Workforce 610 And All Similar Ink Models - Original Cartridges Not Recognized After Head Cleaning

[caskade]

Just joined the forum in hope of getting some hints and tips towards a possible solution for my problem.

I have been using my Workforce 610 for over 2 years for some home printing without major problems all on original epson ink. Recently it started displaying symptoms of a clogged head so i decided to take the carriage apart and clean the head. It went smoothly and i was able to get a lot of dried ink from the printing nozzle. Dried everything out then put it back together and everything was looking good. I turn on the printer and it goes thru initialization process and finally reports no cartridges installed. I start the cartridge installation wizard..load the same old cartridges that were in the printer before the cleaning and then it starts reporting "cannot recognize cartridges" and lists all of them. I went thru a horrible ordeal of starting the wizard ..replacing/wiggling cartridges..changing order and so on and nothing seems to make the printer successfully prime the ink. I was reading about the issue of "cannot recognize cartridges" on different forums and blogs but nothing was able to help in my case...checked all connections..ribbons..cleaned contacts with alcohol etc..

Here is a couple of things i was able to notice:

1. When loading all of the cartridges at once it always says that they cannot be recognized both in the PC maintenance app and on the printers LCD.
2. When loading one by one i can get it to a point where printer accepts every cartridge but still shows cannot recognize message when the final cartridge is inserted.
3. when altering between different cartridges i noticed that the first message from the wizard will tell you what cartridges are not in the carriage and the second message will tell you when there is something wrong with the cartridge itself.. ie i install black, yellow, magenta..the first message would say that the cyan is missing ...after pressing ok when it gets the carriage ready for cartridge replacement it shows second message that might have a black on the list besides the missing cyan if the black was empty..with this method im able to "verify" some cartridges that the printer accepts in step 1 and 2 but again when the last goes in the carriage they are no longer recognized..

Got a fresh set of epson cartridge because i thought that maybe the old ones were too low but the same thing happens ...printer seems to take cartridges until the last one is inserted and then they are all listed as unrecognisable. Also on few occasions going thru the replace cartridge wizard on the PC it actually picked up ink levels on 2 cartridges but then it resolved with the not compatible message. I am thinking that maybe i mechanically damaged something during the cleaning but it almost looks like every component of the carriage is working but there is some firmware craziness going on.

I wish there was some button combination that would put the printer in some factory reset state or something..it almost feels to me like the system got confused when the print head and cartridge controller were disconnected...

Any suggestions before i put the printer thru a precious metal recycling process?

 

[caskade]

I was learning about the whole system and having still a little bit of hope to resurrect the printer but would like to do some brainstorming and maybe someone on this forum can chip in.
Anyone experienced with not working printer head or other hardware failures on Epson printers could help. Im thinking any models with similar component layout so a carriage with a printer head and chip scanner like on number of inkjet printers from all-in-ones workforce, artisan to print only like stylus and such

I notice that there is a couple of ways the printer responds to a disconnected/altered components:
1. It shuts down right away during sturtup if the ribbons to nozzle or cartridge chip scanner are disconnected.
2. It displays hardware error/please reset printer when the ribbons are not seated correctly.
3. When everything is plugged in and it either has no cartridges in the carriage or it has but it resolves to "can not recognize cartridges" it seems like there is no other errors produced and the software on the printer and on PC can go thru a number of checks before suggesting cartridge replacement.


My questions/ideas are:
1. Whats a typical sign of head failure? As in short on the controller or mechanical damage to the nozzle foil. Would the printer report such thing in a hardware error message or just not turn on. Has anyone had experience with obviously damaged head but the system would still not complain about it and the only sign of failure would be problems with ink transfers on the paper?

2. Whats a typical sign of cartridge chip scanner/controller failure. Has anyone had experience with damaged ribbon or other mechanical failure on this part?

3. Has anyone seen a printer that would show "cannot recognize cartridges.." but the error was not related to the failure on the carriage. Like a damaged logic board up he line or some other culprit that did not require fixing/updates to the printing carriage but other components and resolved in "cannot recognize cartridges" not coming back?

4. Has anyone had experience with wrongly installed print carriage components that woudl not rise any software flags but produce failed ink transfers?

5. Has anyone experience firmware issues related to replacing components on similar Epson systems. Thinking about issues like firmware stored component ids and such that would prevent the system from working if a printing head or other circuit boards were replaced and were not software married with the system?

6. When priming the print head does the system know if the ink is flowing? Lets say that for some reason there is air in the print head cavities or for whatever reasons the inks are failing to reach printing foil. After replacing cartridges the printer is ok with one by one insertion but when its time to prime the head as the last step of the process and it does not see the ink "coming out of the nozzle" so it reports "cannot recognize cartridge"? I guess in the parked position there is a vacuum pad that suppose to suck out ink out of the nozzle. So would it be possible that during priming the system sucks up air thats in the head therefore reporting that cartridges must be empty or not recognized. Any experience with "cannot recognize cartridges" based on empty vs clogged up vs dried up cartridges/head?

Basically Im trying to drill it down so i can break it down between some possible hardware failures, firmware/cartridge chip incompatibilities, priming/ink flow issues.

Any ideas?