Back in the dear dead days of Windows 98se, I bought a costly HP 1100A (All-in-One) Laser Printer that connects to computers through a parallel port. New computers lack such ports so my 1100A has been out to pasture for many summers now.
I have missed it sorely because the toner seems to last forever, which contrasts sharply with ink-jet cartridges that go dry with costly frequency.
     My heart lept up when I beheld on eBay, and at Amazon as well, cables (designated USB to DB25 IEEE-1284 Printer Adapter cables) that allow the HB printer cable to connect with a computer's USB port. Installation is easy if you ignore the instructions provided by the manufacturer. All that's necessary is to attach the adapter cable to the HP printer cable with the printer on, plug the USB terminal in, then boot the computer. Windows does the rest, including downloading the newest printer driver. Be patient: It takes Windows several minutes to get things squared away. I have been successful with both XP and Windows 7, neither of which can read the original installation disk.
     On the bad side, the download is strictly for HP 1100 printers, so my HP1100A can't scan or copy the way it did with Windows 98. HP Online Help technicians offer neither a cure nor sympathy for my deprivation. They think I should buy another laser printer All-in-One and can provide it very cheaply.
Seán

Sean,

I've never formally studied Latin, but somehow I picked up enough over the years to read your subject line. I HAD to know what a subject called "Amor vincit omnia" was doing on the computer board! And yeah, I know what it means. "Love conquers all." And now that I've read your post I know what it's doing here.

It's very touching that you love your old laser printer so much you were willing to track down an adapter for it. I understand why, though: My last couple of printers had refillable cartridges, enabling me to save quite a bit of money by buying large bottles of refill ink on eBay. Not my new Epson all-in-one, though. It uses four ink cartridges which are not refillable, and if ONE of them runs dry, the whole printer stops working.

That's the situation I'm in now, as a matter of fact. My black ink cartridge ran out last night and the printer stopped working. So now at the end of the month when I can least afford it, I have to buy another one. At least the pattern I sold on Etsy today will almost pay for the print cartridge (which I need to print the invoice), so it could be worse.

It's really quite a racket these printer companies have going. They practically give away the printer, but then they rip you off on cartridges and toner! Oh well, I guess that's hardly an original complaint.

--Linda

You can also add a parallel port to today's computers easily. And you can add the old printers to your network by using a print server. I support one business which loves its old HP LaserJet 6P printer. None of its computers have a parallel port, but I found an old printserver on eBay for $20 which does have a parallel port and a standard 10/100 RJ45 network port. Works fine and lets all the computers share the printer.

But the people at HP are correct--for under $100 you can get a printer today that does more than your old expensive printer ever did, and does it faster and better.

Jeff/CompGuy

Linda, there are plenty of firms that sell cartridges that will work in your Epson, whatever Epson printer it is.

I and my wife use the Epson R300 printer with 6 cartridges. Last week I bought 2 of each of the five color cartridges and 4 of the black cartridges as a special sale buy for $43 plus $5 shipping, and I saved an additional 10% by going through a cashback shopping network plus an additional 6% by using a cashback credit card to make the purchase.

Some sources to check out are inkgrabber.com, 4inkjets.com, inkjetsuperstore.com, penguinink.com. Or just check for best prices at dealink.com for some of the discount ink places.

Jeff/CompGuy

Jeff,

I have the Epson Stylus CX4400. I've bought 4Inkjets ink in the past and loved it (loved the price especially), and while the my printer can't tell the difference with the color cartridges, for some unknown reason it chokes on an off-brand BLACK cartridge!

The really strange thing about that is that when I first bought 4Inkjets ink (all four cartridges), it couldn't tell the difference with the black cartridge either. I was about halfway through the cartridge when suddenly an error message would show up on the screen, showing a big red "X" over the image of the black cartridge when I was printing something. That happened a few times and then the printer stopped working completely. I had no choice but to replace the black cartridge with an "official" Epson cartridge, which I resented like hell because it costs so much. It's also the one that gets used most often and therefore needs replacing most often.

Later, as an experiment, I put the half-used black cartridge back into the printer to see if it would work again. It didn't. I've tried that several times since with the same result. My printer always recognizes the off-brand black cartridges but not the color cartridges, which continue to work just fine.

