This is what I'm getting when I go to print (Windows XP SP2) with the CIS in place (and a big thanks to Mooseman for the extra instructions!). This is the same error message I got when replacing the original yellow cart with a non-Epson cartridge. That's when I decided to just go for the CIS, but now I'm stuck.

Any ideas out there? Thanks!

Rocco
P.S. - ink light stays on all the time, not flashing.

I didn't really do anything different that I can tell, just hit the ink button a couple of times and it started printing my (black-only) job... I still see air in the black line, so I'll try Mooseman's suggestions for clearing that out, although I'm not 100% clear on the procedure.

In any case, it looks like I'm up and running - sorry for the false alarm!

Rocco
edit: Had another 'ink cartridge not recognized' error, just on the Light Magenta cart after printing a couple of pages. I popped it out and reinserted it and it's working again... !!

Some more questions come to mind, now that things are working fairly well (no more errors - just problems feeding in my DVD case insert stock reliably):

1. The Epson print driver shows the ink levels going down for each cartridge. When it shows "low", do I just need to do the 'cycle ink cartridge' thing for it to reset to full? I suspect this is the case.

2. Where's the best place to get replacement ink for these external tubes? If it's $60+tax for a whole kit, is that just as cheap as getting refills/replacements for the ink in the tubes? Of course the sales drone at The Source didn't know much about that, but suggested they could 'order' more ink...

Thanks!

Bart

Hi Rocco,

I split your follow up posts from the original thread because you weren't providing review data but had troubleshooting problems.

Rocco wrote:

This is what I'm getting when I go to print (Windows XP SP2) with the CIS in place (and a big thanks to Mooseman for the extra instructions!).

I'm afraid I have no idea what you are referring to when you say "This..." there's no reference to anything I can see in the original post or any follow ups so perhaps a bit more detailed information would help


_________________
Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

Rocco wrote:

1. The Epson print driver shows the ink levels going down for each cartridge. When it shows "low", do I just need to do the 'cycle ink cartridge' thing for it to reset to full? I suspect this is the case.

Chances are you're using the newer type of auto-reset chip which will reset itself to 95% or close to it, whenever you get to around 20-30% full. If the cart reads as empty you may need to just power down the printer, wait 10 seconds and then power the printer on again.

Quote:

2. Where's the best place to get replacement ink for these external tubes? If it's $60+tax for a whole kit, is that just as cheap as getting refills/replacements for the ink in the tubes? Of course the sales drone at The Source didn't know much about that, but suggested they could 'order' more ink...

"Tubes" ? I think you mean ink bottles or reservoirs... Dependent on which type of printer you're using you can get it from a number of dealers on and offline... A little time spent on nifty-stuff forums will help. For myself I use MIS inks but there's some recommendations for formulabs, etc... too , so search around.

Just be sure you get the right type for you particular printer.


_________________
Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

Snailz wrote:

Hi Rocco,

I split your follow up posts from the original thread because you weren't providing review data but had troubleshooting problems.

Thanks & apologies for not posting in the right spot to begin with! Oops.

Snailz wrote:

Rocco wrote:

This is what I'm getting when I go to print (Windows XP SP2) with the CIS in place (and a big thanks to Mooseman for the extra instructions!).

I'm afraid I have no idea what you are referring to when you say "This..." there's no reference to anything I can see in the original post or any follow ups so perhaps a bit more detailed information would help

Ah - I had put the error message I was getting as the subject of my post, so it was "Installed ink cartridges cannot be recognized". Guess it's not always the best place to tuck vital information like that!

Bart

Snailz wrote:

Rocco wrote:

1. The Epson print driver shows the ink levels going down for each cartridge. When it shows "low", do I just need to do the 'cycle ink cartridge' thing for it to reset to full? I suspect this is the case.

Chances are you're using the newer type of auto-reset chip which will reset itself to 95% or close to it, whenever you get to around 20-30% full. If the cart reads as empty you may need to just power down the printer, wait 10 seconds and then power the printer on again.

Good. I think I stumbled onto that idea by accident - I wonder if I should try that same thing with my non-Epson carts that were giving "Installed ink cartridges cannot be recognized" errors... (well, the yellow was, at least, but I gave up fairly quickly and bought the CIS kit from The Source instead)

Snailz wrote:

Quote:

2. Where's the best place to get replacement ink for these external tubes? If it's $60+tax for a whole kit, is that just as cheap as getting refills/replacements for the ink in the tubes? Of course the sales drone at The Source didn't know much about that, but suggested they could 'order' more ink...

"Tubes" ? I think you mean ink bottles or reservoirs... Dependent on which type of printer you're using you can get it from a number of dealers on and offline... A little time spent on nifty-stuff forums will help. For myself I use MIS inks but there's some recommendations for formulabs, etc... too , so search around.

Just be sure you get the right type for you particular printer.

