My printer seems to be working fine, yet it isnt laying down any black ink. All inks are Epson brand , and brand new.

I'm assuming that you are probably using Non-Epson Ink Cartridges, because those are what normally cause that problem, with a printer not recognizing an installed ink cartridge. Unfortunately, there is no way to make your Epson Printer use or accept that Non-Epson Ink Cartridge, if it cannot actually recognize it. Its even possible that some Generic or Third-Party brands, may not always be recognized by the newer models of Epson Printers, because of the inexpensive [cheap] and or incompatable Electrical Chips that are mounted on the actual ink cartridge. Sometimes you will even get Error Messages up on your Monitors screen, telling you that you are actually using a Non-Epson Ink Cartridge, or that your printer cannot recognize the cartridge that you installed. Sometimes the Ink Level Indicator, on your Status Monitor, will not show an actual ink level, but may indicate a cartridge error or problem instead. Not all Generic or Third-Party ink & ink cartridges are made the same and none of them actually contain the right formulation of ink, for the Epson Printers [formula is patented by Epson Company]. Some are probably close and seem to be better than others, but some simply can clog-up or even damage the Printhead Assemblies on Epson Printers, or simply won't be accepted at all. Epson Ink Jet Printers are one of the few printers on the market that seem to have so many problems with non-manufactors inks, especially the newer models made in the last couple of years. Its because the Epson Printers use a completely different printhead inking system than most other brands of printers. Most, if not all of the other manufactors, use thermal or bubble jetprint heads and because the other brands use a totally different system, they don't seem to have as many problems using refilled inks or non-manufactor's ink cartridges. Printer manufacters do not make available their ink formulation and in most cases, the formulation is patented. Any difference in the ink formulation can actually cause clogging in the small printhead nozzles or damage other critical components. One individual printhead nozzle is so tiny, that it will not accept a human hair, so you can see why they can get clogged so easily, or even why the nozzles can be so easily damaged...Even if you were actually using a New-Epson Ink Cartridge, its always possible that you got a bad cartridge. At this point, the only thing I can suggest is that you try a different New-Epson Ink Cartridge, or at the very least, a different brand of Non-Epson Ink Cartridges and see if that helps.

I get the feeling Epson has their printers programmed to shut the pumps down on those who use any ink or cartridge other than theirs. If they didn't have such a short life, I wouldn't mind using just theirs. But every couple of days? Of coarse I would to try to find a way to not go broke by using alternative methods. Well, the black ink stopped, even after Inserting an original. But I'm not going to fix mine. I'll just buy a better brand with a larger ink capacity. Gotta get that money.

try a deep cleaning at printer maitenance

clean the head of your black cardrige.

did you remember to pull the tape off the print head before you installed the new cartridge?

The Epson CX9400F printer seems to require replacement of all the color ink cartridges, even if only the Black is empty.

I print almost exclusively in Black, but with my first change of Black, I was forced to change all the color. At the time I thought Epson did not provide completely filled color ink cartridges.

Just yesterday, I replaced Black and the printer complained it did not recognize the rest of color cartridges. So I replaced all the other color ink cartridges and now it works fine.

You might want to check out www.clickinks.com for cheaper, mail order alternatives which are Epson ink compatible, if you are not in a hurry.

ew

Hi,

When was the last time that your printer was working fine? Is this a brand new ink? cleaning your printer using the printer utility will help your printer to work fine and gives a quality result.

I suggest to try replacing your black cartridge ink. You may go to any local computer shop or to your printer manufacturer.

Keep me posted.

Kind regards,

Jeff

Some of Epson's cartridges went bad that way. It may be a bad cartridge. Get a new one, pull that one out and see what happens. If it works, call Epson for a refund. They had a class action suit for that type of thing, they lost and paid off. I would think they will help you right away.
C

you can take it to repair shop and they will clean the head for you with some cleaning fluid if it has been without ink for a while sometimes these get blocked but it is not worth replacing cus would cost more than the printer as the ink cartridge you brought was originall then this isnt the problem check all cables if not better off buying new printer as these are not made to last long sorry couldnt be any,more help...........................