Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Took my car to the dealer for service. Spent nearly the whole day looking at resumes for our Admissions Assistant position that's open. Lunch at desk by myself: leftovers from last night. Dinner at home with Patrick: hong kong chow mein with basil, baby corn, red bell peppers, enoki mushrooms. Tried setting up the new Epson CX5200 that arrived today in Windows 98 SE. After installing the ink cartridges, it started its ink cartridge charging routine by making grinding noises from within. After a few seconds, however, the display said, "Scanner error ---& See your documentation and call service if necessary." The "Start Here" guide did not mention this problem in its "Solving Problems" section. The only other documentation was a Macintosh Software Installation guide. Couldn't find any answers in the Epson Support Web site either under Documentation or Troubleshooting. Turned the printer off, then on again. Same error. Turned the printer off, then on again, pressed the right arrow menu key several times to get to the Change Cartridges menu, pressed the green Color/Enter button. I opened the scanner lid as the display instructed. The cartridges moved to where I could reach them. I unseated then reseated each cartridge. I closed the lid. While the display said "Cartridges charging" I inserted paper into the paper store at the back of the printer. Went to the bathroom to pee. When I came back, the display seemed normal ("Plain paper-Norm, Letter 100% 1") and the red error was no longer lit. All seemed well. I tested a color copy of an Adobe PressReady box I had lying around. In less than 45 seconds, a color copy came out, but there was no blue in it. Did the Change Cartridges again—sure enough, the cyan cartridge had come unseated somehow. These cartridges don't make any click when you push them in—a design flaw, in my opinion. You can push as much as you like, but you'll never know if it's in or not until you print or copy.