Jump to content

Epsom C40, given up the Ghost......or has it?


Recommended Posts

I have an Epsom C40 printer, its about 5 years old and endured the voyage from UK to France with any other favourite toy (Hubby included!) Anyway over the past few weeks it has led me a right old dance, various lights doing their warning, so me being me thought it was out of ink....the computer is one item I wont experiment with so I did without untill Mr O returned to re-fill the ink cartrides, but during the interim had a read of various sites and the owners manual.

I have red and green lights that flash alternate, the epsom website says `Unplug printer and take to dealer`   now in my book that is tike an open invitation for an `expert ` to give me a large bill  for doing next to nothing.

Anyway thought I had better start weighing up the cost of a new preinter...do not do vast quantities of printing, just duplicating the odd letter and printing receipts for goods bought on line..so do not need industrial strength one, but then the cheaper printers tend to have more expensive cartridges, so started to weigh up the prices on line for those, when I came across this little thing I personally had never heard of (OK , so any 3 year old knows what they do, I am 4* today and am lost in the techno field )  the magic thing is called a ` chip resetter`   will this little object fix my printer.

the syptoms to my ill printer are, 1) alternate, constant red green flashing lights.

                                             2)won`t feed paper

                                             3) won`t print test

                                             4)won`t move cartidges to possition needed to change/refil

Any advice welcome, even if it includes any retailer that is currently selling a printer for less than 40 euros.

Mrs O

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having had several Epson printers, I can vouch for the fact that they are excellent when working properly but when they start giving trouble like that it's best to consign them to the skip and get another for little more than the cost of the replacement cartridges. The cheaper ones are really throw-away items. Try this site: http://www.multe-pass.com/1/P/161335/default.htm, not quite 40euros but pretty cheap.

I think the chip resetter merely enables you to refill your old cartridges for the more advanced Epsons and kid it that they are new manufacturer's cartridges - a rather dubious benefit when you can get perfectly good copy cartridges for very little money (I paid £1.50 each for the last ones I got).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We threw our Epsom away, it had given several years service but just stopped.

I replaced it with a Canon ip2000 which was a little more expensive, but the refill inks are a lot less.

My husband now has a printer that could be a phocopier, possibly scanner too (can't remember) but you can also take the media chip/card from your camera and it will print your pics which makes it a pretty useful piece of kit IMHO.

The cheapest solution may not be the best.

Good Luck
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can get a chip resetter but frankly I wouldn't bother.  I got an Epsom C44 'free' with a lap top.  Unlike any other printer brand I have come across it has this tricksy software that insists on telling you you are about to run out of ink (when you've still got about 25% left) and flashes away at any excuse.  You cannot easily refill the cartridges without the chip re-setter, nor will it work on, say black only, if the colour cartridge runs out.  All in all we've had it with Epsom and have treated ourselves to a Canon Multifunction whose cartridges are relatively inexpensive and can be bought on the net for under £3.  I once asked a man in a shop that sells only printer cartridges which were the cheapest and he recommended Canon.

Printers are so cheap these days and are often on offer in hypermarkets, generally a bit cheaper or the same sort of price as the UK.  I'd cut my losses.

Mr Russethouse's printer sounds similar to the one we got which was 139€   The Canon ip2000 Mrs RH mentions has been on offer in the Geant hypermarket last week but I'm not sure it will be under 40€!

Liz (29)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When lights start flashing and you are advised to take the printer back to the dealer, then is the time to say farewell Epson.

You are very lucky Opas to get 5 years servive from your machine, I usually have to buy a new one every two years. But whatever you do, do not buy the branded ink cartidges, which usually retail for the same price as a new printer.

There are many firms which sell what is called compatable cartridges for a fraction of the price and they are as good as the originals.

I always buy mine from

[email protected]

for a fraction of the cost. They will arrive to France in a couple of days after ordering!

Lautrec
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are right Liz, I think mine was about £80 but the cartridges are less than half the price of my 'cheap' printer if I remember correctly. Its loads more user friendly too.

I have spells of using the printer quite a lot but I think its a good opportunity to think which machine will most useful,(depending on how flush you are feeing) if you need to photocopy documents (seems pretty common in France) and you have a camera which has some sort of removable media card/chip then the dearer option might be worth a thought.

My days of buying a printer for £25 and the cartriges costing the same are behind me

I use www.theinkfactory.com for refills etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone, the printer came as part of a package deal from PC world , we use the computer as a toy really , not work related so another cheap printer from the Auchan will do nicely. It must be years since we last bought inkjets, just refilling them as necessary, so the sites some of you mentioned will come in usefull to get the compatible cartridges.

Mrs O

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought an Epson C60 to take to France last year it refused to power-up and, although I tried to repair it, it is now awaiting a trip to the dechetterie. The solution was to buy an HP printer from PC World during a sale. The printer cost less than replacement ink cartridges for the Epson. All my HP printers have performed reliably.

                 Good hunting, Alistair

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...