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Author Topic: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.  (Read 20082 times)

santodx5

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Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« on: January 06, 2013, 11:42:18 pm »

Halo,


My Epson 9900 has a problem, after a few month of inactivity, the green color is totally blocked. Many cleaning cycles do not fix it. The other colors are fine, but the green nozzle check print is totally blank, not even a single line.

My local Epson technician (Indonesia), told me to replacement the head that cost me around $1200. I was not happy. They do not try any other method for fixing it.They only suggest me to replace it.


Can someone help me? I don't want to spend that much money, I use the printer rarely.


Thanks,
Dan
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darlingm

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2013, 04:18:27 am »

Exactly which "cleaning cycles" did you run?  Have you been in service mode at all?
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santodx5

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2013, 06:54:08 am »

normal and powerful but the technician come and did the cleaning in service mode.

How can I access the service mode? and which cleaning should I do? 

Let me do it myself once again.


Thanks
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Paul2660

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2013, 07:59:45 am »

To access service mode,

Turn off the printer,  hold down the Center, right and bottom buttons all at once, turn on printer and keep holding the buttons down until you see the LCD display the cartridges.  Let the printer come all the way up.  Your LCD menu will look a bit different. 

You have a lot more control over cleaning in Service mode.  4 levels of pairs cleaning, unlike the cleaning accessed from the computer.  You can also switch from Matte to Photo and back in SM without wasting as much ink.  The printer will not run a cleaning cycle. 

I would recommend doing a quick search on this site before you work in Service mode as there are settings in there that can be altered by mistake and can cause problems.  I am away from my printer or I would give you the steps to get to the cleaning.  I am sure it's in this forum somewhere however.

To get out of SM, turn off the printer, (I wait about 10 seconds after turning it off), then power back on.

Note, you can run in SM with no problems all the time, however you can't do a nozzle check from the printer in SM and you can't set a paper type.  Still prints fine.  When I am working with a lot of matte and photo ink jobs, I tend to stay in SM since the swapping is so much faster and takes less ink.

Paul Caldwell
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2013, 12:36:19 pm »

Missing a full channel can be caused by a problem with the pump cap assembly, not just the head.  However, cleaning normally will restore at least some nozzles.

Missing a full color can also be caused by a couple of other things which is allowing air into the line and not allowing the system to push ink to the head.

Technicians usually try those things first since they are much less expensive than a head replacement.
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darlingm

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2013, 09:34:38 pm »

FYI supersonic cleaning in service mode purges a ****-ton of ink.  (Insert your favorite word there, several that fit.)  Like, I think almost around 700ml total across all cartridges.  Not sure about the others.  Not recommending you do that, not recommending you don't.  Others are more familiar with clogs.  Just wanted you to know this since it sounds like you'll be poking around in service mode.

The geniuses at Epson didn't let you specify supersonic cleaning for a single pair.  Maybe there's a tech reason, but I think the just didn't put it in.
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santodx5

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2013, 02:55:22 am »

Just tried the service mode. I found these under cleaning,

Std CL1
Std CL2
Std CL3
Init Fill
SSCL
the color pair cleaning
ServiceManCL

Which one should I try?

Thanks
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jack777

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2013, 05:30:14 am »

Std CL1
Std CL2
Std CL3

These are standard cleanings - CL1 is the weakest, CL3 is the strongest

Init Fill - Don't use it unless you're really desperate
SSCL - Use if you're a bit less desperate

the color pair cleaning - try this one first, cleans only color pairs and you have 4 levels to choose. I don't know how it coresponds to power channel cleaning.

ServiceManCL - don't use this one
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Paul2660

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2013, 10:34:41 am »

I believe that the The Std CL1 through Std CL3 will use all the carts, and no allow pairs cleaning as I understand it.

I access the cleaning the following way:

Enter Service Mode==Mecha Adjustment==PK or MK nozzle adjustment (depending on ink set being used)==A3+==line down to the pairs cleaning options, A/B, C/D etc.  Each of these will use only two of the carts, you can also select 1 through 4 as far as strength.  I mostly use 1 and rarely have had to go to 2. 

I believe you can also get to the pairs via the cleaning menu, just line down farther than you did.  I saw the pairs cleaning there also, but have never used them from this menu only Mecha Adjustment.

Note, as far as I know, the pairs cleaning that is allowed under the printer utility (picked from your computer) does not let pick a strength, and thus used way more ink, no matter what size of the clog.   

