Epson Printer Problem

stockton_2

Friend of mine has an Epson Stylus 830 printer. It started to make funny "whirring" noises and refused to print. I asked her to bring it round with some spare ink cartridges.

I put the new cartridges in and the ink monitor registered them as being full, where-as the ones I took out had registered empty. However, despite many attempts to clean the jets the printer still will not print.

I am suspecting that the "new" ink cartridges have in fact dried up as they may be quite old. When I shook them I heard no evidence of ink inside. I did actually weigh both the empty and the full cartridges and the new ones were significantly heavier than the empty ones I removed.

My question is this. Does the ink monitor use the weight of the cartridges in deciding the level of the ink in the cartridge? If so that would explain why the cartridges are showing full ink levels but are still not able to print (as the ink has dried).

Just wondering if in fact there is some other process at work here.

I should add that the printer seems to be functioning normally, in other respects. If I request it to print a "test" copy, it will attempt to do so and go through the normal procedure. There is simply the absence of ink.

esuhl

It sounds like the nozzles are clogged.

Some printers have internal nozzles; others are designed so that the nozzles are part of the print cartridge (and so are disposable).

I had this problem a while ago and web searches suggested removing the print head/nozzles attachment and running it under warm water (or leaving it in a warm water bath).

Unfortunately that didn't fix the problem for me, and I had to but a new printer (as a replacement print head was more than the cost of a whole printer!). But others seem to have had success.

moneyman1295

Try to soak your printer head in a cleaning solution that is available online or even in a printer repair store.

moneyman1295

I encountered such problems but because you are using Epson the head is embeded on the printer itself so if the head is faulty better by a new one than having it repaired.

stockton_2

Looks like you guys got it!

I just cleaned the nozzles with some Isopropyl Alcohol (Servisol) and got all the colours back almost right away.

The black is still absent but I am working on that.

So I was wrong to assume that the ink had dried up.

Always worth checking on here.

Thanks for your help.

Update

Just got the black working. Test page printed: No problem.

Many thanks for your help. Brilliant.

forgotmyname

The symptoms of using cheap ink?

stockton_2

forgotmyname wrote: »

The symptoms of using cheap ink?

Possibly! Neither of us have ever been guilty of paying top whack for Epson ink: so who knows?

Another reason, I think, is that she has, over the years, accumulated two (now old) printers, to which she has become somewhat attached, plus a new multi printer machine. I think it probable that this particular printer (the 830) did not get used for some time and hence the nozzles became clogged.

I take your point about the ink. Some of the stuff on ebay was very cheap and you do wonder about the quality although I note that current prices are higher than before.

But I do suspect that even if you bought top dollar epson ink you would still get problems of this nature if you did not use the printer for some time.

esuhl

forgotmyname wrote: »

The symptoms of using cheap ink?

None that I've found.

Buying two sets of cheapo ink saved me the full retail price of a new printer. Five years down the line when my printer finally packed up, even if it was the ink that caused the problem, I'd saved a good few hundred pounds.

Heedtheadvice

I have had several Epson printers over the years and have always replaced with compatible inks and, like the previous post, saved plenty and had no real problems that really were not of my own making.
I follow the following guidance.
Leave the printer on, it uses a lot less ink that way.
Print out a page or more every few weeks to keep the jets clearer -don't use the cleaning process unless absolutely necessary as it can waste ink as will changing less than a whole set at a time if they are nearly empty.
Never leave the printer with empty cartridges as this will likely cause drying and blockages.

I have not had any problem for many a year.....(well not with the printer :rotfl:)