If you are having problems with your new cartridge, try the following if...

The cartridge isn't accepted by the machine:

• Reseat the cartridge in your machine.
• If the cartridge has an electronic chip on it, make sure it is clean by wiping it off with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.  Even the oil from our skin can stop a proper connection from being made between the cartridge and the machine.

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• Use the following for Canon PGI-5 and CLI-8 Series cartridges ONLY 

1. All information about a cartridge is held on the microchip.   This includes the ink level, the color of the cartridge, as well as an identification number.  This information will transfer from your old cartridge, to your new cartridge. 

Ø      It is very important to place the chip on the corresponding color cartridge.  (i.e. Black to Black, Yellow to Yellow)

2. By placing the old chip on the new cartridge, your new non-chipped cartridge will have the ink status of the old cartridge.  If the old cartridge was empty, the microchip will tell your printer the new cartridge is empty.   This is normal and will not impede your ability to print.
3. The trick to correctly using the non-chipped cartridges is removing or disabling the ink level monitor.  By doing so, your printer stops monitoring how much ink is left in the cartridge, and will allow you to continue printing.
4. There are 2 common methods for disabling the ink level monitor:

            METHOD #1

Ø      Once you have installed the old chip on the new cartridge, and have inserted the cartridge into the machine.  Hold the Stop/Reset/Resume button in for 20-30 seconds. 

            METHOD #2

Ø      You will need to locate your printers PROPERTIES or PREFERENCES.  This can be located in the status bar (near the clock on a PC), or through the Control Panel.

Ø      Locate and uncheck the option ENABLE STATUS MONITOR.  This option is usually found in a Maintenance, Custom Settings, View Printer Status, or Options tab.

The cartridge prints poorly, or gives no print at all:

1.   Make sure you have properly removed any pull tabs that are on the cartridges.  This needs to be done on most cartridges in order for the ink to be released from the cartridge properly.

2.   If it is not working with the pull tabs completely removed, the printheads in your machine may need to be cleaned:

• Try running your printer's printhead cleaning routine (refer to your owner's manual if you need assistance) to see if that gets your cartridge to print properly.  If this routine fixes the problem, you do not need to go any further.  If you see improvement in your prints, try running the routine again to see if it will resolve the problem for you.

  If the cleaning routine doesn't help the situation, you will want to manually clean the printhead in your machine:

• CLICK HERE to find a great way to clean your EPSON Printheads!
• Best way - Use an empty cartridge and fill it with printhead cleaner.  Then, run it through the "troubled" printhead by printing the associated color intensive pages to clean the printheads out of any debris, or dried ink that may be present at the jets.  If they do not clear immediately, let the solution set in the printer for a while (overnight if necessary) before you try again.  This will allow the cleaner to break down whatever is clogging the jets in the printhead.
• If you don't have an empty cartridge, try this method:  With the cartridge out of the machine, inject our cleaning solution directly into the inlet port in the machine (This is the area in the printer that punctures the outlet port on the cartridge to draw its ink) for the color that is not printing properly.  Immediately place the cartridge back into the machine.    The cleaning solution should be allowed to sit in the inlet port a minimum of 20 minutes to allow it to break down the clog (kind of like Drano).  It may take longer than the 20 minutes, or even multiple iterations of this activity, to fully purge the debris out of the machines printhead.  If it is a tough clog, let the cleaner break it down overnight.  To check on the clog, and in an attempt to purge the debris, attempt to print a color intensive page for the problem color.

The wrong colors are being printed:

• Try running your printhead cleaning routine on your machine.  Look at the output to see if the colors are correcting themselves.  If the output is improving, you will want to repeat the routine to resolve the problem.
• If the machine takes individual cartridges for each color, check to make sure that the cartridges are in the proper slots in the machine.  If it does not display the proper slots for the cartridges in your machine, check your owner's manual to determine what their proper positions in the machine should be.