Any ideas why that happens and what I can do about it?

--Linda

Linda, sounds like something happened to that one half-used black cartridge. After all, you say it worked fine at first and then something went wrong. Maybe it got dirty in some place; maybe the circuit board blew (these things do have circuit boards). Maybe something else.

Epson cartridges have a Smart Chip that sometimes doesn't recognize cartridges or doesn't recognize the amount of ink in the cartridges. Reinstalling the printer software clears that problem, I think, but that's a pain. This product:
http://www.printcountry.com/pr...t=EP-I-COM-CHIPRESET
would let you reset the chip, but it's no longer being offered.

Look here:
http://www.inksupply.com/chipreset.cfm
for some more info. If I'm reading that correctly, that firm's cartridges have an automatic reset function in their cartridges that avoid the problem you experienced, which again is why I suggest trying different brands of replacement black cartridges.

Also, this one might work for you:
http://www.cartridgechipresetter.com/Epson.htm

But note, please, your conclusion. Your conclusion is that your printer won't accept any black cartridges that aren't from Epson. But you've never tried any other black cartridge--not from your 4InkJets firm, not from any other firm. At least, I THINK that's what you're saying--it's not clear to me from what you wrote that you tried other brands or other cartridges. And you wrote in haste saying your printer doesn't recognize the color cartridges--I assume you meant the black one.

According to:
http://www.4inkjets.com/returns.php
you can return that defective black cartridge for a full refund or replacement.

I just found a great way to buy ink cartridges. Go to inkbates.com and sign up--it offers 18% CashBack on 4inkjets.com purchases and right now has a special coupon for 10% off plus free shipping over $50.

Anyway, point is I'd certainly try another cartridge as a minimum before concluding you have to buy Epson brand black ink only.

Also, why are you printing so much anyway? I only print envelopes, invoices, labels, and an occasional check. Everything else I simply print to my hard drive using a PDF printer--one free one is PrimoPDF. I can always print out a copy if I want to, but why would I want to?

Jeff/CompGuy

quote:

Look here:
http://www.inksupply.com/chipreset.cfm
for some more info. If I'm reading that correctly, that firm's cartridges have an automatic reset function in their cartridges that avoid the problem you experienced, which again is why I suggest trying different brands of replacement black cartridges.

Jeff,

Thanks for all your help. Until you posted this note, I didn't realize there was such a thing as a chip resetter. I'm definitely going to order one of these, but it will have to wait until after Wednesday when I get my SS check. When I say I'm broke or that I can't afford something, I don't think anyone realizes just how bad it is, and of course I don't like to get too explicit about it on a public forum.

I have very little money in the bank right now, and I was gritting my teeth at the thought of having to spend half of at Office Depot buying a black Epson cartridge! But I have this pattern somebody bought from me on Etsy which I have to ship to Australia ASAP. It would be very unprofessional not to send an invoice with it, so that's what I wanted to print. I do want the chip resetter if it will help me avoid cartridge problems in the future, but I think I can wait a couple of days to order it.

quote:

But note, please, your conclusion. Your conclusion is that your printer won't accept any black cartridges that aren't from Epson. But you've never tried any other black cartridge--not from your 4InkJets firm, not from any other firm. At least, I THINK that's what you're saying--it's not clear to me from what you wrote that you tried other brands or other cartridges. And you wrote in haste saying your printer doesn't recognize the color cartridges--I assume you meant the black one.

I'm sorry if I was unclear. There are two cartridge-related reasons my printer stops working. One is because one or more of the cartridges is out of ink, but that's normal for this type of printer. But when I say that a big red X appears over the symbol for the black cartridge, there is also an error message that appears with it: This cartridge is incompatible with this printer. Every time I've gotten one of these error messages, it was associated with a 4Inkjets cartridge. The cartridges are marked "LD Products" which is also on the invoice, but they are distributed by 4Inkjets.

I think we're using the word "recognize" in two different ways here. When I said my printer doesn't recognize the color cartridges, I mean it doesn't recognize them as generic cartridges. It thinks they are genuine Epson cartridges and doesn't put a red X over them, give me an error message and stop working the way it does with the black one.

