Printer Repair

[Nienke]

Got two printers. Both don't do their job well. Went to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back again to repair. Guess what happened once at home ........

Both printer I got from Computer plaza. One is an Epson C58. This one worked well on the small cartridges. I changed to the big storagetanks stuck next to the printer. Since then only problems. Usually that the inkt doesn't go through. Repair man also at computer plaza. Don't think he knows what he's doing.

Other printer is a Lexmark with scanner and copier. Paper tends to get stuck. And the brand new black refill cartridge is full with black inkt but the computer tells me it's empty. Went back to computer plaza, then to the Lexmark shop on the Huay Keaw road. They did a scan and printed it. Looked good. Now I print at home and it says again the black cartridge is empty.

So, who oh who can advice me a GOOD repair man for printers?

Thank you,

Nienke

[FolkGuitar]

Got two printers. Both don't do their job well. Went to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back again to repair. Guess what happened once at home ........

Both printer I got from Computer plaza. One is an Epson C58. This one worked well on the small cartridges. I changed to the big storagetanks stuck next to the printer. Since then only problems. Usually that the inkt doesn't go through. Repair man also at computer plaza. Don't think he knows what he's doing.

Other printer is a Lexmark with scanner and copier. Paper tends to get stuck. And the brand new black refill cartridge is full with black inkt but the computer tells me it's empty. Went back to computer plaza, then to the Lexmark shop on the Huay Keaw road. They did a scan and printed it. Looked good. Now I print at home and it says again the black cartridge is empty.

So, who oh who can advice me a GOOD repair man for printers?

Thank you,

Nienke

I can't speak about the Lexmark, but I know the problem well with Epson... It's two-fold. Basically speaking, you usually can't run them on the bulk ink you buy in the Chiang Mai ink supply centers, and even more of a problem if you have a high end Epson printer. It's as simple as that. I'll explain.

Epson printers use a print head (the part that sprays the ink onto the paper) that is mounted in the printer as contrasted to an HP printer which has print heads built into the cartridge. Every time you change an HP cartridge you get a new print head. With Epson, because the print head is in the printer, if you don't use the printer several times a week the ink tends to dry inside some of the ink head ports and you The higher end models have smaller ink nozzles than the lower end models and clog more easily. You have to run the cleaning utility before you can print properly. Nothing you can do about this except run a 'cleaning page' every day or two. (I made one with several color blocks and a paragraph of text.) You waste ink, but less waste than you'd get running the cleaning utility. Obviously, hot weather dried out the ink faster.

This brings us to the bulk ink, or even refilling ink for an Epson. The generic ink just isn't usually as fine quality as Epson brand ink, and often has larger pigment particles in it that tend to clog the print heads. If you purchase high quality bulk in over the net from the US or Europe you won't run into this problem as often...

The problem isn't the repair person. It's the quality of the ink AND the model of Epson that you are using. The higher the quality of the printer, the smaller the nozzles are in the print heads and the easier it is to clog. A cheaper Epson won't clog as quickly as the top of the line models. I had the top of the line Epson for my photo printing and I had to use it daily or face problems. When it worked, it worked beautifully. But if I let it sit for a week I had to run the cleaning utility a dozen times before it would print correctly.

[kalbo123]

Got two printers. Both don't do their job well. Went to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back again to repair. Guess what happened once at home ........

Both printer I got from Computer plaza. One is an Epson C58. This one worked well on the small cartridges. I changed to the big storagetanks stuck next to the printer. Since then only problems. Usually that the inkt doesn't go through. Repair man also at computer plaza. Don't think he knows what he's doing.

Other printer is a Lexmark with scanner and copier. Paper tends to get stuck. And the brand new black refill cartridge is full with black inkt but the computer tells me it's empty. Went back to computer plaza, then to the Lexmark shop on the Huay Keaw road. They did a scan and printed it. Looked good. Now I print at home and it says again the black cartridge is empty.

So, who oh who can advice me a GOOD repair man for printers?

