INK! I recently bought some ink tanks without the computer chip on them. I moved my chips from the original tanks over to the replacements, but now my printer won't work. I loaded all of the tanks, closed the lid, and then the power and paper feed buttons flash, first one then the other and on and on. What do I need to do to get my printer to work again?

At the head carriage, there as contacts are connected to the ink tank chip when the ink tank installed. At the rear there is a small pcb contact is commonly called the CSIC chip reader. When there is a condition that does Recognized ink tank chip, the first possibility is the ink level reaches the zero point on the chip. For some ARC chips (commonly used in the system CISS), ink level it can be reset to 100% again by pressing the reset button on the chip. If using original chip, make sure first that the contacts on the chip clean of dust and rust. If the brand new original ink tank is installed , still not readable, then chances are the damage / dirty CSIC chip. Extra effort required for the carriage and check this CSIC.

Before trying anything else, make sure that your refill cartridge is seated firmly in the moving printhead assembly. I had one that I had to play with a while until I got it to seat properly.

If you are not using genuine Canon ink tank replacements, you will get an out of ink warning. This may not be related to your problem, but if it is, you need to buy replacements that have the little computer chip that tells the printer that it has a new ink tank if you want the printer and software to think it has a full ink tank. I use a third party ink system with a resettable chip. When the ink tank is removed it resets to tell the printer it is a new, full ink tank. The downside is that, if I remove a partial tank for some reason, it resets and the printer won't warn me in time before the tank goes dry.

Confirm you are using the correct cartridge:
Ink color Part number Black 69 Black (High Capacity) 68 Cyan 69 Magenta 69 Yellow 69

If the cartridge is the correct one check the contacts on the cartridge and its holder for contamination or damage.

Are these genuine Epson Cartridges? If not, Please try Genuine Cartridges for best results. If they ARE genuine ... take them back to the place you bought them and complain. If you already did that ... please ask your question again and mention these important facts.

Thanks for your question at FixYa.com

Some of the ink sellers have the chips available for purchase. You just have to make sure you get a new chip with your new inks...

If ink cartridge Unrecognizable, there are two posibilities : Chip Error at ink tank, or printer error. For chip error, try to plug the ink tank to another printer (same type). If the ink tank recognized by other printer, so the problem is printer.
So ;
1. Check chip conector at head carriage.
2. Check the wiring of the head, and chip.
If two point above is ok, the last action is check the power supply and board. It may be epprom is damage.

could not get anything to work so i had to buy new and original tanks with chips that solved the problem

The problem can be one of the following:

1. You have a faulty cartridge chip (return to purchaser and request a replacement)
   
   
2. The chip is soiled (ink or similar is causing the connection to fail) so try cleaning the chip
   
   
3. The chip is not properly mounted on the cartridge (maybe skewed slightly or similar). If so try straightening out carefully and then re-inserting.

Canon have been known to send out cartridges with bad chips so you should contact them if you bought a proper one and they'll sort you out.

ON THE CHIPS, TRY CLEANING THEM WITH ALCOHOL (70%)

SOME BRANDS YOU CAN SHAKE THE CARTRDGES TO RESET THE INK COUNTER

The dreaded U052 error means that the 'chip' fitted to the Cartridge is not responding .. Canon (like all printer mfgs) makes all it's profit from selling Ink .. so they fit these chips to try to prevent you refilling or using a 'compatible' replacement cartridge

You have to move the chip from the Canon cartridge to the 'compatible' and (it seems) the chips are particularly sensitive to static / damage .. many people end up blowing the chips during the swap over .. or even when fitting the original genuine cartridges to a brand new unit for the first time ...

If the unit is brand new, take it back and demand a replacement ... if you have just swapped over the chip onto a compatible cartridge, you can try buying a genuine Canon cartridge (which will have a new chip) = hopefully that will do the trick

NB. I have seen some suggestions that canon's have a 'Service Mode' that allows you to disable the cartridge chip checking and allow you to print no matter what .. however I've never found any details ... perhaps some-one else has the details ??