Epson S80600 stuck at a prompt, need a solution.

[JayVal]

We have an Epson S80600 in our shop. The issue we're having is when we have a special ink container (white and/or metallic silver), but I'm sure it also extends to the other inks on the machine too since it gives us the same prompt (not an issue for those since we keep a supply of extra inks C/M/Y/K/LK/LC/Orange)

Basically we're stuck at a prompt saying that there's not enough ink in the cartridge to perform a cleaning, and then it asks us to insert a cartridge with enough ink to complete the process. If we don't have an extra cartridge of the ink required, we can't get out of that prompt.

We've been stuck on this issue from 2 different instances.

1) we had white ink loaded onto the machine, and at night, it began an automatic cleaning process where there wasn't enough white ink in the cartridge to complete the process.

2) (the current issue that has left us dead in the water for a few days now) we were switching from white ink to a brand new metallic silver ink cartridge to do some test prints for a client, where switching the inks to metallic silver went as expected, but before we could do any test prints, we had to switch back to the white ink to do a re-print. Now switching back to the metallic ink cartridge, at the final stage of the process the machine tells us there's not enough ink in the cartridge to finish the cleaning process.

Things we've tried to remedy this:

1) Prompt asks us to continue cleaning (insert another cartridge with enough ink for cleaning) or to not continue - if we select yes, then we need to insert a cartridge with enough ink. Selecting no just brings us right back to that same prompt like it's stuck in a loop.

2) Restarting the machine - printer remembers we were at the cleaning stage and brings us back to that same prompt.

3) Unplug the machine and start up the machine - printer remembers we were at the cleaning stage and brings us back to that same prompt.

4) Insert a different cartridge - printer tells us that is not the correct ink and insert the correct one.


we've asked techs and Epson support, but nobody has given us a working solution, just more of everything we could think of to try. The only solution that's ever worked for us was when we inserted a new white ink cartridge that we had to rush order when the machine was asking for a new white ink cartridge.

We've rushed ordered a metallic silver cartridge, but our suppliers didn't have anymore in stock that was in Canada (where we're located). We haven't heard of when we would get one in but it's been days without any solid answer as to when we'll receive it.

Also, we've been told we have a 24 hour window to remedy this before the print heads become damaged. It's been 4 days now and such a simple process is causing us this much grief. If anyone knows of a solution that doesn't involve inserting a new ink cartridge, we would love to hear it!

 

[ProPDF]

We have an Epson S80600 in our shop. The issue we're having is when we have a special ink container (white and/or metallic silver), but I'm sure it also extends to the other inks on the machine too since it gives us the same prompt (not an issue for those since we keep a supply of extra inks C/M/Y/K/LK/LC/Orange)

Basically we're stuck at a prompt saying that there's not enough ink in the cartridge to perform a cleaning, and then it asks us to insert a cartridge with enough ink to complete the process. If we don't have an extra cartridge of the ink required, we can't get out of that prompt.

We've been stuck on this issue from 2 different instances.

1) we had white ink loaded onto the machine, and at night, it began an automatic cleaning process where there wasn't enough white ink in the cartridge to complete the process.

2) (the current issue that has left us dead in the water for a few days now) we were switching from white ink to a brand new metallic silver ink cartridge to do some test prints for a client, where switching the inks to metallic silver went as expected, but before we could do any test prints, we had to switch back to the white ink to do a re-print. Now switching back to the metallic ink cartridge, at the final stage of the process the machine tells us there's not enough ink in the cartridge to finish the cleaning process.

Things we've tried to remedy this:

1) Prompt asks us to continue cleaning (insert another cartridge with enough ink for cleaning) or to not continue - if we select yes, then we need to insert a cartridge with enough ink. Selecting no just brings us right back to that same prompt like it's stuck in a loop.

2) Restarting the machine - printer remembers we were at the cleaning stage and brings us back to that same prompt.

3) Unplug the machine and start up the machine - printer remembers we were at the cleaning stage and brings us back to that same prompt.

4) Insert a different cartridge - printer tells us that is not the correct ink and insert the correct one.


we've asked techs and Epson support, but nobody has given us a working solution, just more of everything we could think of to try. The only solution that's ever worked for us was when we inserted a new white ink cartridge that we had to rush order when the machine was asking for a new white ink cartridge.

