Epson Stylus Pro 3880 - doesn't use black ink

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>I'm having problems using my new Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer. It seems it's not to be using the black ink. I have installed the newest drivers and triple-checked if the ink cartridges are installed properly. Still, no luck - black areas are not colored. Any idea what may be causing this issue?</p>

<p>Thank you very much in advance!</p>

<p>- Bob</p>

<p>Are you saying that a nozzle check shows no black out of any of the black cartridges, or just a problem when making a print?</p>

<p>Hi,<br>

Thank you for your feedback!<br>

The Nozzle check and printer display both show that the black cartridge does have ink and is almost full. It's a problem when making a print.<br>

- Bob</p>

<p>I apologize if I might be getting annoying but I'm not sure I understand your response. There are 4 different black cartridges. Are they all showing up when running a nozzle check? The cartridge display doesn't mean much, but the nozzle check does.</p>

Right. Does the actual self test print by the printer show any black output? And, are you experiencing the same thing

on both matte and glossy paper settings?

<p>Thank you for your patience. I'm sorry but I'm new to this printer.<br>

Don - if I understand the nozzle check results well, than yes, all black cartridges are listed.<br>

Matt - there's no black output in the print test. The same thing happens on both matte and glossy paper.</p>

<p>Once again Bob your answer makes me think you don't understand what a nozzle check means. You said "all black cartridges are listed" which means nothing as it relates to a nozzle check. If you're doing a nozzle check then you should get a printout of wiggly lines which would include the lines for each of the colors and each of the blacks. There should be no gaps of any type in any of the printouts. Even a small gap in one of the black printouts could give you a problem with black showing up when making a print. </p>

<p>Your SP3880 nozzle check pattern should look like this. This is from my SP3800 (scanned at 600 ppi, so the colors are a bit missed up). Inks left to right are: K lK llK C M lC lM Y.</p><div></div>

<p>My result is attached. Excuse me for bad scan quality. Does it give you any clue what may be wrong?<img src="http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/989/nozzle.jpg" alt="" /></p><div></div>

<p>That's a really terrible nozzle check, about the worst I've ever seen. You need to run a (or several) head cleanings until there's absolutely no gaps in any of the colors or blacks. You said you were new to the printer, is it a used or new unit?</p>

<p>Wow, it works now! Thank you so much, you've made my day!</p>

<p>I am having a slightly different problem. I have just replaced my first ink cartridge...the black PK T5801. When doing a pattern test print all cartridges are perfect except the PK T5801 is not printing at all. The second slot for it is totally blank. Do you sometimes get faulty cartridges that do not print? Do you think a cleaning will help? Seems I've seen cases where people did something to "soak" the cartridge print head to make it work. Ideas?</p>

 

<p>Hello mate! I'm having the same problem. The cartridge photo black suddenly stopped printing. This occurred after I select the matte black without wanting to choose a paper type in the Print dialog box. From there you have not printed more "photo black". I tried some settings and nothing. I'm sure it is something related to software. Can you help me? You could solve your problem with the epson 3880? Descupe the grammatical incorrectness. I am Brazilian and I'm using google translator to translate from Portuguese to English.</p>