How to fix Epson printer not recognize refillable or CIS cartridges

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Contact points

  • Make sure the cartridge chip is clean, free of ink smear and debris.
  • Make sure the printer's contact pin is clean, free of ink smear and debris
  • Verify that the cartridge is seated in the printer securely.  Push it down hard until you hear a click.  Once it is inside, wiggle it with your finger back and forth.  If the cartridge seems to be loose, insert folded paper to the back and thus push the cartridge forward to have good contact with the printer.

Installation

Possible Causes:

  • If you installed cartridge with power off, then printer won't know you changed the cartridge.  It will confuse the printer and thus cause cartridge error.  
  • Sometimes Epson printer won't erase previous error code.  When it has a depleted OEM cartridge error, and a non-OEM cartridge warning come together, it causes the printer to display "cartridge not recognized".

Things to try:

 

 

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Comments

  • Avatar
    Missy Antoi

    Nothing worked. New cartridges. Power off direction, failed. Cleaned ports failed. Contacts not touched, not greasy, wiped down ports with alcohol swab.
    These are guaranteed replacements but, the Epson replacements I had replaced had the same issue with recognizing as well. Computer expert happened to be visiting and worked her magic on it BUT she is no where in the area any longer. In the life of this printer I have spent more time with maintenance code issues than actually printing. There is a plan with all printers and technology for that matter to always make any software, parts, even electrical supply cords exclusive to their products only to make you pay ridiculous prices and stay locked and dependent on them. Happened with my Brother, Lexmark, Kodak and now my Epson. Expensive printer only made about 50 prints on it 100 max.

  • Avatar
    Mcoronado

    MIssy this can be the firmware causing the issue recently epson has been doing updates to stop from using third party ink there are some work arounds but not all might work you may want to disable auto updates hope this helps

  • Avatar
    Clcork46

    Auto update disabled my WF-4740. Will no longer recognize my third party cartridges. Any workarounds? Have already tried downgrading firmware to an older version but the upgrade must have set something else in the printer that isn't effected by the down grade as it won't recognize my cartridges. Had a epson yellow cartridge that still had ink so I put it in and it was recognized.

  • Avatar
    Jameshannan10

    This printer is really frustrating. I am constantly dealing with errors that I cannot figure out how to resolve. Bought all new cartridges but printer insists they need tube replaced. Followed all above steps. Still wont print. Like I have al day to solve all these bugs in this equipment. Epson should make it work, not me.

  • Avatar
    Mcoronado

    Hey james I understand your frustration seems your machine might require some maintenance. If this is a fairly new machine epson should have you covered for a year for parts and labor. And i know its time filling to try and troubleshoot these yourself you could also reach out to a creditable service company or ask another business you talk to, to see which service tech they use and should be able to find whats wrong with your machine if just compare the price to a new machine to how much a service bill might be sometimes people just get a new machine but i know its not the most ideal situation for most people

  • Avatar
    A W

    I just had this issue and got it to work.

    Turn your printer off

    Open the top where you can see the ink on the right side (I don't know how else to describe it at the moment)

    Then turn your printer on while the top is up open. The ink holder should move to the middle.

    The screen will tell you to check your ink, etc. Click ok

    It will then start updating with the new ink. Might take 1-2 minutes.

  • Avatar
    Mcoronado

    Great reply to your problem glad you were able to try some things and it worked out hopefully this helps out other people

  • Avatar
    Maher Soua

    I tried the solution of removing all cartridges and run the printer without them, and put them back and everything works well, thanks a lot for your help.

  • Avatar
    Anne Coates

    I tried the solution running printer without cartridges and is now working....thanks to this page. Thank you!

  • Avatar
    Lisa LeCroy Grady

    Well add me to the list of I printed until the cartridges ran out and now it won’t print when installing new Epson cartridges. No updates ever run. Just tried replacing and keep getting error codes over and over again that ink cartridges not working. Tried everyone’s solutions so short of getting a main tech to look at it I’m SOOL. this was not a cheap printer and I’m very frustrated as my HPs have been reliable forever w NO problems and Are less expensive. Really irritating !!!

  • Avatar
    Mcoronado

    Sorry Lisa for the issues you are having. Sometimes machines have auto updates enabled and the firmware or software updates no matter what. please view our website where we have the most up to date Ink's and toner.

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    Support

    Missy: Make sure the contact points on the printer is not bent or missing. You can compare it to the other cartridges.

  • Avatar
    Sharon Rowlett Decker

    How do I make sure the contact points are ok? I have tried and tried to get the code to go away and will not.

  • Avatar
    rdpguy

    Thank you, worked like a charm. Mine is a workforce WF-2750. If you have that model check the firmware version . If it is JP0118 ( feb/18) I know it's ok, Tanks again for that tuto !!!