Dealing with Epson counters that shut off your printer.

[OutOFtheinkwell]

My wife's Epson 1400 Stylus printer has done thousands of beautiful full color prints and she really loves it. I realized after we bought the printer that I would soon be in the poor house paying for all those ink cartridges but I found out about ciss systems and that really saved the day. I installed one of the kits with the ribbon tubing, bottles and the RATF chips that tell the printer that it is full and good to go. I'm sure that most of the members in here have a better knowledge than I have about all this and have seen the notice that came up recently on our 1400 telling us that "Our printer had come to the end of it's useful life etc.).
So here were with a good printer that had just been shut down electronically sort of like those Police shows where the cops have a "bait" car that they shut down by pushing a button and the doors also lock so the bad guy can't get out.
I got busy researching and found out what was going on and first looked into the SCC utilities web site but unfortunately they don't list the Epson 1400. Then I found the WIC reset for a fee site. Over the last week I have seen several more of these sites but didn't know if they can be trusted or not. Then I heard that Epson itself has a reset utility and I went there and found out that I can get the code I need if I fill out all the information they require like the printer serial numbers, my name and address and when I bought the 1400 etc. Well God bless those nice people, I did all they asked for and they sent me a code that got my wife's printer printing perfect pictures once more.....for another 50 or so prints and then it quit again. This time I got that box that shows the ink levels of the 6 cartridges in the printer, all with red X's on them and the words( Unknown Cartridge). That is where I'm at at this writing and I have been told that I might want to try removing the Damper carts and installing OEM cartridges and that may trigger acceptance of the dampers and the RATF chip again. For the members that may not know, RATF chip just means( Refill All To Full) chip. I ordered a set of OEM cartridges and will try them soon as they arrive. In the mean time I thought it might be a really good idea to hook up with all you good people to ask about how some of you may have dealt with this situation! By the way, when I was looking at sites yesterday I found a ton of people that have had this happen to their printers and Epson apparently warns customers against using anything but their Cartridges in their machines. My experience has been that I can not tell the difference in the end result and I can save an enormous amount of money using a CIS and third party ink so I can't complain and I wouldn't even bother trying to fix my wife's printer if it wasn't for the fact that it works perfect except for the fact Epson decided to shut it down. Lets compare notes in this great venue and see if we can't get really good at preventing Epson Planned Obsolesce! I hope to get some helpful feed back in here soon and I will pass on anything I learn that is useful as well. Happy printing! Outofheinkwell! P.S. I was surprise to see that Epson makes there own CIS printer for sale in other countries. Goggle Epson L100 and L200 to see this for yourself!

 

[jtoolman]

You might want to VERY SOON set up an external waste ink bottle otherwise your work bench will be full or overflowed ink from your now saturated waste ink pads.
The Epson ulitlity will only set you back to printing for a short while.
Since your pads are already saturated according to the printer telling you the service message. All you can do is set up your waste bottle, buy the serial reset # for your WIC reset tool.
and hope for the best

Don't tip the printer more than you have to unless you want ink to pour out of the bottom if it is that saturated.

Does your RATF chip bank on your CISS have an ON and OFF switch? If so, the ink levels DO NOT stay full all the time like you believe. They count down your ink levels like a normal cart chip does. When one cart show as "empty" you hit the ink button and the carriage moves to the change position. You flip the chip bank switch to OFF and hit the ink button once again. The carriage will now move back to the normal position and will now report that ALL your "Carts" are empty and display and ERROR. You hit the ink button yet again, carriage moves back to the change position and you flip the chip button to ON, hit the ink button yet again. The carriage now travels back and all colors are reported as full. The purge cycle will be performed and you should be good to go.

There is NO system that will stay as FULL 100% of the time.

GET THAT WASTE INK BOTTLE INSTALLED!!!!!!
The folka that sell the serias for the WIC utility have a nice waste ink set up with instructions. It's not really that hard specially the stylus 1400. I have two of them running now.
Or buy a new printer!!!!

