Epson Stylus Pro 7600 "Ink Out" Illuminated with New Cartridges

General
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I’ve filled the new cartridge set and when pushing them into the cartridge holder and locking the ink lever, several of the “Ink Out” light illuminate and the display reads “Set Ink Cartridge”. I’ve raised the ink leveler, pulled out and pushed in the cartridge but one or more “Ink Out” lights still illuminate. I have to push hard for them to not spring out and different cartridge lights illuminate unless I push hard against the end of the cartridges to engage the sensors.

It would seem to cartridges may have too much spring or not enough friction to keep them against the sensor. Shimming to cartridges on either side doesn’t seem to help since the sensor seems to need pressure pushing directly from the cartridge end. The OEM cartridges fit snug with pegs on the bottom and top that keep them very secure.

I read this related discussion ( Epson Pro7600 “set ink cartridge” error) and understand the issues may be:

  • Chip is not having a good contact
  • Printer restart may help sense the new cartridge
  • Chip may be bad due to static
  • Setting the cartridges again and pushing may improve connection

When replacing the OEM cartridges, they seat correctly with no light illuminated. I’ve verified the chip contacts are clean and performed several steps prior to flush the lines and clean the head. The fact the “Set ink cartridge” indicator goes off when I push the cartridge in for the different slots seems to indicate the cartridges are not able to keep the chip in contact with the printer chip interface.

  • Possibly the cartridge lock might not be pushing down enough
  • I don’t think a bad chip work sometimes and not others

Have others experienced this contact issue with their new cartridges?
Any other recommendations to get these new cartridges to seat properly?

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Update: Below are other steps taken that I see as a workaround.

I replaced all the OEM cartridges and all seated well having the cartridge chips registering with the printer. With the printer on, I one-by-one removes an OEM cartridge and added the new cartridges to the printer that sensed the change. I had to press firmly to get the refillable cartridge chip to register with the printer sensors. The printer would give a message indicating it sensed a 100% full cartridge and I would repeat the process.

I found that without pressing firmly on all the refillables, the “Set Ink Cartridge” message would display on one or more of the refillable cartridges. I used a rigid straight level to push my hip into the ends of the cartridges for all cartridge chips to register with the printer sensors enough to prevent the “Ink Out” lights from illuminating. This then allowed me to step through the menus to turn off the printer’s chip sensor as Dana recommended in the post I referenced.

I then was able to trigger the initial fill cycle to draw the new ink through the lines I had flushed. I had taken out the absorbent padding in the waste tank, taped on cling wrap on the inner walls, and placed stacked paper towels to absorb the wasted ink. Only 4 of the 7 lines pulled ink fully through the lines so to use a syringe to pull the ink closer to the print head. When I disconnected the nut at the damper, I found the ink drained back toward the cartridge while I was struggling to disengage the line from the Ink Damper carriage assembly.

I still will have to take time to verify the ink cartridges are truly seated well and all colors flow to make quality prints…

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As this model printer ages it becomes harder and hard to get this to work.

Best way to do it is to use the Epson OEM cartridge chip on the IJM refillable cartridge.

That being said, I believe all your down-line stuff is clogged and this is causing back pressure. You also need to make sure you fill holes are UNPLUGGED!

Please let me know if this works,
-Walker

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Thanks for the tips.

  • The printer was working pretty well even with 9-year-old ink even before getting the refill cartridges so I still have good hope I can recover the printer
  • The behavior where pressing the refill cartridge in a certain position registers with the prints seems more like the refill chip is not getting good contact with the printer chip interface. I can certainly transfer the OEM chips and tape them to the refillable cartridges though
  • A clog closer to the head makes sense even though I removed and thoroughly cleaned the head, dampers and lines. I pushed distilled water in a syringe through the head and saw pretty straight jets misting out each color
  • I’m confident the vent holes in each cartridge were open during the initial fill process

I’ll report back for others to benefit from what I find to resolve these issues