Skip to main content

Free Shipping on Domestic Orders $75+

Repair and disassembly guides for Epson printer. The company was founded in 1942 as Daiwa Kogyo, Ltd., but merged with another company in 1959 to create Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd.

Is there a solution for Epson ink cartridges not being recognized?

I purchased a new box of "genuineĀ Epson" ink; all of the colors (black, magenta, cyan, and yellow.

I removed the empty cartridges (cyan, magenta and yellow were low), shook all of the cartridges, pulled off the tape cover and installed the cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges.

The cyan ink cartridge was the only cartridge that could not be recognized at that time.

So, I reseated the cyan cartridge. I still got the message that it wasn’t recognized.

Then I reseated the cyan cartridge again. I still got the message that it wasn’t recognized.

So then, I power cycled the printer.

I turned the printer off, I unplugged the printer from the wall, and I unplugged the power cord from the printer for a complete power cycle for about 5 minutes.

I plugged the power cord into the printer, plugged the cord into the wall outlet and turned on the power button.

That did not solve the problem.

I went to the Epson Support Services site and other internet sites and saw tips for solving this problem.

I followed the instructions on the Epson site, which were the same steps that I had tried as I mentioned above, but this time, I used a soft cloth to clean the cyan connections on the cartridge and in the cartridge carriage and I checked each cartridge to make sure the gold colored chip was on the cartridges. They all have the gold colored chip.

It didn’t fix the problem.

Then I saw a tip that said that installing firmware would fix some problems with the printer.

So I entered my printer information and was returned a download of firmware for my printer.

The firmware installed successfully.

Now, the black ink cartridge that had been working is no longer being recognized along with the cyan ink cartridge.

It seems when you install a defective cartridge and then take it out, the cartridge carriage in the printer becomes ā€œuntureā€ and if that’s not the case, then the problem has to be with the firmware or maybe both.

Something in the printer seems to get set when you install and then remove a defective cartridge. Somehow there is no way for the printer to reset itself to accept another cartridge install.

How do you make the printer "un-remember" the removed cartridge?

So now what do I do? How can I fix this problem?

Answer this question I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Score 1
3 Comments

@texaspeach what exact model number is your printer?

by

I have a similar problem with unbranded replacement cartridges on my Epson WorkForce WF-2950. They did fine for at least a couple months until today. I had declined repeated firmware update offers for a couple of weeks.

Today my wife said she did not have the option of printing from her new (probably refurbished) Samsung S23 phone. I found it did not have the Epson Smart Panel app installed. After installation, the app offered the option of installing firmware, which I declined. Now, 5 minutes later, the printer is not recognizing ANY of the unbranded cartridges.

Unplugging it for 30 seconds did not reverse the problem. I unplugged the printer for about 10 minutes; the problem remained.

I had two leftover unused genuine Epson cartridges (Yellow and Magenta), which I installed, leaving the unbranded Black and Cyan cartridges in place. The printer panel showed the Yellow and Magenta cartridges as full, but left the Black and Cyan bars empty, and indicated replacement was needed.

Now off to Walmart!

by

Are there any printer manufacturers who DON'T play these anti-competitive games?

Does Epson (or other manufacturers) do anything to restrict suppliers of refill ink for their Ecotank cartridgeless ink-reservoir printers?

by

Add a comment

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

So this is 50/50 :-(. If you own one of the newer "black cart" series (100+ series tanks, they use a sponge vs the pressure valve the old printers used) those are almost all DRM as Epson locks those down to block 3rd party ink - they usually have a marker in that they came out when the ET- line became mainstream so Epson put DRM on them to segment the market. Don't update the firmware on these if you want to use 3rd party tanks! A few early units aren't DRM ridden junk, but there's more that have that problem then without.

The older ones with the grey carts lack the DRM, and 8/10 times it's a bricked chip where it hit 25% or it's just bricked, but sometimes it can be the printer contacts. If the springs feel good on the contacts, it's the cartridges.

Was this answer helpful?

Score 1
Add a comment

Seems like this problem could also be hardware-related. If they are both genuine cartridges, and at first the black cartridge was recognized, I would be worried that the sensor may be dying. You should be able to check through the printer itself or the Epson printer app if there are any new software updates, which I would keep an eye out for. For now, you may just have to buy new ink and see if it works fine with the new ink cartridges. If it does, the other ones are just a bad batch; if you continue to have problems, it is more likely a bigger issue.

Was this answer helpful?

Score 0
Add a comment

Add your answer

TexasPeach will be eternally grateful.
View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 8

Past 7 Days: 53

Past 30 Days: 185

All Time: 618