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

All good advice my friend. I'm sorry I left some of the details out, I actually have had a waste ink tank installed from the very beginning so the pads are not soaked at all. As for the RATF chip I usually don't have to reset it as it seems to reset itself normally but since I have this red ink light and the notice that my carts are unknown I have gone through the procedure of switching the RATF chip off and then back on in sequence per the directions but nothing is working. One friend said I may have success if I reinstall the Epson software and run OEM carts for awhile and then switch over to the Dampers and the RATF chips as i did in the very beginning. I did order a set of OEM carts and when they arrive in a few days I'm going to give that a shot. Then, if that does not work I'm going to delete all software and go to a reset utility site. I have had great success with the Russian SCC reset program in the past with an old Epson C-88 printer but they have not been active lately and I don't see the 1400 listed in there anyway. I also tried a manual reset that I read about, switching the printer off and pulling the power plug and the USB cable etc, but no success with that either. I intend to keep at it until I get this printer going or blow it up (LOL). In the meantime I have been sending E-mails to Epson telling them that they have wonderful printers but their counter measures are not good at all. They always say it's for the good of the customer because of the mess an ink tank overflow will cause etc but that is pure bunk If I may say so in my opinion as I have had many friends that didn't even use a waste ink tank and have reset printers 3 or 4 times without an overflow. One friend said , "who cares about overflows?" "If I need to I'll just stick a cookie sheet under my printer. While I don't think that is an option for me I can certainly agree that Epson pushes that notion when Im sure that selling a new printer when a customer really just needs a printer that works is their focus! The truth is that if Epson just quit messing with those shut down sequences and let the printers live a normal life span I'd be buying their printers for my lifetime. Anyway I really appreciate your input and have already got a boxed 1400 in the closet ready to go if I need it. I just have a problem with a company that forces a shut down of a fully functional printer. You mentioned WIC utilities, have you had a good experience with them? That might be a good option for me? Is that the one on the "Manuels? site? Thanks again for your help! Regards, outoftheinkwell!

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

hello again. I just was thinking. With all the printer people in here It seems like it would be a great opportunity to put our heads together and pin down the very best solutions to this printer shut down situation. I for one am going after all the information I can find and will sure share the best with all the folks in here. I notice that Canon printers are popular among the membership and Is that because they are more trouble free? Do they use "counter" software like Epson? Does anyone know if there is "any" printer company that does not use this practice of planned obsolesce? I love the quality of the full color prints my wife gets with her Epson 1400 but if I can find the same level of quality and no printer shut down set up on a printer I'd sure look into buying one of their printers. Please pass on any info on this OK? Thanks in Advance...Happy Printing, outoftheinkwell!

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

It's been days since I have seen any replies about the subject of Counters in Epson printers which I find a little surprising considering how many people I've talked to in the past that have expressed a dislike of the policy that shuts down their printers. Guess it's not as big a problem as I thought. I did get some feed back about the WIC utility being a really good solution to the problem so perhaps that is the reason for a lack of concern. I'm going to try using a set of OEM cartridges to get my 1400 back on track and failing that I'm next going to get the WIC utility. Does anyone have experience in doing this ? I was thinking of erasing all drivers and other data about the printer and starting from the beginning with the WIC install utility. Sound right? Thanks! Outoftheinkwell.

 

[websnail]

Not sure how I missed this thread but one bit feedback on the posts in general...

The single one block of text makes it really difficult to read (for me at least) on a screen... If you break it up in paragraphs I find it a lot easier on my eyes and don't find myself skipping all over the place... Just a thought.

Right, as regards the whole waste ink counter problem... This issue is pretty much half of my whole business and resource generation focus so as far as the 1400 goes there's a slew of things to note.

