Epson C80

[Thee_Psycho]

My Epson C80 has started Banding. I can print a solid block of Cyan on a
page, one of Magenta and one of Yellow. They are fine, as soon as you
introduce black in to the equation it starts to band.

My Colour cartridges are the original Epson ones, and the Black is a third
party one, I have been using these cartridges before so I know its not a
conflict issue.

In addition to the banding, the Ink out light is flashing, think this is due
the the CMK each being at 20%. , is this normal? More annoyingly I can no
longer use the System monitor in my driver config page to view the level of
ink, the whole section is greyed out. I only know what each % is because I
did a manual config page on the printer.

I have done a nozzle alignment and head clean several times and its getting
no ideas, I have even changed the black cartridge!! Any ideas?

 

[Safetymom123]

The light starts flashing to give you plenty of warning. I wouldn't worry
about it until it goes solid red. Have you tried reinstalling the driver
and status monitor. They are two separate installations. Are you using
Epson paper or another?

 

[Thee_Psycho]

Both driver and the staus monitor have been downlaoded from the site. I
have been reading a bit more about the delights of Epson printers and it
appears I need to stick some windoloeane on the head, to shift clogged up
dye. I have done this but now it will not do a head clean becasue there is
insuffiecient ink!! Arghhhh!!!!

I am using standard 80g/m, just printing a page of text is a mission at the
moment. I know its not software related as the self test ( turned it on
holding the paper button down) did a test and that came out badly too.

I guess it serves me right for leaving it neglected for a week or two!

 

[Safetymom123]

When you left it alone did you turn it off using the power button? I have
been using Epson printers for years and never had a serious clog. I have a
C80 with no problems. As far as the software did you disable the anti virus
software before you installed the driver and monitor? Have you run nozzle
checks? Also if the cartridge is low on ink you won't get a good cleaning
cycle. When you put the new ink in you will probably notice it only takes
a time or two and it will be working.

 

[Thee_Psycho]

Yes I know, I mal treated my printer, there is a distinct lack of power
siockets in my house so printer was left totaly powerless. Nozzle check
shows the black as breaking up and the colour is all fine, as my black is at
100% its a pain i can't do a head clean anymore. I realy dont want to have
to go and buy a whole set of colour cartridges to find that the bloody think
still doesn't work! I have had a it a while and from what I can remember
Epsom aren't exactly cheep when it comes to having your kit repaired. Might
as well g out and buy a new one!

All anitvirus was disables. I have now attached the printer to 3 PCs, via
USB and parrelel, trying to eliminate a bad driver install or funny cable.
Nothing else has been installed on my systen between the ink indicators
working and not. oh well, off to the shop to buy cartridges i guess!

 

[Smogdog]

Safetymom123 & Thee_Psycho.
Perhaps as long time Epson C80 users you could post a comment for me.The
Epson people arent available untill Monday morning.t

I find the Epson C80 difficult. I havea two year old that I have replaced the
Black cartrige three time. It shows almost " full". The printer quit printing
black draft text because the Color cartriges show empty. I have never used the
color feature and I don.t ever intend to. They may have evaporated. Should'nt
the Black Draft work?


P.S. Does anyone know of a sturdy and stable Black only Printer?

 

[Safetymom123]

Every time the printer runs a cleaning cycle it uses all the inks. So you
could run out of color and never have printed in color. They didn't
evaporate. You should leave the printer off until ready to use and you will
have shorter cleaning cycles that won't waste as much ink.

 

[Michael]

Perhaps as long time Epson C80 users you could post a comment for me.The
Epson people arent available untill Monday morning.t

I find the Epson C80 difficult. I havea two year old that I have replaced the
Black cartrige three time. It shows almost " full". The printer quit printing
black draft text because the Color cartriges show empty. I have never used the
color feature and I don.t ever intend to. They may have evaporated. Should'nt
the Black Draft work?

P.S. Does anyone know of a sturdy and stable Black only Printer?

C80 doesn't always use the black cart for black; it can mix black from
the other three colors. Which it does is only partly determined by
which radio button is selected. The type of paper you've selected plays
a part too. To be brief, when the driver sees you're using super-duper
paper it goes to high definition mode and mixes your black. A trick I
learned from others in this NG is to select so-so paper in the driver
and specify Black (not Color). Then feed it your choice of copier
paper, inkjet paper, or even photo quality inkjet paper ... whatever.

 

[Thee_Psycho]

AS my C80 is playing up have been reading about all sorts of quirks about
this printer. I was wondering if you could use the chip resetter on your
colour cartridges, so they appear full, not sure if this wll work but sure
some one out there could advise.

 

[Yianni]

Yes, you could. But I don't recommend it, if the color cartridges -truly-
run out of ink, it may cause damage to the color printheads. Of course you
can try it if you don't care for colors at all.