Problems with Epson 3800 maintenance cartridge

[xavier young]

My Epson 3800 (4 years old but v. light use), won't recognise the new (genuine) maintenance cartridge as empty.

I've contacted Epson who told me to do all the obvious things, like cleaning the contacts. Then advised me to have the printer serviced - set fee £360!

This is the only thing wrong with the printer and I'm really loathe to put it in for an otherwise pointless service.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Cheers, Xavier.

[Wayne Fox]

It is possible for the chip in an unused ink or maintainence cartridge to be faulty. You might try the cartridge in another printer if thats possible or try another new one before resorting to getting it serviced.

[Farmer]

As infrequent as it is, it is far more likely that the cartridge has a fault rather than the printer - I'd be returning it to the place of purchase for an exchange, although I agree with Wayne that if you are able to test it that would be best to do first.

[xavier young]

Thanks guys, Epson are sending me another maintenance cartridge (free), so I'll give that a try. But I'm not that optimistic as I've already tried 2.

Interesting that Epson also thought this was the most likely fault though.

[Farmer]

I would also recommend removing the offending maint cart, switching the printer off, then on (with the slot empty), then off and then back on and then insert the replacement.

[xavier young]

I finally received the replacement cartridge from Epson today - they managed to send it to the wrong address twice! Sadly it's the same story as before, my printer is convinced that it's got a full maintenance cartridge and won't do a thing.

I did try the turning on and off routine suggested by Farmer too. Time to start calling the service guys I guess.

So annoying!!!

[AFairley]

Sorry to hear the new cart didn't fix things.  I wonder if there's a way to get into the service menu and reboot the machine.  I know techs sometime suggest that as a possible fix for HP consumer printers that don't recognize an ink cartridge.  No idea if you can reboot a 3800 or not, just thinking....