Thank you,

Nienke

Buy a new one...

Cheap now a days...

[eek]

Nienke, which guys did you go to at Computer Plaza? I always found the guys next to the walkway-bridge (connecting to the parking area) to be pretty good with those kinds of things. Is it the same place? Curious to know..but dont have any other recommendation..sorry.

[realthaideal]

Nienke, I have the same Epson C58 and had the same problems with my tank. I'll see you at the Tuskers thing and tell you how to fix it - the ppl at the shop eek refers to taught me how. It helps to speak Thai a bit; I think you do.

[Nienke]

Thank you folkguitar for your detailed reply. It makes sense. Besides that some of the colors don't come through, the print quality of the Epson isn't great as well. When is was working well, the quality was good.

Also thanks to Eek and Realthaideal. I will definitely go to the place you recommend if I can't solve the problem myself (oops, BB is not going to read this, is he?!! ), after I've spoken to RTD. And yes, I can make myself understand in Thai.

Kalbo, sweetheart, the Lexmark WAS my new printer. And I'm not the kind of person who throws away stuff after just one (or two, or three) failed repair attempts or because I'm getting 'bored' of it. Environment and such, you know .....

Nienke

[Slogger]

Got two printers. Both don't do their job well. Went to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back to repair man. Come back home. Same problem. Go back again to repair. Guess what happened once at home ........

Both printer I got from Computer plaza. One is an Epson C58. This one worked well on the small cartridges. I changed to the big storagetanks stuck next to the printer. Since then only problems. Usually that the inkt doesn't go through. Repair man also at computer plaza. Don't think he knows what he's doing.

Other printer is a Lexmark with scanner and copier. Paper tends to get stuck. And the brand new black refill cartridge is full with black inkt but the computer tells me it's empty. Went back to computer plaza, then to the Lexmark shop on the Huay Keaw road. They did a scan and printed it. Looked good. Now I print at home and it says again the black cartridge is empty.

So, who oh who can advice me a GOOD repair man for printers?

Thank you,

Nienke

I can't speak about the Lexmark, but I know the problem well with Epson... It's two-fold. Basically speaking, you usually can't run them on the bulk ink you buy in the Chiang Mai ink supply centers, and even more of a problem if you have a high end Epson printer. It's as simple as that. I'll explain.

Epson printers use a print head (the part that sprays the ink onto the paper) that is mounted in the printer as contrasted to an HP printer which has print heads built into the cartridge. Every time you change an HP cartridge you get a new print head. With Epson, because the print head is in the printer, if you don't use the printer several times a week the ink tends to dry inside some of the ink head ports and you The higher end models have smaller ink nozzles than the lower end models and clog more easily. You have to run the cleaning utility before you can print properly. Nothing you can do about this except run a 'cleaning page' every day or two. (I made one with several color blocks and a paragraph of text.) You waste ink, but less waste than you'd get running the cleaning utility. Obviously, hot weather dried out the ink faster.

This brings us to the bulk ink, or even refilling ink for an Epson. The generic ink just isn't usually as fine quality as Epson brand ink, and often has larger pigment particles in it that tend to clog the print heads. If you purchase high quality bulk in over the net from the US or Europe you won't run into this problem as often...

The problem isn't the repair person. It's the quality of the ink AND the model of Epson that you are using. The higher the quality of the printer, the smaller the nozzles are in the print heads and the easier it is to clog. A cheaper Epson won't clog as quickly as the top of the line models. I had the top of the line Epson for my photo printing and I had to use it daily or face problems. When it worked, it worked beautifully. But if I let it sit for a week I had to run the cleaning utility a dozen times before it would print correctly.

Thanks for this. I've used the refills in both a high-end Epson and a mid range Brother and the refills always lead to breakdowns that I cannot fix. I now need new printers, but even the cheap ones need expensive cartridges (that's how they make money). Guess it is best to buy new printers with cartridges included than just the cartridges.

