Power cleaning locking up our Epson 7900

[mc hristel]

A few times a week (more or less depending on how much work we have) I run a power cleaning on our Epson 7900. Recently though, the Epson seems to get "stuck" part way through the cleaning cycle and doesn't finish the cleaning. It sounds like it's running the cleaning, but just never finishes. The only way I have found to stop it is to turn the thing off, and turn it back on. After that, it runs just fine again. It doesn't lock up all the time just randomly.

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on? It doesn't seem to be affecting print quality, just the ability to run power cleanings.

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

No error codes or indication it isn't doing the cleaning? You may need to reset the Waste Ink Counter, being a power-clean takes a lot of ink to run. That happened to me on a different issue; anytime I would try to run something, it immediately errored out until I reset the counter. It's a built-in maintenance thing and is annoying as shit, especially when absolutely nothing is wrong.

Not sure what keys you have on your Epson, but pushing a combination of them at the same time will bring up a dialog and you cycle through it until you fine Waste Ink Counter Reset.

Doing a search, I found this as the normal procedure...

7600/9600 reset maintenance counter.

Procedure for resetting maintenance tank counter on 7600/9600 is:

-turn OFF your printer
-press PAPER SOURCE+PAPER FEED (down arrow only)+CUT/EJECT buttons at the same time and keep them pressed
-turn ON the printer
-you can release the buttons
-a new hidden menu appears
-press DOWN, CLEAR COUNTERS option should appear
-press RIGHT
-press UP, MAINT TANK should appear
-press RIGHT
-press ENTER (CUT/EJECT button)
-turn printer OFF and then back ON
-should show as new empty tank now

[Joe]

Those counters are there for a reason. :laugh: Mainly to make money for the manufacturer by having you replace the waste tank long before it is full but I found out the hard way if you keep ignoring it long enough you will have a big-ass mess to clean up some day.

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

Yes, I agree. More the earlier part of your post. It still wouldn't be a bad idea for someone to come and look at it. The counter reset will not void your warranty, and is usually done by the tech when he does his maintenance go-through.

[frailer]

We leave ours on 24/7, on advice from my long-time Epson service guy. That way it runs everything on, I assume, a schedule based on usage-combined-with-time. Haven't had a problem in 2 years since install.
Yep, i also change maint. tank when it signals full, and, TBH, it looks/feels pretty full. Personally I wouldn't push that one too far.    :undecided:

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

The Waste Ink Counter and changing the tank, although seemingly synonymous, are sometimes not. Let me explain... the machine will go absolutely bonkers when the counter gets up to a certain point DEMANDING a tech come in and look at it. It doesn't matter if you change the tank or not. I'm not suggesting you not change the tank if you need to, I'm also not suggesting you don't have a tech come out and look at it. I'm saying, IF your Power-Clean Cycle is failing, resetting the counter could be a POSSIBLE workaround. I've seen this happen on my own machine, where it demanded I have a service guy look it over when one had been in my shop the week before. He never reset the counter and in turn my machine would NOT print.

[frailer]

Well, if yer Epson's actin' up a 'ornery, then that would be handy, indeed. Shall try and remember those steps are here for if when it happens. Specially if you know the maint. tank is not full. 

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

A few months back, I had a metric shit-ton of proofs to get done. It was late and no one at our proofer service center was available. Every time I would try to send a proof, it would go ballistic. I would shut it down, restart it and immediately, it would go bananas.

In an ideal world, I would contact my service center, have the guy come out and look at it and wash my hands of it. Unfortunately, we all in Prepress know, it's not an ideal world. I have proofs to get out and I have a machine that don't want to produce.

I got online and started digging. Found nothing that seemed of any value. So, using my experience with printers, I started pushing and holding buttons to see what and if there was a service menu. I found the counter reset options and a lot of other options. As soon as I cleared the counters, it started working again. Got all my proofs out.

The next day, I get a call back from my service guy. He says to me, "I'll be in tomorrow to fix it. I know exactly what to do." I played it off for a few minutes making him think he was some messiah, but after listening to this guy gloat about how awesome he is, I let him have it. "I reset the counters." He sat there for an uncomfortable few seconds and said, "You really shouldn't be in the tech menus messing around." I then asked him what he planned on doing when he came in.

"Reset the counters."

I do not say it lightly, If you're not prepared for the consequences, don't do anything, let a pro handle it. It could have easily went bat-shit on me and screwed me big time. I will also say, that MC's problem sounds all too familiar.

[mc hristel]

We will be calling it in just to be safe but I wanted to get some other opinions. Normally the power cleaning takes about as long as it takes to print out a typical proof (7-10minutes), but after a 1/2 hour and the cleaning is still running that tells me there is a problem. The print head moves, then the motor (ink pump?) kicks on like it should. Normally it does this for each print head and the cycle ends. In this case it seems to be "stuck" and repeats the same process. No error codes, it just keeps trying to run the power cleaning.

The waste ink container wasn't full at the time I had this happen, though it is saying that it's low now. We aren't too concerned with replacing a waste ink tank early, but resetting the counters does sound like something worth trying. I think I will do that after the old tank is swapped out in a day or two.

Thanks for the input,
-MC

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

Good luck, man. May the force be with you.