:

> I replaced all the carts with OEM’s. Some may be empty, a few, I know, were full.
> Initially, the black ink light went out, all the others stayed on. The Utility at first showed “printer busy,” and a minute or two later it reverted to not recognizing all the carts except for black.
> I put in a brand new VLM cart straight out of the box and hit the ink button. The black ink light went back on and all the rest stayed on, including the VLM cart; the Utility still showed that it recognized the black ink cart. It didn’t recognize the brand new VLM.
So, I suspect that it’s not the carts, it’s hardware.

Hi Robert~

I see you started a new thread since your problem changed from paper jamming to ink cartridge recognition.

After reading thru this thread, your experience is certainly strange and I assume is hardware related- but please do this to check:

  1. Start by removing all ink cartridges from the printer, then push the power button to shut the printer off
  2. Disconnect the power and USB cables for a minute, then plug in the power cable ONLY
  3. Turn the printer on- all ink lights should be on, and status monitor should indicate no carts are installed (“carts can’t be recognized”)
  4. Push the ink change button to move the print head to the ink change position, then insert only the new refillable VLM cartridge- making sure it snaps snugly in place.
  5. Push the ink change button to move the print head back to the far right “ready” position
    *NOTE: the VLM cart light on the printer will probably stay on, but the status monitor should remove that cart as “unrecognized”
  6. Go to your Epson status monitor, and push “update”- is the VLM recognized (no error)?
  7. If the VLM cart is recognized in your status monitor, then I suggest either doing this for each refill cartridge one at a time to check each individual cart, or go ahead and install the rest of the carts at once and update the status monitor in hopes they’re all recognized again.

Please let me know, thanks~ Dana :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=Dana-IJM;10039]Hi Robert~

I see you started a new thread since your problem changed from paper jamming to ink cartridge recognition.

After reading thru this thread, your experience is certainly strange and I assume is hardware related- but please do this to check:

  1. Start by removing all ink cartridges from the printer, then push the power button to shut the printer off
  2. Disconnect the power and USB cables for a minute, then plug in the power cable ONLY
  3. Turn the printer on- all ink lights should be on, and status monitor should indicate no carts are installed (“carts can’t be recognized”)
  4. Push the ink change button to move the print head to the ink change position, then insert only the new refillable VLM cartridge- making sure it snaps snugly in place.
  5. Push the ink change button to move the print head back to the far right “ready” position
    *NOTE: the VLM cart light on the printer will probably stay on, but the status monitor should remove that cart as “unrecognized”
  6. Go to your Epson status monitor, and push “update”- is the VLM recognized (no error)?
  7. If the VLM cart is recognized in your status monitor, then I suggest either doing this for each refill cartridge one at a time to check each individual cart, or go ahead and install the rest of the carts at once and update the status monitor in hopes they’re all recognized again.

Please let me know, thanks~ Dana :)[/QUOTE]

Dana, Just to clarify:
The VLM I installed to test was an Epson cart, not a refillable. Do I still go ahead with the testing sequence you describe? If so, then in Step 7 should I be reinserting my fresh set of Cone carts, or the OEM’s? (Also, in the instructions, I don’t see when I should plug the USB back in so the computer and printer can talk to each other. I assume I have to reconnect at some point in order to read the status monitor.)

[QUOTE=Robert Kalman;10041]Dana, Just to clarify:
The VLM I installed to test was an Epson cart, not a refillable. Do I still go ahead with the testing sequence you describe? If so, then in Step 7 should I be reinserting my fresh set of Cone carts, or the OEM’s? (Also, in the instructions, I don’t see when I should plug the USB back in so the computer and printer can talk to each other. I assume I have to reconnect at some point in order to read the status monitor.)[/QUOTE]

OK…I tested one OEM cart at a time. The monitor recognized each one in turn. And, when the print head returned to the ink change position so that I could take the one cart back out and insert the next one, the low ink indicator for that cart went out.

So, then I tried my current set of Cone carts, and as I inserted each one individually and tested each cart was recognized. So then, starting with the yellow cart (WN#1) and moving right to left I kept adding one additional cart at a time; each time the head would move slightly left then back and every cart became recognized. With seven carts loaded and tested, I added the LLK (GO) cart and hit the ink change button. This time, the printer head moved all the way to the extreme left, stayed there for about 30 seconds and traveled back to it’s far right “ready” position. And all the lights came back on. And the status monitor reverted to “unrecognized.”

Mystifying… and still no printer.