[realthaideal]

Neinke, remember to push the button like I told you, and hold it for longer than you think is necessary; eventually the thing should start to work. You may have to do this several times.

[Nienke]

I did as you said and the inkt flows beautifully to the cartridges. However, after many print outs, the quality still sucks (gives stripes) and the computer says I ran out of black inkt while the tank is still for 1/3 full.

I'm afraid I still need to visit the repair man.

Thanks for your help, though.

Nienke

[FolkGuitar]

I did as you said and the inkt flows beautifully to the cartridges. However, after many print outs, the quality still sucks (gives stripes) and the computer says I ran out of black inkt while the tank is still for 1/3 full.

I'm afraid I still need to visit the repair man.

Thanks for your help, though.

Nienke

The stripes mean that some of the print head nozzles are clogged while others are open. Again, this defines the problem with using bulk tank cheap refill ink. If you really want to use this bulk stuff, get an HP printer so that at least once every few months you can get a new cartridge so as to renew the print head without having to send the printer to the shop to replace the head.

[realthaideal]

Nienke, now you just need to pull the ink cartridges in n out, placing them back in again, and then doing the button pushing thing again. This will reset the printer's idea of how much ink is in the cartridges. Usually they stop counting. They did with mine. As for the stripes, FG could be right, but sometimes after printing a few more pix to really get ink flowing, things loosen up and go again. All in all I know I paid like 1,400 B for the printer, and maybe 1,600 B for the ink tank system, so that tells you about the overall quality of the printer. It's enough for me to print my writing and pictures for amusement, but never anything serious for framing, not by a long shot.

[FolkGuitar]

Nienke, now you just need to pull the ink cartridges in n out, placing them back in again, and then doing the button pushing thing again. This will reset the printer's idea of how much ink is in the cartridges. Usually they stop counting. They did with mine. As for the stripes, FG could be right, but sometimes after printing a few more pix to really get ink flowing, things loosen up and go again. All in all I know I paid like 1,400 B for the printer, and maybe 1,600 B for the ink tank system, so that tells you about the overall quality of the printer. It's enough for me to print my writing and pictures for amusement, but never anything serious for framing, not by a long shot.

" As for the stripes, FG could be right, but sometimes after printing a few more pix to really get ink flowing, things loosen up and go again."

Could be? "Could be?!?" You know I never make mistakes!

You're correct, RTD. Printing will often clear out the blockages, especially in lower end machines. It may take several pages of printing to do so. Basically that's what the cleaning utility does in many machines; force ink through the heads. I found myself always trying 'test sheets' using plain copy paper until the ink ran smoothly, and then switching to the higher cost photo glossy printer paper. I wasted waaaay too many pieces of expensive paper until I began doing this. For printing text for my own use I don't mind a missing spot or two in the print, but for business purposes it just won't do. For photos, it will never do!

[Nienke]

Looks like my printer had a good night sleeps or enjoys the freezing coldness. Did a couple of print outs and no problem with the black ink and a lot less stripes.

Next question: is there any change that clean of the ink outlets (if you call it like that) of the cartridges with some luke-warm water will help?

I have no need on super photo print outs, just a printer that prints text with a pic so now and then that is readible and visible. If the Epson ends up with printing only text, that'll be fine as well. Still got the Lexmark for the other stuff. Although, I'm afraid Im ending up with buying again a new black cartridge for that one.

Thanks for your help FG and RTD.

Nienke

Edited November 10, 2008 by Nienke

[Nienke]

Ok, since when are printers able to play games???????????

Took the cartridges out. Got people over to train with there dogs, so now I can clean my table from leaked ink. And yes they were on a bunch of papers.

Put the cartridges back. Print ... NOT. Print error. ooooooooookayayayayayayayaya. Switch of the printer. Switch on the printer. Do the hold-the-button-for-a-long-time thingy. Yoopie, it works. Quite a good print out of text in black. Not perfect, but definitely something that I can use.

Now, the computer says the black cartridge is full and the others are almost empty! Go completely figure.