Epson 9900 Failed Cleaning

[Vernon Roberts]

Hello,

Our Epson 9900 has been failing when it's performing a cleaning. Does this mean it's about to go soon? Is there something that can be done?

 

[wonderings]

Are you running the normal cleaning? Maybe it is still clogged and you need to run the power cleaning.

 

[benstarr]

If it gives you the message that it failed during cleaning. Just say not to try again and run a nozzle check. Most of the time the cleaning was successful and you can keep going.

The x900 series printers often say they're clogged or need cleaning when they are totally fine.

There is a chance the head is going but you'll likely see other indications if that is the case. How old is the printer?

 

[Russ_G]

All the info you'd ever need in regards to cleaning cycles. We get that message often, if it looks good on a nozzle check we ignore it.

CLEANING CYCLES – Epson Stylus Pro 7900, 9900 | MY X900

 

[almaink]

My 9890 Epson started giving that message about 6 months ago. 2 weeks ago the cyan head got clogged and it started to band if I print at 720 DPI. I ran all the cleaning cycles, I even went into service mode and ran them but the nozzle check still shows broken lines in the same place in cyan. I tried cleaning the head to no avail. I can get un banded proofs by printing at 2,880 DPI so thats what I've been doing for single pages with large solids. We are so slow here bossman won't pay to fix this POS so I'll ru it like this until it dies I guess. Just a heads up that if it's giving you that error now, your head may be going too.

 

[Neko2]

You may be able to manually clean the heads.
There's a breif tutorial here talking about the paper towel and windex method: Fixing Clogged Epson Print Heads - Printers - Computer Peripherals

 

[lynnic]

Hi,

Had the same experience with our 9900. Every cleaning had a failed message but seemed okay after. Constant auto cleaning and clogged nozzles. Exactly at 4 yrs. old just as predicted it was pretty much done. A new print head and labor was more than the machine was worth.

The 9900 is still the printer of choice for hi end proofing so we just purchased a new one.

Good luck

 

[lynnic]

Be careful of this print head method. We did this twice and decided to do it a third time over the weekend (there was so much ink each time). Ink oozed out all over the carpet and we had quite a mess - beware! Cover the floor and keep an eye on it.

Lynn

 

[almaink]

I did the windex thing 4 times and the nozzle check still came out like the head is clogged.

 

[lynnic]

You probably need a new $1800 print head... or a new printer depending on it's age.

 

[RickS]

Another possibility, The cleaning station needs cleaned/replaced. The cleaning works with the cleaning station sealing with a rubber gasket and sucking against the printhead to clean. If the gasket is dirty or worn, it can't preform a effective cleaning cycle.

 

[almaink]

The thing that kills me is the printer has only 1365 pages on it. Not very many for the print head to got tits up already. I Googled this issue and it seems I'm not alone either as it's a common problem with these new Epson's. A class action law suit is in order, if I owned this POS I get one started. but bossman could care less. he's using he banded proofs and is telling the customers the printer needs to be fixed so don't mind the banding. No wonder we have no work here...

 

[semi-tech]

We're getting the same message on our 7900. Numerous attempts to clean have all failed, as has rebooting the machine. Nozzle check reveals that only the Light Light Black is affected; even trying a nozzle clean on an unaffected pair failed, though. Everything else is perfect on the nozzle check. I guess all heads are involved regardless of which pair you're cleaning? Meantime, I've disabled the auto clean function, as I read that too many failed cleanings will generate an unrecoverable error (RET100), and you can't use the machine. That nozzle clean plot, showing the light light black as missing in the middle, is a possible sign the printhead itself is on the way out.

Has anyone tried the Epson cleaning cartridges?

 

[semi-tech]

We're getting the same message on our 7900. Numerous attempts to clean have all failed, as has rebooting the machine. Nozzle check reveals that only the Light Light Black is affected; even trying a nozzle clean on an unaffected pair failed, though. Everything else is perfect on the nozzle check. I guess all heads are involved regardless of which pair you're cleaning? Meantime, I've disabled the auto clean function, as I read that too many failed cleanings will generate an unrecoverable error (RET100), and you can't use the machine. That nozzle clean plot, showing the light light black as missing in the middle, is a possible sign the printhead itself is on the way out.

Has anyone tried the Epson cleaning cartridges?

UPDATE: the printhead was replaced. We're trying to get a P7000 to replace the 7900. Things are moving VERY slowly with the procurement and IT folks.

 

[wonderings]

Our 9900 fails after a cleaning sometimes. I have 2 little spots that I can never get solid and think this is what causes the failure. Prints still come out great so I have not pursued it any further.