"Tubes", "Cylinders", "reservoirs"....tomayto, tomahto... In this Nexxtech kit, the external ink colors are in a fixed plastic case with separate tubes/cylinders/etc, but it's all one piece. I've since seen some CIS kits where the ink colors are all in separate bottles.

So..."nifty-stuff", eh? Thanks - will try to find that. I happened upon allthefaqs via a Google search, so it looks like I've bypassed some other useful sites... I assume that's nifty-stuff.com, but will Google that if I can't find it right away.

I'm in Canada - any fellow Canadians who've found a good source for ink without having to go outside the country?

Thanks for your help with this "ink newbie"...

Bart

hey rocco. fellow canadian here, and sadly thats a big fat no on finding good supplier within canada. well...maybe. i have not found any website to sell it bulk. there are NO good alternative cartridges within the country, i've looked hard. the cartridges from print-rite with pigment ink were amazing in my opinion, but they stoped making them now....

only option i've found is this: i live in ontario and there is a small chain of retailers that will refill cartridges for you popping up called Island InkJet. i have no idea on what their ink is like other than they have both pigment and dye inks. as far as i know they do all epson carts with pigment. however, if you ask nicely they WILL indeed sell you the ink. at least the one near my home they will. i don't think they'll sell you anything else though and its very much a 'no guarentees' thing as they really want to do just refilling.

again i have no idea on the quality of ink. its worth a shot since i think the price i was given was a little under $7 for what looked like a 2oz bottle (coule be wrong, wasn't labeled)

good luck to you! please let me know of your experiences as i'm currently considering using the empty spongeless carts from MIS.

A bit late to the party but I've been pre-occupied with my main computer down at the moment (corrupt master file table).

For removing the air from the lines: Short of actually posting photos, this is the best I can describe it. If you look directly on top of each cart, there is a clear rubber plug. With the syringe and the small needle, poke that plug with the needle and push in about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Pull on the plunger slowly and you should see the air get pulled into the cart and into the syringe. While holding down that plug with a small screwdriver or anything else, gently pull the syringe out. Dump the ink from the syringe into it's appropriate ink tank (waste not!) You can do this with the carts in the printer. Just make the printer bring the carts out as if changing them but don't remove them. You may need to run a cleaning cycle once or twice. Check the nozzle check pattern. If some lines are still missing, wait a few hours and try again as the cart may still be normalizing the pressure/vacuum inside.

Cart not recognized: Although you were able to clear it up, quite possibly you didn't unplug the printer when you changed them? The usual procedure is to get the carts out to the change position and then unplug. This should make the printer re-initialize and recognize the carts.

Ink supply: Although they don't have the R200 listed, www.inkjetrefills.com are a Canadian outfit from Ottawa (local for me ). The inks they use for other printers might be the same as what's used in the R200. They sell by the bottle and although geared to the refilling crowd, would suit our needs if their ink is compatible with the R200. Contact them and find out. Costco also sells (or used to sell) a refilling kit that said to work with ALL printers and had all 6 colour inks for $30. I have also seen refill kits at Staples, Wal-Mart (I think) and possibly others. I don't know how universal kits can work in different brands since each has their own method of transferring the ink to the paper. HP uses heat (bubble jet) and Epson uses piezzo nozzles (sort of like fuel injection in cars, sprayed)

Hope this helps.
Mooseman

Wow, thanks! Mooseman, I wasn't really expecting an *immediate* response anyway, so no worries there. And the extra instructions helped clear up the syringe/air removal procedure a lot. So far the printouts have been great without having to remove the air from the lines (I think it's just the black one that shows air by now) but maybe I'm asking for trouble by not getting rid of it right away.

So far I'm mostly happy with the $60 Nexxtech CIS from The Source - sharing, of course, the same concerns with the really minimal documentation. Luckily we have Mooseman's help! I'm just a REALLY casual user, though - have only had the R200 for about 3 months now and bought it mostly for the CD/DVD printing thing (which I haven't actually used yet - go figure!). Before this was an old, old HP 612C, so anything I get out of the R200 is 'wonderful'!

threshin - we have Island Inkjets out here (Alberta), too, so thanks for that tip. Worth a shot!

Mooseman - many options there to investigate. I wonder, too, how well some of these consumer refill kits can claim to work well in all printers (assuming they do), or if it should be attempted.

I suppose buying an entire other kit at $60 means about $10 per cylinder/color, which isn't all that bad I guess...

I see a Calgary seller with some CIS systems on eBay that I might take a chance on. I don't expect too much, but he/she did say in the description that you can order more ink bottles from them when you buy the CIS kit. maybe they'd sell separately, but maybe I shouldn't *want* to, as I can't imagine them using very high-quality stuff.

In the end I'm not overly concerned with super high quality...just decent results that won't wreck my printer!

And just to add another twist, I may be buying an R220 from someone local in the next few days...not exactly sure why, but it seems like a good deal (and seemed like a GREAT deal when my R200 replacement carts weren't working)!

Thanks for all the great responses - keep 'em coming!

Bart