We've rushed ordered a metallic silver cartridge, but our suppliers didn't have anymore in stock that was in Canada (where we're located). We haven't heard of when we would get one in but it's been days without any solid answer as to when we'll receive it.

Also, we've been told we have a 24 hour window to remedy this before the print heads become damaged. It's been 4 days now and such a simple process is causing us this much grief. If anyone knows of a solution that doesn't involve inserting a new ink cartridge, we would love to hear it!

Ebay has the ink and service tech program. You need to contact a different dealer also.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

we've been told we have a 24 hour window to remedy this before the print heads become damaged.

Garbage. I've had our printer unplugged from the wall for 3 weeks and come back to all nozzles firing after one light clean.

 

[Bly]

I'm sure there's a sticker on my 40600 saying turn it on at least once a week to prevent head damage.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

I stand corrected. White/Metallic can only be idle for ~6 days according to the manual.
There are some pre-storage maintenance routines to be run if leaving for longer than two weeks, but I've spoken directly with Epson about this when we had our S80600 installed and they have no issues leaving a CcMmYKkOR machine offline for up to 4 weeks between prints.

 

[greysquirrel]

Printers that swap ink in and out need to have enough ink to complete the process. You should have the balance of the cleaning cartridges from install that can also be used.
so better production practices will help you in the future. Always have 2 cleaning cartridges so you are never stuck.
After you convert to white or silver immediately swap with the old cartridges to use all of the ink and keep one with another recharge if necessary.

 

[Tatonka]

Ink is relatively inexpensive for the Epsons, so once it gets below 50%, I usually place an order for that color to be safe. Although it's all usually only a day out for me, so that helps.

When I was playing with the white/metallic more, I kept an extra of each on hand for swapping. I haven't swapped to metallic in a good 6 months now though, so I don't even have a metallic cartridge here after the last one sprung a leak all over my floor while I was shaking it.

 

[Signed Out]

Pop in a cleaning cart.

 

[JayVal]

Printers that swap ink in and out need to have enough ink to complete the process. You should have the balance of the cleaning cartridges from install that can also be used.
so better production practices will help you in the future. Always have 2 cleaning cartridges so you are never stuck.
After you convert to white or silver immediately swap with the old cartridges to use all of the ink and keep one with another recharge if necessary.

It was a brand new cartridge, cost 1.5x more than the regular ink, but contains half the amount. We swapped it in, but then immediately had to swap it out to do a rush print with white ink, then swapped it back in hoping to finally do a test print for a client only to end up stuck in this infinite loop. We have half a dozen cleaning cartridges, but when the printer asks to swap in that metallic silver ink for cleaning, you can ONLY use a metallic silver ink cartridge. We've tried. Metallic ink is something we normally don't use, but one of the selling points was that you can switch inks in and out when needed. What we weren't told was how much ink it uses when switching inks in.

Ink is relatively inexpensive for the Epsons, so once it gets below 50%, I usually place an order for that color to be safe. Although it's all usually only a day out for me, so that helps.

When I was playing with the white/metallic more, I kept an extra of each on hand for swapping. I haven't swapped to metallic in a good 6 months now though, so I don't even have a metallic cartridge here after the last one sprung a leak all over my floor while I was shaking it.

We don't normally print metallic, we only ordered one cartridge to do a test for a client and weren't expecting to blow through one cartridge in 1 hour without printing anything. Our supplier apparently has 0 more cartridges in the country. We've reached out to other suppliers, but we're still dead in the water waiting, but the quickest any of the suppliers can get one here will be a couple days into next week. This specialty ink was definitely not inexpensive.

Garbage. I've had our printer unplugged from the wall for 3 weeks and come back to all nozzles firing after one light clean.

That's good to hear. Something we can stress less about!

 

[JayVal]

Pop in a cleaning cart.

We've tried. The printer will just tell us to take it out and pop in a metallic silver ink cartridge. We're basically stuck at this prompt asking "you do not have enought metallic silver to complete the cleaning process. Yes to continue or No." If we say "no" it just loops right back to the same question. If we say yes to continue, it just stalls the machine until we insert the cartridge it's asking for. Restarting the machine basically brings us back to "you do not have enought metallic silver to complete the cleaning process. Yes to continue or No."

dead in the water...

 

[Signed Out]

Grimco has them. Don't see why they couldn't ship to you?

