wf-3640 prints blank pages after print head cleaning

[Gyrobob]

My WF-3640 stopped flowing any ink at all after I did a print head nozzle check (showed some gaps) followed by a print head cleaning. I have removed and reinserted the cartridges a few times.

The printer responds normally to print jobs sent to it, but instead of just showing problems related to some print head nozzle inconsistency, it stopped printing any kind of image at all.

Is it common for this printer to have something simple like a wire disconnected or a circuit board go bad, etc.?

The WF-3640 was working normally, but with some faint streaking, prior to this. Now it seems as if something inside the thing has lost the ability to tell the cartridges to flow any ink at all.

I doubt it is from nozzles drying up because the streaking and nozzle checks would have just gotten worse instead of no ink flowing from any nozzle at all.

 

[Gyrobob]

I have set the printer back to default settings.

I tried to use new firmware, but I got a message something about printer degraded.

The printer is on a home network and it is receiving instructions for print jobs okay,.... would it help any to attach it to the computer with a USB cable to load the firmware upgrade?

 

[VA1DER]

This sounds like a cartridge problem, not a firmware one. Do you use original Epson cartridges? Did you pull off the air hole sticker from them? Or, if you are using aftermarket cartridges, did you remember to prime them before using them?

 

[Gyrobob]

This sounds like a cartridge problem, not a firmware one. Do you use original Epson cartridges? Did you pull off the air hole sticker from them? Or, if you are using aftermarket cartridges, did you remember to prime them before using them?

How do you prime cartridges? The cartridges in use at the moment are not Epson brand, but they have been working fine for several weeks. The problem started after I did the printhead cleaning procedure.

 

[VA1DER]

The cartridges in use at the moment are not Epson brand, but they have been working fine for several weeks. The problem started after I did the printhead cleaning procedure

This is consistent with using an aftermarket cartridge, especially a refillable one. With refillable cartridges, there is some air in the ink feed port on the bottom of the cartridge. When you put the cartridge in, the printer will often work for a little while just using the residual ink that is in the print head, but it can't pull new ink from the cartridge through because that air bubble creates a vapour lock. Priming pulls ink through to eliminate air, wet the internal filter, and just generally get the ink and air flowing right. Once you prime a refillable cartridge, you shouldn't have to do it again as long as you keep ink in it - if you run it completely dry then you may need to do it again.

If you are not using refillable cartridges, then they should have come pre-primed, and there may not be much you can do if they weren't. I find the quality of aftermarket non-refillable cartridges to be highly variable, and I tend to avoid them.

How do you prime cartridges?

You can see another post of mine (last paragraph) for the procedure for priming, or check out some youtube videos. My post has some links to good inks and a tool that makes priming easier.

 

[Gyrobob]

I just found out about the class action lawsuit against Epson for the firmware upgrade that prevents their printers from using non-epson ink. It seems this is my problem.