Peripherals forum: EPSON no ink no scan multi function printers

It is a feature that ensures people will have to buy ink cartridges to use functionality that should not in any way shape or form be tied to being able to scan.

BTW, the NX420 series will let you print if the black ink cartridge is empty. However, if any of the color cartridges are empty and what you are printing only requires black ink and that cartridge has ink it won't let you print off black and white.

My printer will have limited printing functionality and full scanning functionality regardless of whether or not an ink cartridge is empty or not!

Regards,
Azzhole

Epson simply is saying with an empty ink cart, you're not at the ready status just in case you need to print. These personal printers are simple and what seems objectable isn't in their big picture. Once you get into far more expensive models, etc. what you seek if available, but it should blink or provide some warning the toner/ink is empty. Its just a method to keep the inkjets from clogging if left too long with no new ink(wet ink) to keep them unclogged. I'm sure once you've encounter that problem you'll appreciate their logic.

tada Willy

The Canon Lide90 is $80 at best buy.

Are you sure a black cartridge for your RX500 is $89? I find a refurbished one at ocinkjet.com for $4.99 + $1.99 shipping. That's $7, not $89.

Kees

The first five responses to this post are either posted by Epson or they are the dumbest I have ever read and are certinly not helpful. In my opinion Epson's ink policy is outrageous and boarders on fraud. I have an Epson RX 680 that I'm ready to dump. I was about to start printing documents the other night when my printer informed me that one of the colors was out of ink. No problem I thought I only needed the black ink for the task at hand. To my surprise the printer would not print anything unless I replaced the empty cartridge. At 11 o'clock at night this was hard to do. I even tried to remove and replace the empty cartridge, No dice. Despite the idiotic opinions posted previously, this is inexcusable. Also, I know for a fact that some printers declare the cartridge empty long before the cartridge is actually empty. My previous all-in one was an HP 1210. It was April 15th. Again, late at night. No choice, I kept printing. I printed four full copies of my federal & state income tax with no problem. That taught me a lesson and I suspect Epson's ink monitor is just as fraudulent. Something needs to be done about this.

The Epson Stylus NX420 has the same limitation. It will not scan without ink. I have filed a formal complaint with Epson. I also wrote a bad review directly on the website. I talked with Canon Technical Support and they recommended the MX882. I was given a way to get around the scanning without ink dilemma.

Just tried it. Error- cannot connect. Cables are fine, power on. No go.

thanks for this tip.
I was mad at my epson TX210 due to no ink and no scan.
but i searched for EPSON scan and launch the software
and VIOLA! I was able to scan even without ink!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks a lot.

This is just poor design on the part of Epson.

I needed to photocopy some documents for my records. An ink cartridge has run out. OK, I think, I'll scan them to print later. But no, I can't use the scan function, that in no way requires ink. I don't have access to ink at the moment, and right now I don't want to spend money on a new ink cartridge.

There is no justification that this is good design. This is poor design. Epson have disabled a function that does not rely on ink. They are forcing my hand to buy new ink.

Please fix this bug in future printer scanners.

I need a new printer, does anyone know of any printers that will print in B&W even if the color cartridges are empty?