Epson xp600 Printer prints blue

Alter_ego

Hi, I use non Epson cheapo cartridges. When I select print or copy B&W, I get blue print with a light blue background. Is this likely to be the cheap cartridges or something in the printer? Thanks for any advice, even if it's buy decent ink. BB

Cornucopia

I would say that if it's a fault with the printer, it's probably something quite fatal, unfortunately.

It's much more likely to be a compatibility issue with the lookalike cartridge(s). Best thing is to try genuine ones next time to see if the problem remains.

Alter_ego

Thanks Cornucopia, it's the light blue background from a white original that's making me wonder. Would really rather not try a set of genuine carts. as they would cost about half the price of a new printer.

Cornucopia

How many cartridges are there in your printer?

I would probably try wiping the print head with a piece of clean white paper (not tissue). It's possible that the blue background is smearing rather than intentional printing.

You could also do a colour test (blocks of different colours) to see if there is any pattern to the poor printing.

Alter_ego

Thanks for that, it has 5 cartridges one big black, 3 usual colours, one photo black.
I'll try to find the manual and do a colour test as you suggest, Thanks again.
Would you expect to see the print head without any major dismantling?
Thanks again. BB

Cornucopia

The print heads are often on the cartridges themselves - that's one of the reasons why they are so expensive. You can therefore access them by removing the cartridges.

Robisere

If you are successful in cleaning the print heads:

Try uninstalling the printer, then downloading new drivers here:
https://www.epson.co.uk/support?productID=11941#product_search

There is also this:
https://www.epson.co.uk/consumables

Which should save a bundle on Inks.

Alter_ego

Fitted a new set of lookalike inks, the background is now white, although the text is still dark blue when printing B&W>
Thanks for the links Rob.

grumpycrab

If you decide to give up with the Epson (from experience once they start playing up they are too much trouble...) HP's instant ink is quite a good solution. e.g. starts at £24/year for 50 pages/month (any colour).
e.g. £35 for this HP instant ink printer from John-Lewis
http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-deskjet-3630-all-in-one-wireless-printer-hp-instant-ink-compatible/p2251357
** apologies if off topic **

Alter_ego

Thanks crab, not ready to give up yet, I'll bear that in mind though. Now beginning to think it's only the inks, but still not willing to pay Epson genuine prices.
Problem with cheap inks is that when i find a decent one they've gone out of business before I need a second batch, it's only home printing.