I learned this from Wayne Fox's blog and have used it ever since,  great advice on his site to many aspects of the 9900/7900. 

Paul Caldwell


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santodx5

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2013, 05:15:40 am »

After LV 4 pair cleaning green/orange, I was able to get 2 tiny strips, but the color looks orange not green.

 


Can someone help?

Thanks
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aaronchan

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2013, 10:43:02 am »

I'm not sure if it will work on the X900 series.
But on my x880/x800/x600, if I see there's a clog, I usually drop a few drops of flush fluid on the sponge which located on the stop station. Sit for a few minites, then start the cleaning process again. After these, the print head should print seamlessly again.

aaron

elolaugesen

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2013, 10:57:00 am »

What do you mean by "Flush Fluid"????

Thanks..
« Last Edit: January 10, 2013, 04:56:28 pm by elolaugesen »
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santodx5

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2013, 12:16:05 pm »

Can you explain how do you it? where is the sponge? what fluid do you use? etc

Thanks
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Paul2660

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2013, 09:10:16 am »

I am confused, you mentioned that a technician came and worked on the printer in Service mode, did that person leave with the printer working fine, i.e generating a perfect nozzle check?  If so and you are getting what you showed in your later post, call Epson back, even if the printer is out of warranty the work done is warranted for 90 days, at least in the U.S.  You should not be seeing this so quickly if you just had a perfect nozzle check after the tech left. 

After that many cleanings, and only the small about of ink printing, you may need either a new head or dampers.  If you have pushed that much ink through in the cleanings and have not gotten any more to print than that, something else is wrong. 

Paul Caldwell
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santodx5

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2013, 10:31:17 am »

They told me I need a new head.

I just want to try something before that, to see if I can fix it without replacing the head.
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Paul2660

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2013, 12:08:22 pm »

You can look over the huge thread on this same forum started by Eric G, but I think you are not going to get past needing a new head.  Even with all that Eric did, which included a full flush, the head he had stayed clogged in the areas that were clogged to start with.  Unfortunately what you are showing in the pics is a fatal clog i.e. bad head.  Thats why fine I was confused.

In the same thread Eric talks over how to order a head and install it, with very good pics.

Paul Caldwell
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Higgy

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2013, 09:38:31 pm »

Yes be very careful since more cleanings seam to make it clog more, I agree with the previous poster put some cleaning solution on the capping station sponge and let it sit overnight if you have to. It will be the only way to let the clog break up, since more cleanings seem to make it worse. The solutions can be bought online from several people. Here is a link to one vendor that I have used. They have instructions on their site with picture
http://www.americaninkjetsystems.com/symphonic_inkjet_cleaning_fluid.html

Here is a great link to Eric's story with this problem your having, its long and interesting and scary all at the same time but don't worry you might have caught your problem early on. The fluid soaking on the head is the first step I would take. If you need to take it to the level of replacing the head buy the head and replace it yourself, its not hard and I could talk you through it.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=61585.0
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papahipon

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #17 on: July 09, 2013, 02:23:59 pm »

Hi All,
new member, just bought a used Epson 9900. Previous Owner didnt use it for a year and only print 525 pages for special project. Now I initially did a test print before following Erics printhead removal. Test print all ink are around 25% clog missing lines all over. Now when I remove the head and injected epson cleaning solution. Now the test print are working fine, except for the Green ink 100% not there. Tried pair cleaning 3x O/G and still no Go. Also did the But I notice an air bubble on the line. So I did power cleaning 2x air buble moves up and clear. Now did the final test and still no Green.
Fyi when I remove the printhead and did the epson clean syringe injection. All 10 ink sprayed nice and even.
My question is why only 1 ink missing? is it bad cartridge? or pump. I know we have the same problem, just hoping you can share how you fix the problem.
Thank you
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2013, 05:22:30 pm »

a full missing color can easily be caused by a defective damper.  Most head failures I've seen have been sporadic missing nozzles, not entire head.  
« Last Edit: August 23, 2013, 04:34:33 pm by Wayne Fox »
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papahipon

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Re: Help Epson 9900, green ink total clogged.
« Reply #19 on: July 10, 2013, 03:58:11 pm »

Thanks Wayne,
Ordered 5 Dampers from Ebay. Do I have to replace just one or all dampers? What you think?
Also how to take it out from the case.. Tried pulling it out wont go. Does it has a special clip?
Maybe somebody knows. Thanks for all the help
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