Red lights blinking on Epson Stylus C84

[August Pamplona]

I tried to do an ink refill. I started with the black. It seemed to
work well. Next morning I decide to try with CMY. Small leak in the
black which I fix. Refill CMY and printer seems to work. Sometime
later, I tried the printer and it ceased working (general error). I
checked on the cartridges and had a leak on Y (nothing spectacular,
mostly just a bit inside the cartridge carriage but it was enough to
wet the contact area).

I fixed the leaks (I had to refill again due to ink waste in cleaning
cycles and managed to produce another leak) and tried to dry up the
contact area but printer does not work any more (it goes through what
appears to be some cleaning cycles which waste spectacular amounts of
ink --specially black). Doing the self test by pressing the page button
and then the power button results in some activity which concludes with
the ink & page button lights in rapid synchronous blinking. Trying to
print gives me a communication error (but on earlier attempts it was
actually a general error message --it changed at some point, for some
reason). I'm fairly certain there's no reason for a communication error
(cable is new, cable has worked before, cable or connections did not
get touched to result in error).

Any suggestions as to what I might want to look for to try fixing the
issue before returning to warranty service?

TIA,
August Pamplona
--
The waterfall in Java is not wet.
- omegazero2003 on m.f.w.

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[Harvey]

I tried to do an ink refill. I started with the black. It seemed to
work well. Next morning I decide to try with CMY. Small leak in the
black which I fix. Refill CMY and printer seems to work. Sometime
later, I tried the printer and it ceased working (general error). I
checked on the cartridges and had a leak on Y (nothing spectacular,
mostly just a bit inside the cartridge carriage but it was enough to
wet the contact area).

I fixed the leaks (I had to refill again due to ink waste in cleaning
cycles and managed to produce another leak) and tried to dry up the
contact area but printer does not work any more (it goes through what
appears to be some cleaning cycles which waste spectacular amounts of
ink --specially black). Doing the self test by pressing the page button
and then the power button results in some activity which concludes with
the ink & page button lights in rapid synchronous blinking. Trying to
print gives me a communication error (but on earlier attempts it was
actually a general error message --it changed at some point, for some
reason). I'm fairly certain there's no reason for a communication error
(cable is new, cable has worked before, cable or connections did not
get touched to result in error).

Any suggestions as to what I might want to look for to try fixing the
issue before returning to warranty service?

TIA,
August Pamplona

Try some new ink cartridges?

 

[Arthur Entlich]

A few questions:

1) How are you refilling these cartridges (do you drill a hole in them,
if so where, etc.)

2) Unfortunately, I don't have a service manual for the C series
printers. You may have reached a protection number on the printer waste
ink pads, which has to be reset, usually by either a set of front panel
button presses, or in the newer printers, a proprietary piece of
software. If that is what is needed there is some Russian software that
resets some models.

If it is under warranty, that may be your best option, BUT, if the
spilled ink is somehow responsible for the damage, caused by refilling,
do not be surprised if Epson refuses your claim.

Art

 

[August Pamplona]

A few questions:

1) How are you refilling these cartridges (do you drill a hole in them,
if so where, etc.)

I used the taped over hole nearest to the ink outlet port. I've seen
on place that suggests refilling from the top (although I believe, from
comments elsewhere as well as from the instructions given, that one
can't fully refill that way due to the cartridge design).

2) Unfortunately, I don't have a service manual for the C series
printers. You may have reached a protection number on the printer waste
ink pads, which has to be reset, usually by either a set of front panel

It's gone through only one set of cartrigdes before the refilling
attempt (however the cleaning cycles it insisted on doing wasted well
over 1 high capacity black cartridge's worth of ink).

button presses, or in the newer printers, a proprietary piece of
software. If that is what is needed there is some Russian software that
resets some models.

If it is under warranty, that may be your best option, BUT, if the

It's refurbished bought directly from Epson. Probably not even three
months (IIRC).

spilled ink is somehow responsible for the damage, caused by refilling,
do not be surprised if Epson refuses your claim.

Art

Thanks anyway.

August Pamplona
--
The waterfall in Java is not wet.
- omegazero2003 on m.f.w.

a.a. # 1811 apatriot #20 Eater of smut
Proud member of the reality-based community.
The address in this message's 'From' field, in accordance with
individual.net's TOS, is real. However, almost all messages
reaching this address are deleted without human intervention.
In other words, if you e-mail me there, I will not receive your message.

To make sure that e-mail messages actually reach me,
make sure that my e-mail address is not hot.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Those cartridges are designed to not be refilled very easily. You are
correct that the top fill will only fill about 50% of the chambers, but
the way you are doing it, also will not fill the cartridge property (in
fact it may cause a number of problems including tending to cause leaks
as you experienced).

Art