Epson 1280 Cartridge Not Recognized Error

[Donald Stouder]

Hello,

I have been using generic inks in my Epson 1280 for the past four
years or so without any problems. About a month ago, I had it
serviced/cleaned because a foam pad in the paper path was coming
apart. After the service the printer worked great. When I had to
replace the black ink cartridge, it was fussy and took a couple of
iterations to get it recognized. Once that was done, everything went
well, except all of a sudden well before the ink was depleted, the ink
cartridge not recognized error and red came up and the printer won't
function.

Thinking that I had a defective ink cartridge, I ordered, received new
cartridges, and installed the black cartridge without incident. That
was about a week and a half ago. Now all of a sudden the ink cartridge
not recognized error is back, and my 1280 refuses to operate. I called
the company (not Epson) that serviced the printer (out of their
warrant period) and they said that nothing they did should have caused
the problem, and it sounds like a problem on the circuit board.

Does anyone know what the likely cause of this might be? Is it likely
to be a circuit board type problem, or possibly the chip not making
contact? When the printer was reassembled is it possible that the
alignment/tightening of parts is causing the problem?

Any ideas willl be greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[measekite]

Hello,

I have been using generic inks

YOU HAVE A PROBLEM BECAUSE YOU MADE A STUPID DECISION.

in my Epson 1280 for the past four
years or so without any problems.

AND NOW YOU RUINED YOUR PRINTER

YOU CERTAINLY DESERVE IT AND I HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON

About a month ago, I had it
serviced/cleaned because a foam pad in the paper path was coming
apart. After the service the printer worked great. When I had to
replace the black ink cartridge, it was fussy and took a couple of
iterations to get it recognized. Once that was done, everything went
well, except all of a sudden well before the ink was depleted, the ink
cartridge not recognized error and red came up and the printer won't
function.

AND THAT IS GOOD. BUY A CANON PRO9000 AND USE OEM INK

Thinking that I had a defective ink cartridge, I ordered, received new
cartridges, and installed the black cartridge without incident. That
was about a week and a half ago. Now all of a sudden the ink cartridge
not recognized error is back, and my 1280 refuses to operate. I called
the company (not Epson)

OF COURSE NOT. THEY WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CRAP INK

that serviced the printer (out of their
warrant period) and they said that nothing they did should have caused
the problem, and it sounds like a problem on the circuit board.

IT IS THE INKY STINKY INK

 

[Davy]

Have you tried wiping the contacts on the chip that's mounted on the
ink tank with a soft cloth..?

I'm not sure about this, but believe it may be a new Epson "Use
our Cartridge or Else" racket, meaning that the printer will
recognise only Epson cartridges by coding within the 'Intellidge
chip' (as Epson calls them) 'flagging' the printers cpu - better
let other's comment here.

Davy

 

[Tony]

Hello,

I have been using generic inks in my Epson 1280 for the past four
years or so without any problems. About a month ago, I had it
serviced/cleaned because a foam pad in the paper path was coming
apart. After the service the printer worked great. When I had to
replace the black ink cartridge, it was fussy and took a couple of
iterations to get it recognized. Once that was done, everything went
well, except all of a sudden well before the ink was depleted, the ink
cartridge not recognized error and red came up and the printer won't
function.

Thinking that I had a defective ink cartridge, I ordered, received new
cartridges, and installed the black cartridge without incident. That
was about a week and a half ago. Now all of a sudden the ink cartridge
not recognized error is back, and my 1280 refuses to operate. I called
the company (not Epson) that serviced the printer (out of their
warrant period) and they said that nothing they did should have caused
the problem, and it sounds like a problem on the circuit board.

Does anyone know what the likely cause of this might be? Is it likely
to be a circuit board type problem, or possibly the chip not making
contact? When the printer was reassembled is it possible that the
alignment/tightening of parts is causing the problem?

Any ideas willl be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Well worth cleaning the chip as Davy said, also the contacts at the back of the
carriage where it mates with the cartridge chip.
If that does not work then I suspect there is an electronic problem since this
happens with two different cartridges one of which is new.
Is the foam pad you refer to is one of the small square ones that sit amongst
the rollers underneath the carriage bar? If so and the repair shop replaced one
of these then they had to do quite a bit of dissasembly. It is possible that
one of the carriage ribbon cables has become slightly detached at one end. The
only way to check this is to remove the covers. and look at both ends of the
two flat flexible cables and check they are pushed firmly into their sockets.
The fact that the problem came and went and then returned indicates to me that
it is worth a look to see if these or any other cables are not fully seated in
their sockets, intermittent issues like this can often be traced to that sort
of problem.
Tony

 

[Donald Stouder]

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 11:03:55 -0800, Donald Stouder

Thanks you Davy and Tony for the very prompt and helpful reply. Oh ya,
before I forget, thanks to you measekite for your enlightened
comments.

Don S.

 

[Davy]

Adding to Tony's comments, what chances are there of the actual sprin
(I presume) contacts (the ones that make contact with the ink tan
chip) not making a positive contact or being slightly bent to on
side so as to make contact on a intermittent basis - Is it worth
check..

Dav

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Make sure the contacts on the cartridge and within the print head
carriage are clean (the gold wires that contact the chip on the
cartridge. Cleaning should be done using water or alcohol, and be done
gently as to not damage the wires, which are of a brittle type of metal.
However, it is possible those wires became deformed or lost their
"spring" and are not making adequate contact to the chip on the
cartridge. Very, very careful manipulation of these wires can make them
more springy again, but, as I mentioned you could end up breaking one
off and the replacement would be costly, so be forewarned.

There could also be other causes, but this is a more common one.

Art