How do you get the red ink back

have you tried printing a test page?

My printer just died. The first indication of a problem was ink cartridges not being recognized. I replaced 3 in one night. The next time I went to print the entire unit just lost power and will no longer power on. From what I've been reading a bad print head can fry the logic board. At that point the only solution is to replace the board. For a 5+ year old machine and a logic board that will cost ~$100, it doesn't seem worth repairing.

What is the flash pattern?

If the red paper light and the red ink light are blinking in an alternating pattern, then you may have a foreign object or piece of paper blocking the movement of the print head. Turn off the printer, open the printer and look for anything in the printhead path. Remove anything that doesn't belong. Some printers have a strip that the print head travels across that can sometimes come out of position. This can be repositioned by moving it up and down as well as forward and back to align in a guide on the back of the print head.

After clearing the obstruction, close the printer and turn it back on. If the error persists, then the unit needs service.

If the red paper light and the red ink light are blinking together and the green power light is off, then the printer has an internal error. Turn it off and then back on. If the error persists, the unit needs service.

One internal error could be the waste ink absorber is full. These pads are below the printhead and absorb ink during cleaning cycles. To reach them is messy and takes disassembling the printer from the top. This may include removing the print head. Pull the pads, blot the ink off them and the places where they fit in the printer. Run clean water over the pads until the water remains clear. Dry the pads (use a hair dryer to speed the process). Then reassemble the printer.

Next navigate to http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/InkPadsForm.jsp and fill in the model and serial number of the printer (as well as the other required information). You will get a link to download a reset utility for Windows. Run this tool to solve the error. Do not run this utility until the pads are replaced or cleaned; waste ink will get everywhere inside the printer and over your documents.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

did the print out improve after your clean the head?
If all fails, try this last method.. take out all the ink and switch on the printer, when the printer detected no ink, it will ask you to insert the ink cart. Put back the ink cart and let the printer do ink charging.. pls make sure there is ink in the cart else it will damage the head.
After the ink charging, print a nozzle check and see if there is any improvement.

.. is the light flashing alternate? if yes, then the printer porous pad need to be replaced and reset ink counter.. install your printer driver and status monitor and you should be able to find out whether it's the ink empty or maintenance needed. For this model.. I am sure your waste ink counter is full...

Remove the ink cartridges and clean the sensor below them.

Possibly ink on the blocking the sensor from reading the poper ink level.

After that put the cartridges back in and then go to printers on your PC and right-click the printer on the screen and try to locate a cleaning process or if you have software installed for the printer, run it through there.

Do it a few times if need be and then check the ink level.

Head cleaning it's normally called.

If it doesn't work, then the printer might simply need replacing.

check printer preferences and settings.

when you change all new cartridges (make sure all cartridge ok, and the cartridge pins connection ok) still red color lost, it is the trouble at print head ink chanel some of that is too dry for longer time less using , most CANON printer head is separated from the ink cartridge, two way you may try:
1) take out the ink cartridge, drop down a little the special cleaner (best clean tools buy from dealer), to the head ink chanel hole, then set back the ink cartridge and waiting minutes
2) try put the print head bottom surface touch a little cleaner or water 1-2 hrs, if you can take out the print head unit. still not fixed for some case that should change the print head unit.

I changed the black ink in my printer, now it will not print everything in black!, I changed it back to the old ink, but still not printing black ink, what do I do?

Rerun the CD that came with the printer.