Epson P7000 Ink Cartridge "Not Recognized" then "Ink Cartridges Not Installed"

[DeanChriss]

I have a P7000 that has been working well. The manual recommends agitating ink cartridges every 3 months. It was time to do that so I removed the cartridges one at a time, agitated them gently, and reinserted them. When I closed the ink cartridge doors the LCD showed a red "X" over the PK cartridge and said the cartridge was unrecognized. I think it also gave instructions to remove and reinsert. Anyway, that's what I did. After that I still got the red "X" over the PK cartridge but now the message said "No Ink Cartridges Install Ink Cartridges". I tried this a couple of times and then powered off the printer, waited a while, powered it on again. It pressurizes the system, moves the head as normal, but then parks the head and gives the same "X" over the PK cartridge with the "No Ink Cartridges" message.

The PK cartridge is not empty or nearly empty (no yellow "!") before this problem began. I did not touch the "chip" on the cartridge at any point, though I have now carefully cleaned it with no change in the results. Aside from trying a new cartridge (that I need to order), any thoughts on this? The printer is still under warranty so I suppose that's next if a different cartridge doesn't work.

[Farmer]

3 things to do, and 1 thing to remember in the future:

1. Update the firmware unless it's already the latest.

2. Try a different, new, cartridge (after having updated the firmware, which will include a power cycle - if the firmware was already the latest, just do a power cycle with the PK removed and then insert the new one).

3. Contact support for warranty assistance (there's no point trying multiple carts if the first replacement doesn't work).

As a note for the future, if you aren't already doing this, power cycle the printer before removing and agitating the ink carts.  This reflects the only real benefit to switching the printers off when not in use - it forces a write to the chips and then closes the electrical connection to the chips to help to prevent any errors (it's rare to be a problem, but I've seen it enough to have observed a correlation).

[DeanChriss]

3 things to do, and 1 thing to remember in the future:

1. Update the firmware unless it's already the latest.

2. Try a different, new, cartridge (after having updated the firmware, which will include a power cycle - if the firmware was already the latest, just do a power cycle with the PK removed and then insert the new one).

3. Contact support for warranty assistance (there's no point trying multiple carts if the first replacement doesn't work).

As a note for the future, if you aren't already doing this, power cycle the printer before removing and agitating the ink carts.  This reflects the only real benefit to switching the printers off when not in use - it forces a write to the chips and then closes the electrical connection to the chips to help to prevent any errors (it's rare to be a problem, but I've seen it enough to have observed a correlation).

Thanks for all of that.

I always power the printer off when I'm not using it, so all of this started from a powered off state... then powered on, opened the ink doors, agitated, closed the ink doors.

I'll check the firmware version but I recall updating it not long ago so it is probably the latest. the thing is, I believe the printer has to be in the "Ready" state (displaying Ready on the LCD) in order to update firmware. With the bad cartridge (or whatever is wrong) it will not go into that state, always ending up in a cartridge error message with inks depressurized. I've got an ink cartridge on the way so I'll update on what happens.

Thanks again.

[Rand47]

Thanks for all of that.

I always power the printer off when I'm not using it, so all of this started from a powered off state... then powered on, opened the ink doors, agitated, closed the ink doors.

I'll check the firmware version but I recall updating it not long ago so it is probably the latest. the thing is, I believe the printer has to be in the "Ready" state (displaying Ready on the LCD) in order to update firmware. With the bad cartridge (or whatever is wrong) it will not go into that state, always ending up in a cartridge error message with inks depressurized. I've got an ink cartridge on the way so I'll update on what happens.

Thanks again.

Dean,

Call Epson.  I've had three ink carts either "quit working" or be bad from the get-go when installed.  This was on two different Epson printers.  Epson has been good at replacing them for free after they give me a sufficient 3rd degree to assure I'm not just trying to get free ink.

Rand

[DeanChriss]

Dean,

Call Epson.  I've had three ink carts either "quit working" or be bad from the get-go when installed.  This was on two different Epson printers.  Epson has been good at replacing them for free after they give me a sufficient 3rd degree to assure I'm not just trying to get free ink.

Rand

This is exactly what happened. I installed a new cartridge and that cured the problem. This was a new problem for me. In 8+ years of printing with Epson, first a 7900 and now the P7000, I never had a bad ink cartridge. In this case it worked for months and "quit working" when I removed, agitated, and replaced it. I never touched the "chip" so it doesn't make much sense, but that's what happened.