At least that WAS the case (past tense). Because you'll never believe what happened just now. I read your note and looked at the chip resetter at the ink supply link, but didn't want to spend the $6.95 plus shipping just now if I could avoid it. My printer status window was showing an exclamation point over the black cartridge, meaning the ink supply was very low. But I already knew that.

I thought that was why the printer stopped working...but it WASN'T!!! I didn't want to spend any money at all right now, but I did want to get my invoice printed ASAP. So I thought, what the hell, why not--and brought up the cartridge changing utility, intending to replace the black Epson cartridge with the half-empty 4Inkjets cartridge I told you about. I figured I had nothing to lose, that the worst-case scenario was that it simply wouldn't work, just like it hasn't worked the last four times I've done it. But it did work! No red X and no error message.

But as it turned out, that was NOT why my printer stopped working, not because of the black cartridge at all. The ink cartridge status window was showing an exclamation point over the black cartridge, meaning it was low but not incompatible with the printer--obviously, since it's an Epson cartridge.

This time the red X was over the CYAN cartridge, which was the only non-Epson cartridge I had in the printer at the time--along with the same error message I used to get with the non-Epson black cartridge. The other cartridges were all Epson cartridges from Office Depot. I was running low on yellow and magenta and black, so I bought a full set of cartridges about two months ago. I remember how irritated I was because that set of cartridges cleaned me out of all the cash I had at the time.

As for the cyan cartridge: I still had the box and the invoice, so I checked the date. I ordered that cyan cartridge from 4Inkjets (LD Products) back in AUGUST! The reason I thought it didn't need replacing when I replaced the yellow and magenta is because it was showing in the cartridge status window as FULL!!! And it was still showing as full when I replaced it with the Epson cyan cartridge--the only extra cartridge I happened to have in the house at the time. What DID show in the status window was a red X over the cyan cartridge and an error message: "This cartridge is not compatible with this printer."

But most likely the real reason the printer stopped working is because the cyan cartridge was dry, which is not unreasonable considering that the last time I replaced it was in August. So now my printer is working again!

Can you explain any of this?

--Linda

Oh, lots of possibilities, Linda. One question--do you print a nozzle test sheet when something is wrong? That would identify which cartridge is having problems. Did you try a cleaning? Often the cartridges simply have to go through the cleaning procedure to be revived. A cartridge shouldn't dry out completely simply through age--the nozzle s are capped if the printer is working properly so the ink won't evaporate. But ink on the nozzles can dry out and clog the nozzles and require a cleaning...

Jeff/CompGuy

I don't believe this one. The asterisks posted above are from the word n-o-zzle, which this BB software apparently thinks is obscene. Geez.

Jeff/CompGuy

Jeff,

Wouldn't you know it!!! About two minutes ago I tried to print out my bank statement and the cartridge status window came up with a red X (incompatible cartridge) over the BLACK cartridge!!!

It worked for two days and then STOPPED!!! Would the chip resetter resolve this problem? I think I'm going to call 4Inkjets and ask them what the hell is going on here.

--Linda

 
Defined as a a projecting spout, terminal discharging pipe, or the like, as of a hose or bellows... ******.

*CJ

 
Well I'll be a son-of-a-gun...

*CJ

 
All...

My apologies.

I can't for the life of me remember adding 'nozzle' to the auto-censor list... but there it was.

I removed it and EDIT'd Jeff's original note so it now reads correctly.

Again, my apologies.

*CJ

*CJ,
     Nozzle derives from nose plus -le (used to convey a diminutive sense). Circa 897 CE the word for "nose" was nosu as can be seen in K. Ælfred Gregory’s Past. C. xi. 64: "—if he...to micle nosu hæfde, oððe to lytle."
     I hope this helps.
Seán

I remember back on the old Prodigy BBs the autocensor wouldn't allow the word "*****," causing some odd censorship in the Pets BB!

Jeff/CompGuy

P. S.--still there! Word means female dog. Can be an insult too of course.

quote:

the autocensor wouldn't allow the word "*****," causing some odd censorship in the Pets BB!

Weeeeell, doggies!

 
*P's auto-censor also wouldn't allow discussion of those wonderful harbingers of Spring, pussy willows.

*CJ