 

[JayVal]

Grimco has them. Don't see why they couldn't ship to you?

Thank you, we've had to reach out to multiple suppliers to see what the earliest we can get this ink in, but the earliest any of our suppliers can get one to us realistically is Tuesday. This specific ink must be shipped by ground and not by air. What I'm hoping to find is an immediate solution to get out of this infinite loop and at least be able to use the printer for regular prints without any of the specialty inks.

 

[Bly]

We always keep at least two carts in reserve for exactly this reason.
Suppliers sometimes run out..

 

[JayVal]

We always keep at least two carts in reserve for exactly this reason.
Suppliers sometimes run out..

Normally we also do, but we ordered this specialty ink upon client request. Metallic silver is not an ink that we normally produced or would keep in stock. I don't see any reason to order 2 cartridges to do 1 test print for several hundred dollars.

 

[Mike Brice]

Pop in a cleaning cart.

I've done this a few times without any issues

 

[JayVal]

I've done this a few times without any issues

Is this the Epson 80600 printer? What mode was your printer on? Was it 9 colour, or 10 colour (white white or metallic silver)?

We've been stuck in this looping prompt twice now (first with not enough white ink to finish, second with not enough metallic silver ink to finish), and we've tried popping in different colours and cleaning cartridges, but the machine will continue looping the same yes or no question until it gets the cartridge with enough ink to the finished the process it started. Even Epson support didn't have any working answer to get out of this prompt except to order the cartridge needed to finish the process.

 

[JayVal]

So the issue was resolved. Disappointingly, the only solution was get another metallic silver ink cartridge to finish off the cleaning.

Solutions we tried: inserting a different ink cartridge; inserting a cleaning cartridge; selecting "[No] to not continue cleaning"; turning off the machine; unplugging the machine. They all brought us back to the infinite loop prompt of "Cleaning Error: There is not enough ink. Replace in cartridge to continute cleaning? Yes (Recommended) / No."

On the bright side, the machine was down for a week and the print heads were completely fine, just as SignMeUpGraphics and Bly mentioned it would be.

Thanks everyone! I wish someone knew an alternative way out of this loop, but until a fix for this is made... make sure you dont run out of ink when the machine begins a cleaning process...

 

[unclebun]

The Epsons won't start the cleaning until cartridges with enough ink are installed, and as you've found, will not do anything until they have the ink. You can remove the full cartridge after cleaning and reinstall the nearly empty one afterwards to use up the ink. The basic way to deal with this is to note on the printer display when it says that an ink cartridge is low, and order a new cartridge immediately at that time. It will continue to print and even do a couple of cleanings after the indicator lights up that a cartridge is low. But once it reaches a certain point, you will have to put a full cartridge in to do cleanings. You will end up with a stack of partially used full cartridges sitting next to the printer. For us, that stack ranges in size from 2 to 6 colors, depending on the time. I don't think we ever have none sitting there.

This behavior is by design, and there is no way around it.

 

[JayVal]

The Epsons won't start the cleaning until cartridges with enough ink are installed, and as you've found, will not do anything until they have the ink. You can remove the full cartridge after cleaning and reinstall the nearly empty one afterwards to use up the ink. The basic way to deal with this is to note on the printer display when it says that an ink cartridge is low, and order a new cartridge immediately at that time. It will continue to print and even do a couple of cleanings after the indicator lights up that a cartridge is low. But once it reaches a certain point, you will have to put a full cartridge in to do cleanings. You will end up with a stack of partially used full cartridges sitting next to the printer. For us, that stack ranges in size from 2 to 6 colors, depending on the time. I don't think we ever have none sitting there.

This behavior is by design, and there is no way around it.

It's unfortunate that, by design, it happens with no options to get out of the looping prompt except for giving it what it wants. We were completely taken by surprised running out of ink from a brand new cartridge after an hour (30 minutes each time for the machine to make the switch to metallic silver) without being able to make a single print. I think that was the most frustrating part because we ordered it to do a single test print.

Even when we first started using the white, we were able to switch it in a few times and print a bunch of jobs before the cartridge didn't have enough ink for cleaning.

But we also do what you mentioned. Once the machine finishes doing a cleaning, we'll insert a cartridge with the least amount of ink left to burn through it. The machine is still new to us, but I think, and hope, we've seen the worst of what could happen (before physical damage of course).