Epson WF-7720 yesterday printed only blue, today carts not recognised...

Peter W

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Hi all,

I bought this WorkForce 11 months ago, so still under guarantee.

I don't use it much, although I did think I was using it enough to stop it clogging itself with dried ink, a few times a month. There was a month I was away, but it worked after that.

About 4 months ago the so-called setup cartridges (pigment, I think) were low on ink and I replaced them with a set of pre-filled dye cartridges. There was no problem changing over, the prints were good.

Yesterday I tried to print a b/w photo, on glossy photo paper. No matter where I set the output to greyscale (on the printer setup dialogue box, or during the print) it wouldn't come out b/w but was blue (cyan and magenta). I determined that the yellow was clogged. The Epson does not want to print a b/w photo using the black cartridge but was trying to make black with CMY.

Took out all the cartridges, gently ran some Windex through the nozzles with a syringe, and replaced the cartridges.

They were not recognised.

Took them out and put in the Epson setup cartridges, which still had some ink.

Not recognised again.

Cleaned the ARCs and contact pins, no change. Tried a third set of cartridges, which are empty and unused, no change.

One step I haven't tried is a new set of genuine Epson cartridges, but if they don't get recognised it's money down the drain.

Any suggestions? Is the printer a candidate for a warranty return?

Best wishes,
Peter
 

websnail

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Possible vector to check is cleaning solution getting onto the ribbon cable/connections into the printhead. Should note that I've found this to be the case when the printer recognises all as installed fine... right up until the the last cartridge goes in... and then it rejects all of them.

Getting to the printhead to clean things down is something I can't help with but if the problem is indeed related you'll want to act reasonably quickly as the cleaning solution can degrade the printed wire contact on the ribbon cable.
 
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Peter W

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Thanks websnail,

It seemed dry enough round the cable and connections, so I switched it off and pulled the cable, and next day it gave the same message, at which point I pulled the cartridges and snapped them beck and lo! recognised. But still no yellow ink comes through, so I'll first see if I can do a warranty return, and if that doesn't work I'll see about removing the print head for ultrasound treatment.

Or... buy a new printer?

Peter
 

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