Epson Stylus 820 Photo: Any way to fool printer if one cartridge empty?

[Foucault]

A small nonprofit organization that I belong to is on a tight budget.
We've just had a used Epson Stylus 820 Photo printer donated. We have
been assured it works, but were not able to test it immediately
because the ink cartridges were empty. We mainly want to use it to
print text, with only the occasional color picture. So, to test it, I
ponied up for a new black cartridge, thinking, as with other printers
I've used, that the printer would work fine.

As a prompt came up to tell me, the printer would not work because the
color cartridge is empty. I'm reluctant to buy yet another cartridge,
especially as we've not been able to test the printer, and have no
idea whether or not it's really working.

Is there any way to fool the printer into operating with just one full
cartridge?

Thanks,

Foucault

 

[Tony]

A small nonprofit organization that I belong to is on a tight budget.
We've just had a used Epson Stylus 820 Photo printer donated. We have
been assured it works, but were not able to test it immediately
because the ink cartridges were empty. We mainly want to use it to
print text, with only the occasional color picture. So, to test it, I
ponied up for a new black cartridge, thinking, as with other printers
I've used, that the printer would work fine.

As a prompt came up to tell me, the printer would not work because the
color cartridge is empty. I'm reluctant to buy yet another cartridge,
especially as we've not been able to test the printer, and have no
idea whether or not it's really working.

Is there any way to fool the printer into operating with just one full
cartridge?

Thanks,

Foucault

The quick answer is No! The printer insists on having ink in all cartrdiges to
protect the heads from clogging.
There are some hardware chip resetters available but I do not know if any of
them support this model, software resetters will not work with this printer.
There are cheaper ways to get around this. If you don't ever want to print in
colour you could buy the cheapest available compatible cartridges and download
the software from
http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml
to "freeze" ink levels so that when the colour cartridges become empty the
printer will not know about it. This cannot be done with empty cartridges. The
cheapest available inks may however not be good for the printer long term. If
you go this way you will need to replace the black cartridge as soon as you
begin to get poor quality black print. So far as I know the software freezes
all cartridge levels including black but I have not tried it.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Jan Alter]

or
(e-mail address removed)12.pa.us

The quick answer is No! The printer insists on having ink in all
cartrdiges to
protect the heads from clogging.
There are some hardware chip resetters available but I do not know if any
of
them support this model, software resetters will not work with this
printer.
There are cheaper ways to get around this. If you don't ever want to print
in
colour you could buy the cheapest available compatible cartridges and
download
the software from
http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml
to "freeze" ink levels so that when the colour cartridges become empty the
printer will not know about it. This cannot be done with empty cartridges.
The
cheapest available inks may however not be good for the printer long term.
If
you go this way you will need to replace the black cartridge as soon as
you
begin to get poor quality black print. So far as I know the software
freezes
all cartridge levels including black but I have not tried it.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging

It is imperative to avoid the ink running out into an Epson printhead. To
have that happen can mean an airlock or worse having the head go bad. The
software though really does not pinpoint exactly how much ink is left in the
cartridge though when the flashing red light appears and it is an Epson
guestimate that there is between 10 - 20 % of the ink left. Often though I
have found the software to be faulty and sometimes the ink will run out
before any flashing light. I've noticed it by banding showing up or a
particular color simply stops printing. Replacing the cartridge with a new
one clears the problem.
That said, the quick and easy way to fool the 820 is to hold the paper
infeed button for about 3 seconds until the head moves to cartridge change
position. Lift the color cartridge hold down clamp all the way up and bring
it back into place. It will reset the software to make it think there's a
new cartridge in place. If you only have a couple of text items to print its
a pretty safe bet that you won't be hurting anything, but as I said before
its safer to just get another cartridge than to avoid possible head damage.
If you intend to keep the printer it's worth getting the cartridge. Small
risk for a potentially decent chipless printer.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Foucault]

Unfortunately, Jan, your suggestion didn't work for me. I wonder
whether you're thinking of a different printer? On my Stylus 820
Photo, I have a separate button to center the cartridges. When I did
this, lifted the clamp then closed it again, attempting to print
resulted in the pop-up message about the color cartridge being empty.

I guess I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and gamble on the
printer working by buying the color cartridge.

 

[Foucault]

In addition, can anyone recommend a good place online to buy these
cartridges. The choice is overwhelming!

Unfortunately, Jan, your suggestion didn't work for me. I wonder
whether you're thinking of a different printer? On my Stylus 820
Photo, I have a separate button to center the cartridges. When I did
this, lifted the clamp then closed it again, attempting to print
resulted in the pop-up message about the color cartridge being empty.

I guess I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and gamble on the
printer working by buying the color cartridge.

It is imperative to avoid the ink running out into an Epson printhead. To
have that happen can mean an airlock or worse having the head go bad. The
software though really does not pinpoint exactly how much ink is left in the
cartridge though when the flashing red light appears and it is an Epson
guestimate that there is between 10 - 20 % of the ink left. Often though I
have found the software to be faulty and sometimes the ink will run out
before any flashing light. I've noticed it by banding showing up or a
particular color simply stops printing. Replacing the cartridge with a new
one clears the problem.
That said, the quick and easy way to fool the 820 is to hold the paper
infeed button for about 3 seconds until the head moves to cartridge change
position. Lift the color cartridge hold down clamp all the way up and bring
it back into place. It will reset the software to make it think there's a
new cartridge in place. If you only have a couple of text items to print its
a pretty safe bet that you won't be hurting anything, but as I said before
its safer to just get another cartridge than to avoid possible head damage.
If you intend to keep the printer it's worth getting the cartridge. Small
risk for a potentially decent chipless printer.

 

[Jan Alter]

In addition, can anyone recommend a good place online to buy these
cartridges. The choice is overwhelming!

Unfortunately, Jan, your suggestion didn't work for me. I wonder
whether you're thinking of a different printer? On my Stylus 820
Photo, I have a separate button to center the cartridges. When I did
this, lifted the clamp then closed it again, attempting to print
resulted in the pop-up message about the color cartridge being empty.

I guess I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and gamble on the
printer working by buying the color cartridge.

It is imperative to avoid the ink running out into an Epson printhead.
To
have that happen can mean an airlock or worse having the head go bad.
The
software though really does not pinpoint exactly how much ink is left
in the
cartridge though when the flashing red light appears and it is an Epson
guestimate that there is between 10 - 20 % of the ink left. Often
though I
have found the software to be faulty and sometimes the ink will run out
before any flashing light. I've noticed it by banding showing up or a
particular color simply stops printing. Replacing the cartridge with a
new
one clears the problem.
That said, the quick and easy way to fool the 820 is to hold the
paper
infeed button for about 3 seconds until the head moves to cartridge
change
position. Lift the color cartridge hold down clamp all the way up and
bring
it back into place. It will reset the software to make it think there's
a
new cartridge in place. If you only have a couple of text items to
print its
a pretty safe bet that you won't be hurting anything, but as I said
before
its safer to just get another cartridge than to avoid possible head
damage.
If you intend to keep the printer it's worth getting the cartridge.
Small
risk for a potentially decent chipless printer.

Apologies that my directions didn't work. After going to Epson and reading
the manual I realize 820 does use chipped cartridges and necessitates a
reset of the chip even to fool the software. Without checking I presumed the
820 would work the same as a 740 or 880 printer. Hardly the fact.
Try www.inksupply.com as a source of decent 3rd party cartrdiges. They
appear to sell them for $5 either for color or black. I've been buying ink
from them for over a year with good results. These folks mail promptly.