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Epson won't print.

14 years ago

I have an Epson Stylus CX4800 series printer that has one black and three color cartridges. Their help information states that it won't print until all the cartridges have ink, and I have two colors empty. Their reason is that even when an all black ink file is printing, the colors deliver small amounts in order to keep the jets from clogging. I need to save money and really want to print only in black. Can I fool the machine into printing if I fill all the slots with black ink?

Thanks.

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Comments (7)

zep516
14 years ago
I don't know anytime you start to take shortcuts like you can usually expect problems..
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
it can read a code on the actual cartridges to know what you have put in it so no I would not try that also if you did and got the jets all loaded with black it may not print color well since the color jets would be contaminated with black ink.

there are printers that do not operate the way yours does however, my Hp does not do that, it will print only black if I want to select that option and it will continue to print even if some of the colors are out.
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mudlady_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the prompt responses. I think Epson is so cheap and devisive that I would never buy anything from them again. OTH, the printer works fine and I have neither the money or the space for a second one. I am totally finished with school (at age 65) and have no need to print really attractive projects--all I need is a B+W that will print an occasional business letter. If anyone knows of an inexpensive B+W I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to check it out. The cost of the colored inks is terrible.
grandms
14 years ago
You might check out black laser printers. They have come down in price dramatically and for your uses, one of those sounds just right.
fruitjarfla
14 years ago
My second printer, an older Epson is for ordinary printing - almost entirely for B & W. The cartridges in it are all off-brand, Carrot Ink I believe, at about $8 each. The black works well.
jerry_nj
14 years ago
I have an Epson 880 which has a software "switch" which makes it print in a "Gray scale", that is it will print Pink as some shade of black. I also have CX4800 which does not have such a feature, however I do have the device that allows me to reset the cartridges to "full" even if they are empty. This device, I'd have to dig it out to give particulars, cost something like $10. As I reload my ink cartridges I needed this reset device so I could reload a cartridge with ink, and set the electronics as "full". Of course, if the color cartridge(s) is(are) empty it will not matter if I am printing a black text document.
mudlady_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Jerry nj--Can you be more specific about the device to reset cartridges to full? Sounds like something I might like. I placed an order with Carrot and it was about half the cost of the same pack, new, at BJs.

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