Z3100 help - Expired inks read as empty even when they are full

[dave unwin]

I've recently purchased a Z3100 44" printer from a friend.  He had the lines and printheads replaced but they have not been primed yet.  The inks have since expired however are nearly full or full.

When the printer is initializing, it informs me that the inks are out of date, however I am able to 'ok' this.  However it then repeatedly tells me that all ink cartridges are empty, even when they are not.  I've tried shaking the cartridges and reseating them, and replacing the cartridge with an unopened (but expired) cartridge, all with the same result.

Can anyone shed some light on the issue?  I've upgraded to the latest firmware.  I understand I may have to just bite the bullet and purchase a new set of inks however I am sure the inks have some useful life in them yet!

Thanks again and looking forward to contributing to this board once I can get it up and running

Cheers

Dave

[Justan]

I don’t know the solution but suggest trying at least 1 in warranty ink cart to see if the problem goes away for that cart.

With my Z3100, the printer doesn’t care beyond a warning if the cart is out of date but will refuse to print with what it thinks any cart is empty

[dave unwin]

Thanks Justan

The in warranty inks seem to read correctly, however I cannot get any further it appears until i replace all expired cartridges.  Oh well, hopefully I can use the old inks once the new ones are used up.  I just hope that a new set of inks solves the problem!

Cheers

[Justan]

I poked around the service manual for a few moments. If you don’t have it, definitely track one down. If that doesn’t work, send me your email address by PM and I’ll email the manual to you.

In section 8 of the manual they describe removing the left and right side ink supply stations. Both of these have power and data cables. I suggest that you do a R&R of the data cables where they connect to the controller at the other end. Also make sure that all cables are connected. In addition, there are a series of diagnostics related to this subsystem. Run the diagnostics.

[dave unwin]

Thanks!  I've managed to track down the service manual but will try the new inks first and go from there.