Can't Print with no Ink?

[iLikeMyiMac]

I'm on 10.3.6 and have an Epson Stylus C84 inkjet printer.
I want to print black text but the printer won't let me until I replace the yellow ink cartridge. Is there any way for me to get around this?
As soon as I try to print something the job gets stopped and no matter how many times I click "start jobs" it keeps stopping the job.

I went to the epson website and got:

Q:
Can the printer still print if an ink cartridge is empty or not installed?

A:
No. The printer will not operate if any cartridge is empty or removed. It’s best to always have extra cartridges on hand.

but I think that they are just trying to get you to buy ink.

 

[bousozoku]

I have done it with a CX5400 (like a C84) and a CX6400. You need to go to Print Settings after you select Print... and change Colour (or Color even) to Black.

 

[iLikeMyiMac]

I have done it with a CX5400 (like a C84) and a CX6400. You need to go to Print Settings after you select Print... and change Colour (or Color even) to Black.

I've been doing that and it still won't work.

The jobs still keep getting stopped.

 

[stoid]

I have the exact same printer, and have experienced the exact same frustration. In short, it's not possible to print when a cartridge is out. Period. Sorry to do this to a fellow St. Louian, but your best hope if it's urgent is going to be finding a friend with a printer.

 

[iLikeMyiMac]

I have the exact same printer, and have experienced the exact same frustration. In short, it's not possible to print when a cartridge is out. Period. Sorry to do this to a fellow St. Louian, but your best hope if it's urgent is going to be finding a friend with a printer.

The problem is that when I went to the store a week ago to replace my cyan and magenta cartridges because they were dry, the store was out of yellow cartridges. Looks like I have to go to the store and get one. I've been printing off a poor quality printer as a temporary solution so it's not too urgent.

On a side note: I had no idea you were from St. Louis. How do you like Northwest MO state? I'm a junior in high school and it's getting close to the time to start looking for colleges.

 

[dotnina]

iLikeMyiMac -- I totally feel your pain on this. I have a Canon with the same type of setup (3 ink cartridges and 1 black cartridge).

I don't know of a workaround for this, either. However, if you need to squeeze a few pages out, this has worked for me: take the empty color cartridges out. Shake the cartridge a few times (careful -- ink could splatter, so find a good place to do this). Put the cartridge back in. For some reason, this seems to stoke the ink level ever so slightly so that the printer stops complaining. Obviously, you can't do this forever, but it should allow you to print at least a few black pages even when your color cartridge(s) is / are empty.

 

[diamond geezer]

Welcome to the world of epson printers. It's more then possible that it hasn't even run out of ink, but is just telling you so.

Epson make all their money of inks, not off the printers themselves.

 

[iLikeMyiMac]

I've tried shaking it but it doesn't' work. I'm also pretty sure it's out of ink.(I've taken it out and poked at the little plunger type thing and nothing came out) But the thing is that the ink levels in the printer utility were close to empty but not out 2 weeks ago. I never printed anything in color during that time, but now it's empty so my guess is that it just dried out becuase it's more than a year old.

 

[efoto]

Welcome to the world of epson printers. It's more then possible that it hasn't even run out of ink, but is just telling you so.

Epson make all their money of inks, not off the printers themselves.

Do you have some actual data to back this up at all in any way? We use Epson printers exclusively at work and they are some of the best for image qualtiy we have ever seen or used.

I think that Epson printers are some of the best, and actually most cost effective I have seen. I read somewhere, and wish I still had the link, but it compared the cost per print (photo printers specifically) and Epson was around .34USD for a 4x6 whereas the Canon systems were around .48USD and the weird Kodak ones were rediculously high around .70USD.
Their major fault is that the inks they use dry up fast, so even if your not using your printer, photo printers especially, its best to send a print through at least once every three to four days. Run it low res. and small, just make sure its a color and your all set. Keep it going and its a great printer.

 

[Nermal]

Epson make all their money of inks, not off the printers themselves.

They'd hate me then, I buy generic cartridges for 1/3 the price

 

[bousozoku]

Do you have some actual data to back this up at all in any way? We use Epson printers exclusively at work and they are some of the best for image qualtiy we have ever seen or used.
...

I think the cheaper the Epson printer, the more it's willing to give up on low ink cartridges. My SC900 would definitely go longer than my newer machines but the CX3200 and C62 class of printers seem to suck the cartridges dry pretty quickly. When my CX6400 claims a cartridge is empty, it is so light that there couldn't be much in there.

 

[efoto]

Like I said my comments are mostly about photo printers because that is where I have the experience to comment about.

I have an Epson 2200, awesome printer for archival printing, really sweet. At work there are various paper printers, and then we have an Ultrachrome (2200 has it too) 4000 series professional photo printer that runs off of spools of photo paper in either matte, high gloss, *luster* (sooo pretty), and various others. If my memory strikes me correctly, that thing runs up to 16x20 full prints, pretty sweet.

Anyway, I think Epson makes good printers. Thats really all I have been trying to say this whole exhausted time.

 

[vwcruisn]

You need to get an epson chip resetter. Just do a google search for "epson chip resetter." They are around 15 bucks and basically reset the little computer chip on the cartridge to trick the printer into thinking its full.

I have some friends who have one, and they say they reset their cartridges after the printer says its empty, and they get another 10+ prints out of them.

Hope this helps.