I absolutely hate printers!

[oxf]

It seems like printers give me more trouble than anything else!

But to my current issue.

I got an inexpensive printer, EPSON STYLUS S22, just mainly for printing black/white docs etc. It came with the standard intro cartridges which don't last long. I replaced the black one which is fine but it refuses to print until I replace the colour ones as well, even though I've set everything to print in black/white and wont use colour.

Is there any way of overriding this sill ruler

Katya

[xc3RnbFO8P]

Maybe if you unplug the printer, remove printer in system setting
restart the computer and plug the printer again.

[oxf]

Maybe if you unplug the printer, remove printer in system setting
restart the computer and plug the printer again.

No that wont do it unfortunately.

It reminds me of when I first got the printer. I only installed the black cartridge and it wouldn't work until I put the color ones in even though I was just printing in black/white.
The Epson info implies the same

GRRRRRR!

[philinux]

No that wont do it unfortunately.

It reminds me of when I first got the printer. I only installed the black cartridge and it wouldn't work until I put the color ones in even though I was just printing in black/white.
The Epson info implies the same

GRRRRRR!

Take out the colour cartridge. Reboot the printer then put it back. It should think it's a new one. Even if it's empty.

I think I did this years ago with a epson 740.

[oxf]

Take out the colour cartridge. Reboot the printer then put it back. It should think it's a new one. Even if it's empty.

I think I did this years ago with a epson 740.

Well you had my hopes up there for a few minutes! Unfortunately that doesn't work now, I guess there chip are more advanced now to force people to buy more cartridges!

Sigh.....

[kimda]

You are not the only one who feels this way...

Printing Hell (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers)

[kurt18947]

You might consider something along these lines:
http://www.inksupply.com/chipreset.cfm
The other possibility is checking into refillable ink cartridges. I have some that substitute for HP02 cartridges. They have removable plugs and chips that when the cartridge is removed, the chip resets and appears to the printer as a new full cartridge. This is also why I like the Brother inkjet printers that use LC51 or LC61 ink cartridges. They have no 'kill me' chips.

There downside to cartridges that don't quit when they get low on ink (or have printed some many pages). Some printers, when the cartridges runs dry while printing, the printhead become airlocked and there's no economical repair. Time for a new printer.

[forrestcupp]

Take out the colour cartridge. Reboot the printer then put it back. It should think it's a new one. Even if it's empty.

I think I did this years ago with a epson 740.

Some of the newer printers have some kind of small chip or circuitry on the cartridge so they can actually tell how much ink is in the cartridge. That trick doesn't work on those printers.

[donkyhotay]

I really dislike epson printers because of this. I'm fine with a printer warning me the ink is low, pausing jobs to confirm/warn me that the page may not print right or even damage the heads but ultimately it's my printer and I should be able to print under those circumstances if I want.

[doorknob60]

Oh you aren't the only one, I hate pritners too, soo much...Here's a hilarious video about printers, just a warning that has a lot of swearing in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV0M9_NwMHY

[cariboo]

Instead of buying an inexpensive consumer grade inkjet printer, why not purchase a business class laser printer, the upfront cost may be a little higher, but printer itself will last a lot longer than an inkjet, and the cost per page will be a lot less. I just retired an ancient HP Laserjet 5P, more due to missing features, than anything else, and replaced it with a Brother HL5250DN, I've had it for about 2 years, and I'm still using the original toner cartridge.

[Justme 88]

My sympathy on your printer. I have a Brother printer that uses LC61 cartridges and it does the same thing that your Epson is doing. The other thing that I found is that if I take a cartridge out to look at it and put it back in it reduces the "supposed life" of the cartridge. The ink level sensor on this machine uses a 'dot counter' to estimate the ink level. One of my friends had a similar printer and tried refilling the cartridge and that did not work either. Only alternative I know is to keep extra ink on hand.

If you are just printing B&W without need for excessive quality, you might check out Brother's mono laser all-in-one's. I have an MFC 7860DW that I just purchased for the office. We used a pre-runner of this model for years and liked it very well. The cartridges are refillable and last long. Very reliable machine but only monochrome.

[jjex22]

Unfortunately I can confirm there's nothing you can do about the epson cartridge replacement bother - I first noticed it with the truly terrible S21 - my last epson. The adds ranted and raved about separate colour and black cartridges to save money, but didn't mention it won't print anything at all if one of them runs out. You have to get in the habit of always keeping a spare and remembering to replace it when you use it - if like me you use it for office duties you probably won't keep an eye on the colour levels - you have to do this with epson, otherwise as you've found out you find yourself shouting at it because it won't even print draft quality black and white because it's run out of yellow.

I do feel for you, but over the year it lasted I must have tried every google tip I found on it and never found a way round the system. Whatever you do don't follow any tips about trying to clean the cartridge chip or the print head chip reader - I followed this tip and was then told that the replacement cartridge I bought wasn't genuine and it still wouldn't print.