1. Fitting a waste tank is a doddle (translation: easy)
2. The waste counter can be reset using the A10_IPR that Epson provide for North American customers (although copies of the same utility are also available all over the web now)
3. There is a known issue with the 1400, 1390 and 1410 (all the same printer with different sales zone model numbers) and an early firmware version. This firmware has a bug in that it refuses to allow the waste ink counter to stay reset. It will revert back to full again once the printer is powered off and on again. The only fix is to get the firmware upgraded by a service tech/centre. A pain but once you've done it once, it's done.

Right, all that aside, you do not need to use the WICReset tool for this model printer because there are already two different utilities that cover it without additional expense
a) the A10_IPR
b) the AdjProg service utility that was leaked onto the net some years back

The only reason to need a WICreset key is if you only have access to a Mac (with a suitable OS version) and have to use the iWIC utility.


Now, harking back to the problem discussed in point 3. above... the WICReset will not reset the counter if the other two 'free' utilities don't work. I've had a couple of unhappy customers thanks to this point but it's worth noting. The firmware update is the only way.


Not sure if that covers everything but hope it helps...
There more info on all of this stuff on wasteink.co.uk and octoinkjet.co.uk if you care to bore yourself silly

Cheers,

Martin

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

Thanks Martin and I have looked at your very interesting site. I am almost never bored by anything to do with printing. I'm just another printer hack but I do have a love for messing with them and really enjoy it when I get some of the beautiful prints they turn out. My biggest problem is getting the big picture on how best to work the darn things especially since becoming an official Geezer at age 77, the brain is the first thing to go....well...the second thing but I don't want to talk about that! Speaking of hacks, I think if Epson keeps playing hard ball with their customers some smart individual is going to come up with a Hack that will eliminate the Firmware bomb! I feel a change in "the force" as I type that! Sorry, too much science fiction as a kid. I used to be a big fan and still am. I love this new cyber stuff and would have loved to have had it around as a kid. I'm so old I can vividly remember sitting with my Dad at breakfast in San Francisco and Dad reading the S.F. Examiner news paper and commenting in wonder about a P-38( lockheed Lightning of WW-2) setting a new world record for speed in a power dive hitting 600MPH. Wow! I'll stop before your eyes glaze over. I get that a lot from my kids when I start talking about the past(LOL) Have a nice day, good comments from you! John!

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

Ok Just got through removing my CIS system and adding Remanufactured OEM NBR.79 Cartridges in my 1400 Epson and the good news is they work and demonstrate that there is nothing at all wrong with my basic printer, the prints are the usual beautiful prints we always get from our Epson 1400 model. The bad news is that when I remove the OEM cartridges and re-install my CIS system which made the same quality prints on that printer for over 2 years I get shut down as before with a red light and red X's on the Cartridge icons. So this is all due to the Epson policy of tampering with printers sold to their customers to force the use of their expensive cartridges. Personally I have decided that if Epson keeps this policy in force I will never buy anything from them again. And that is not what I want at all because I do like the prints I get from the Epson 1400. Too bad...sooo sad! outoftheinkwell.

 

[The Hat]

Ok Just got through removing my CIS system and adding Remanufactured OEM NBR.79 Cartridges in my 1400 Epson and the good news is they work and demonstrate that there is nothing at all wrong with my basic printer, the prints are the usual beautiful prints we always get from our Epson 1400 model. The bad news is that when I remove the OEM cartridges and re-install my CIS system which made the same quality prints on that printer for over 2 years I get shut down as before with a red light and red X's on the Cartridge icons. So this is all due to the Epson policy of tampering with printers sold to their customers to force the use of their expensive cartridges. Personally I have decided that if Epson keeps this policy in force I will never buy anything from them again. And that is not what I want at all because I do like the prints I get from the Epson 1400. Too bad...sooo sad! outoftheinkwell.

Could you not swap the chips from the OEMs to your CISS cartridges,
would that fool the system and enable you to print?

 

[websnail]

In terms of those chips... Just get some ARC (auto reset chips) and use those instead... They resolve the problem with the chips not being accepted.. or should at least.