I have cleaned the printer heads over and over again, and the software says the cartridges are still half full, but when i rpint not one trace of black will print. what should I do? Untill I can get it to print black it is nothing more than a door stop to me... thanks to anyone who helps

I've got a 740i also and had a problem that it wouldn't print because it said the ink cartridge was empty. I knw there was plenty of ink left, although the software indicated differently.
The software actually guesses on how much ink is left based on how much you print. Did you ever notice that there is always the same level of the 3 different colors?
In my case I took the ink cartridge out and put it back in. The software then said I had a full ink cartridge and I was able to print again. You probably have no black ink left. Or you forgot to remove the plastic tab before putting it in (doubtful).

[DewD]

My Epson 850 told me the same story this week.
As it turned out, my black ink cart was over 6 months old, while the color ink was fairly new ( the printer had been stored for a while this spring). A fact of inkjet life is the cartridges do dry up and the ink will harden without fairly constant use and frequent pressure/priming cycles. Your only option is to put in a brand new catridge...I know it's probably $ 20, but that's what Epson engineered the whole system to do. They are in business to sell you their proprietary ink in their proprietary cartridges that CANNOT easily be refilled. That little chip on top of the cartridge won't let you reinstall a cartridge once it is popped out. I love my Epson printer, but I hate the Epson ink extortion ! It is just that...extortion...the cartridges can't cost more that $ 2.50 to make down there in Mexico

[pastusza]

I actually had a similar problem on an old Epson Stylus Color 500. No black would come out. It turns out that the print head for black was clogged. Run it through some cleaning cycles and see if it will clear. In my case it did not, and I had to use extreme measures.

I don't know the internals of the 740 (mine is still working great!), but for the 500, the heads sit on these 2 pads on the right side. They look like small pieces of felt. Soak the pad that the black head sits on and let it sit overnight. Run it through TONS of cleaning cycles in the morning, and you should be OK. I used this to bring back my 500, which I was ready to throw out, I was so mad at it!

DOING THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY! EPSON DOES NOT ENDORSE THE USE OF SOLVENTS TO UNCLOG PRINT HEADS. IF IT IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY, SEND IT BACK FOR REPAIRS.

According to Epson, the use of cheap cartridges and refill syringes are most likely to caue ink drying in the print head.

I hope this helps somebody.

------------------
Andy Pastuszak
andy_pastuszak@yahoo.com

[pastusza]

Sorry, SOAK THE PAD IN WINDEX is what the previous message is supposed to say....

------------------
Andy Pastuszak
andy_pastuszak@yahoo.com

[Don Foy]

Moving this thread to peripherals

How to fix a false "dry" ink cartridge indication:

Shut down your computer. Turn off your printer and then back on again. Press the lower left button on the printer and hold it for about 3-5 seconds--the ink cartridges should move to the left so yo can access them. Then release the blue snap mechanism that holds the ink cartridge in place, and raise it about a half inch or so and then reseat it and secure the snap. Press the lower left button again and the cartridges should return to the right. Turn off the printer and wait a minute or so and then turn the printer back on. You should now be able to print many more pages. This procedure seems to reset the lousy "counting" system that Epson uses to falsely indicate ink levels.

I cannot just change the cartridge, when I hold that button down it merely cleans the printer heads again and again. it won't stay stopped long enough for me to change the ink cartridge...

[kaceygones]

This is more of a comment than an answer or a question:
I have a 740 and had the same problem with the color ink. It had been a while since I used it and when I tried to hold the button down for the three seconds to change the cartridge, all it did was start to clean itself. So, I did it a second time and knew there was enough time at one point to swap a new for the old but it still didn't print so, I cleaned it one more time and now it prints in color perfectly and tells me I'm low on Black. If it's not one thing, it's another.
I'm wondering if i switch the color inks again if the old one would print now.
Good luck fixing your problem. When you do, let us know what you did.
kacey

[This message has been edited by kaceygones (edited 09-22-2000).]