"out of ink" error 2

[uscpsycho]

I just bought a used Phaser 850. I bought it "as is" because the price was hard to resist. But when I power it up, I get an error that says it is out of ink and that I need to add ink.

However, I have ink in all four banks. In some, there isn't much ink (about 3/4") but I feel there is enough to be able to at least print one page. To be honest, I don't know why the printer thinks there is no ink because it doesn't seem like the printer is making much of an effort to print.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

[uscpsycho]

BTW - At no point does the front panel read "Meltink Ink" - it just powers up and gives me the error about being out of ink.

 

[LaserSmith]

You need more ink, at least another of each, before it will even warm up. We have 2 Phaser 350's and they are the same way. You need to have at least 1 whole stick of each visible in the machine.
The warming up cycle alone will use every bit of what you say is in the printer now. I would suggest you leave this printer on because each time you turn it on it will use quite a bit of ink during warm up.
They have awesome output but can be a bit expensive on supplies.

Todd
LaserSmith

 

[uscpsycho]

Thanks for the reply Todd. But I'm a bit perplexed. How on earth does the printer know HOW MUCH ink I have in the printer? There doesn't seem to be any mechanism for the printer to measure how much ink I have in each color bank. So unless it actually tries to melt them and fails, how does it know if I have half an inch or six inches of ink?

As I said, I bought the printer used and I am trying to test it without spending a ton of money on ink (in case the thing is DOA). Any ideas for how I might trick the printer into thinking there is more ink just so I can get a test print?

 

[marty5261]

There are sensors on the ink loader assy that are triggered by the amount of ink in the loader. These sensors are activated by the blocks on the ink loader that push the ink down. You can fool the printer by unlatching the top cover and holding the blocks back as you pull the tension bar forward and using something like a pencil to keep it from registering a top cover open message. Otherwise the printer will sit there and say low/out of ink and never get past that point until you put in more ink.

 

[uscpsycho]

It sounds like you are suggesting tricking the printer in a way that the ink can't be used by the printer (it is higher up in the loader and can't be melted). So, now I have two questions:

1) If I hold the other colors back and make the black accessible to the printer will I be able to make a test print with 1 of 4 sticks?

2) Will this do any damage to the printer?

 

[marty5261]

Damage the printer, no, but you can run the printhead out of ink, if you print excessively this way and that I do not recommend. Yes I am suggesting you trick the printer but only to the point where you can determine if it will operate normally with ink added. You should be able to make a test print because there is ink in the printhead reservoirs, the out of ink or low ink messages are generated from the inkloader not teh printhead. The printhead has sensors in the reservoirs to determine ink levels and these will determine when the heaters are turned on to melt the ink from the inkloader into the printhead.

 

[uscpsycho]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

One last question for you, and then I think I'll be comfortable tricking the printer as you suggest (and I will only do this to confirm operability of the printer).

I received the printer with three partial colorstix and no cyan. So, theoretically, the cyan reservoir could be empty. If I trick the printer, and the cyan reservoir turns out to be empty, will VERY light usage result in any damage? Presumably, with no cyan ink the previous owner would have received the 'out of ink' message before draining the reservoir. But you never know.

You said the printheads also have sensors, so I'm probably safe, but I thought I'd ask just to be sure.

Thanks again. Your assistance is sparing me from spending a lot of money to buy colorstix for what may turn out to be nothing more than a paperweight. Hopefully this thing will print and I can buy some ink!

 

[uscpsycho]

I came to the office on Monday armed with all the Phaser trickery I learned over the weekend. It took a little McGyver-esque skills, but I was able to trick the printer into thinking it had enough ink with the lid closed and one of the banks actually empty.

The printer warmed up and cleaned itself for what seemed like an eternity. Then when I printed some of the test pages, I was disappointed to find splotches and streaks on all of them. I had the printer to more cleaning via the on-screen troubleshooting menu and, to my relief, it worked! Now I get crystal clear test pages and I'm ready to invest in some ink so I can use this puppy.

Is duplexing a standard feature on this printer? I did not expect that, but during cleaning, I noticed that it would suck pages back in then spit them out upside down. I assume that the printer does this because it is able to do two-sided printing. If that's the case, it's a nice unexpected surprise. Can someone please confirm my assumtion?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[marty5261]

850s have the duplexing capability, it was standard with the 850DP and DX model but not with the N model. The start up page should show what model you have. Glad to hear you got it working and all that seemed to be was you needed ink. Minimal printing with no cyan ink in the loader should not damage the printhead but i would be wary of running it dry.

 

[jvolk]

out of ink"error can also mean that your lid/slide gizmo is damaged, [easily replaced].

I had all bays full and still got the error -thus found out the above

jo