#6 All the Lights Blinking

#6 All the Lights Blinking

When the printer refuses to work, and lights up all of its lights and makes then blink, the usual problem is that the internal waste ink storage pads are full of ink and the printer has shut down to protect you from having waste ink dribbling out the bottom of the printer and running out across your desk top.

All inkjet printers use large, felt, pads in the bottom of the printer to soak up and store the waste ink that is generated during Cleaning Cycles. The printer is programmed at the factory to "know" how many Cleaning Cycles that can be run before the storage pads are full. Once the printer thinks they are full, the printer shuts down until the pads are changed and the waste ink counter is re-set.

You can do a couple of things to deal with this little problem. You can return your printer to the nearest company service center and pay them to do the work. You can get the name of the nearest service center from the web site of the company that made the printer. They will probably charge you more than the printer is worth.

You can buy a Service Manual and take the printer apart, wash out the pads in the sink or a bucket, dry them in the sun for a couple of days and put them back in, and re-set the counter yourself. Go to www.compassmicro.com for Epson Service Manuals, new replacement pads, etc. Go to http://www.2manuals.com for Canon Service Manuals.

Or, you can simply re-set the ink counter, put some newspapers under the printer and continue printing. It may be several weeks or months before the printer actually starts to leak ink, and even when it does, it will still print OK.

In order to re-set the ink counter, some Epson printers use a combination of keys that you hold down and/or press during a "power-on" of the printer. It varies a little from one model to another. Some Epson printers cannot be re-set this way at all! Get a copy of the Epson Service Manual (on CD-ROM) from Compass Micro to see if your model can be re-set this way.

The other way you might be able to re-set the ink counter is to download and install a special Printer Utility from a Russian web site. The utility is FREE and is in English!! It works with many - not all - Epson desk top printers. It not only resets the ink counter, it can also be used to re-set the individual ink cartridge chips. You can find this utility at: http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

Some of the newer Epson printers... like the "R" series and some of the "C" series (R200/R220/R300/R320/R800/R1800/R2400/C88, and some others)..... can only be reset by using a special Epson utility that is first installed on the computer that the printer is connected to. the printer must be directly connected via a USB or parallel cable - not on a network server. From within the utility, the waster ink counter can then be reset. See Compass Micro for CD-versions of the various utilities. There is a DIFFERENT utility for almost every different model of printer.

If you are using a wide-throat, floor-standing Epson printer, we have posted on this web site a method for using the printer to re-set the chips on the cartridges. This method is better, and more certain, than using the hand-held chip re-setter that we also sell. Go to: http://www.colorbat.com/constructiontips.htm and download Item #71 and the (7) JPG files that go with it.

There is no known way to re-set the ink counter on Canon Printers. There is no known source for Service Manuals for the Canon printers. If you ever discover any, please let me know and I'll post the information here.