Epson Stylus Color 400=Help

[Blair]

A friend asked me to help him with his Epson Stylus Color 400 which was
printing very faintly and he thought that the cartridge needed replacing and
he bought and fitted a new Epson one . The results were the same.
I first of all started the cleaning cycle and after several cleaning cycles
it printed perfectly although I noticed the ink indicated showed only half
full.
I then tried the colour but one colour was very faint and after cleaning
again there was no improvement. As my friend hardly ever used colour we
left it and went back to printing his documents in black when I noticed the
red light was on continuously against the black and when we tried to print
there was a large red cross over the printer. I have now brought the printer
home with me and connected the printer to power only and it still shows the
red light on against the black so I cannot carry out any cleaning cycles.
It is obviously a fault on the printer
Can anyone suggest a remedy please.
Blair

 

[Cari]

A friend asked me to help him with his Epson Stylus Color 400 which was
printing very faintly and he thought that the cartridge needed replacing
and
he bought and fitted a new Epson one . The results were the same.
I first of all started the cleaning cycle and after several cleaning
cycles
it printed perfectly although I noticed the ink indicated showed only half
full.
I then tried the colour but one colour was very faint and after cleaning
again there was no improvement. As my friend hardly ever used colour we
left it and went back to printing his documents in black when I noticed
the
red light was on continuously against the black and when we tried to print
there was a large red cross over the printer. I have now brought the
printer
home with me and connected the printer to power only and it still shows
the
red light on against the black so I cannot carry out any cleaning cycles.
It is obviously a fault on the printer
Can anyone suggest a remedy please.
Blair

It's such an ancient printer that it will probably cost more to repair than
to purchase a new one.

 

[Shooter]

As someone has said a very old printer, but that should make it easy to
purchase cleaning carts, if you decide to do this go to a site and down load
a purge tiff, this will allow you to clean a couple of times then print the
purge, providing the waste pads are not full it may work.

 

[Blair]

I realise that it is an old printer but I hate to be beaten on what may be a
simple remedy.
I have a cleaning cart but at present as long as the red light is on it will
not permit the cleaning cycle to start. Also if I remove the new cart
according to the book it cannot be used again.
It also cost £11.50!
Blair

 

[adgy]

Blair

If you feel confident enough strip down the tray that holds the ink
cartridges to the point where the print head can be removed, then immerse
the head in approx 1/4" 'HOT' not boiling water for a short time. Using
kitchen roll after the soak press the head onto the tissue and repeat the
process until there is little or no ink on the tissue. I've still got a 600
Epson running as well as the day it was bought.

If you need further and I'm assuming the 400 is similar to the 600 I will
try and talk you through the process of getting the print head out.

Regards

 

[adgy]

Blair

If you feel confident enough strip down the tray that holds the ink
cartridges to the point where the print head can be removed, then immerse
the head in approx 1/4" 'HOT' not boiling water for a short time. Using
kitchen roll after the soak press the head onto the tissue and repeat the
process until there is little or no ink on the tissue. I've still got a 600
Epson running as well as the day it was bought.

If you need further and I'm assuming the 400 is similar to the 600 I will
try and talk you through the process of getting the print head out.

Regards

Scratch my back to reply..............................................

 

[Tony]

Doing what others have advised with the printhead may be worthwhile, but your
red light "may" be caused by the protection counter.
Try http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml and use the utility to reset the
protection counter, if you are fortunate you will then be able to purge.
Be warned however that the waste ink pad may be getting close to full and you
may in the near future need to replace or clean it to avoid overflow.
Tony

 

[Blair]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Early this morning I decided to try and
release the black cartridge temporarily and reinstall it. The red light went
out I am back using the 400 again.!
I was afraid that the cartridge would be useless after reinstalling it but
all seems well.
I hate throwing devices on the scrap heap!
Blair

 

[Shooter]

I service a customers 600 from time to time and he is always removing and
replacing his carts after first use and has never had a problem.

 

[Blair]

I spoke too soon! After I had taken the printer back to my friend and
connected to his PC I had a communication problem with a large red cross
over the printer image.
I brought it back to my house again and found the same fault so have come o
the conclusion that the cable is faulty and my next stage is to buy a new
cable
Will let you know the result. Unless someone has a brighter idea
Blair

 

[Shooter]

You could try putting a piece of selotape over the outlet of the cart, this
may allow the printer to think it's a new cart. I would only give this a
2-10 chance but worth a try. I am uncertain as which cable you are talking
about if the parallel cable try removing it several times from the printer
with the printer/computer switched off. it is somewhat rare for a parallel
cable to become faulty at the same time as the other problems you are
having.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Please contact me at the address shown on this posting and I can send
you a copy of my Epson Cleaning Manual which will explain how to resolve
these problems in most cases.

There is no charge for this service.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

As memory serves, I don't believe the Epson 400 uses the chipped
cartridges, is that correct?

In spite of what the manual says about removing cartridges, in most
cases with the older Epson printers, you can resolve the small problem
with an air lock using a procedure I can explain to you in private email.

You can then make up some cleaning cartridges to get things unclogged
and working fully before returning your ink cartridges to the printer.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I strongly suggest against removing the head on Epson printers. They
can be easily damaged, and it is not necessary to unclog them. There
are much safer procedures.

One can also knock the head geometry off when removing or reinstalling
it, if other damage isn't done.

If there were no other alternative to cleaning the heads, I would say it
was a worthwhile pursuit, but since there are other methods to
accomplish the same thing, it seems an unnecessary risk.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

The SC400 indicates waste ink pads full by blinking all four LEDS, so
the indication he is getting indicates "no ink cartridge installed, or
ink at end, black cartridge".

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Well, it sounds like you won't need my advice after all.. if you still
want a copy of the cleaning manual just email me privately.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Assuming the printer is not showing all LEDs blinking, it should be working.

Try running the printer disconnected from the computer completely.

Run a printer test by pressing the Load/Eject button the same time you
press the on button (make sure there is paper in the printer.). After
you are done, just turn off the printer using the on/off button.

If you get the printer going this way without connection to the computer
chances are it is either a bad or loose cable connecting it, or an old
or corrupted driver. Try removing and reinstalling the current Epson
driver (use the one from Epson, not an out of box from your OS).

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

The sellotape has no effect on whether the printer thinks the cartridge
is new or not.

On non-chipped cartridges, the way the printer figures out it is a "new"
cartridge is by the cartridge being removed and reinstalled. There is a
small switch which is activated.

Art

 

[Blair]

Thank Arthur for all your advice
I removed the cartridge and installed it again and the red light went out!
I check the operation of the printer disconnected from the PC and it worked
correctly.
When I connected it to the PC I now get a large red cross against the image
of the printer showing a communication problem.
I brought the printer to my home and it showed the same red cross, so it may
be the parallel cable faulty. Is this likely?
Blair

 

[Tony]

The SC400 indicates waste ink pads full by blinking all four LEDS, so
the indication he is getting indicates "no ink cartridge installed, or
ink at end, black cartridge".

Art

Art
The thought that possibly he has a protection counter issue was triggered by
the "red cross", ie unavailable or communication error. I have seen this happen
a few times with absolutely no light pattern to assist. Not on this particular
model as far as I can remember.
Tony