Full X900 printhead changing tutorial, the appropriate servprog.exe file to sync your head, email support if needed.
Service manuals and servprog.exe files for the following machines:
- 7900
- 9900
- 11880
- 9890
$45 VS $1000 or more, depending on your location service calls can be a LOT more.
Stream the X900 head changing tutorial for 30 days, request service manuals, request servprog.exe files, request email support – and get yourself back to printing!
Trust me you can change your own X900 printhead all by yourself, with the very detailed and thoroughly explained help of this video. You will need a servprog.exe file to sync your new head, I can help with that. I used to do all this for donations, which only about 2% of users offered in return. To those who responded by donating, I thank you sincerely. To everyone else I am happy you are up and printing again.
That was the past, this is the future. Rent this video for $45, save yourself $1,000 (sometimes more), and email me with any questions you like. You get the video for 30 days, you get the appropriate servprog.exe program for your machine, you get my email support (which you will not need if you follow the video as patiently and thoroughly as I created it for you).
As for what you are up against changing your head, Epson will sell you a replacement head. All you need to do is install it. This video shows you how, one step at a time.
Note*: the final step of your new head install will be registering the numbers on the head to the printer, using a PC-only program called “servprog.exe”. It is rare but some people have had problems with the software not recognizing the printer due to them using an incompatible windows version. If this happens to you, here is a solution from a fellow Epson head changer, David Lorenz:
Good luck my friends.
If you feel you’ve got something valuable from MYX900.com, please help keep it alive! Any donation you feel is appropriate will go toward funding the research, development, and maintenance of this site. For your security and convenience we accept paypal donations, please follow the link below. And thank you for helping back!
*note: While I may be depressed if you tell me you broke your machine in half trying to fix it, I am not responsible. Any technical help shared on MYX900.com is based on our own do-it-yourself hands-on experiences. Your choice to follow our experiences, is your choice. Good luck! : )
MY X900 
I want to give you thanks , the video is excellent , i save 2000 dlls. , appreciate your help to make this head change
You are very welcome Gabriel. Thanks for taking the time. Eric
Hello Eric, would you send me the program to register the new head. I bought your video. thanks
Alex, email me and I’ll send it out pronto! https://myx900.com/contact/
Hello eric, any place to buy the head for epson 9900?, regards
http://www.arkiplot.com/producto.asp?id=6309
https://www.unicompparts.com/epson-printer-parts-c29/print-heads-c132/epson-spare-part-stylus-pro-surecolor-print-head-p377
https://www.lfpdrucker.de/themes/kategorie/index.php?id=14725&katid=&action=detail
Unicomparts.com sales sent me an email and said they don’t ship to USA and to contact Epson for a replacement.
The best place to buy a new head for your Epson, is Epson themselves. Heads are the only part that Epson actually sells. Everything else they farm out to suppliers like compassmicro and so on. The heads you need to call Epson for.
what you think gus about this supplier?
https://www.sign-in-china.com/products/3075/epson_7700_9700_9910_7910_printhead_f191010_f191040_f191080_f191110_f191140.html
So far I only know of one user buying a head successfully from someone other than Epson or Ebay – and that was off alibaba. I don’t know about china.com
I rented your video and I tried this method on my 7890 epson printer it still has a communication issue would not communicate what is the problem I tried turning off the printer in the computer and restarting and still have the same problem
Stared new concoct:
http://robbie.w.telrock.org
Hi Has anyone tried the next gen P7000, is it any good. thinking of replacing my 7900
Effin, I just got an email from a fellow X900 head changer who noted the following interesting points considering the P7000/P9000 vs the 7900/9900. I’ll include his words here:
“here is an interesting observation. The 9900 is in such disrepute everyone is selling the printer and the ink. You can buy the Epson in on eBay for a fraction of the cost. Also, the original head has been improved several times as evidenced by the number of part numbers the head has. Each time it was improved it got a new part number. P9000 uses the same head as the the replacement head for the 9900. The 9900 and the P9000 are in almost very way the same machine. EXCEPT now with the P9000 we are locked out of using aftermarket inks. AND have to pay list price for ink.
So fixing the 9900 with the help of your video saves lots and lots of money.”
thank you eric
I am in need of the servprog.exe for an Epson Stylus Pro 9900. I made an account on Epson Insider but am unable to find the correct download. Any advice?
Alex did you rent the head changing video? It comes with the rental. Email me directly
Our 7900 developed a sudden “clog detected” problem last week. The nozzle test print shows the entire top half of the black is not printing. Normal cleans and “power” cleans “fail”. I’m thinking this looks more like an electrical issue than a dried ink issue. Any thoughts?
If it was air in your lines your suspect channel wouldn’t fire anything. If it was a “clog” it would likely change, at least a little, somewhere, from one cleaning to the next. I usually suggest to people that they carefully compare nozzle patterns, one to the next to the next and so on. If there are changes it’s a clog. If not, or even if the “clog” gets worse, it’s electrical. And by “electrical” I mean horrid but common piezoelectrical.
Well, I solved this printhead issue with a whack. I shutdown the printer and proceeded to give the printhead a few light whacks on the left side and front. I then restarted the printer and printed a nozzle check – all better!
That’s a first!
Good morning.Love your site and hopefully you can advise me.My 9900 started acting up with the orange.I believe my humidity got too low.Printer is about 4 years old.First clog issue. I’ve done the initial purge/refill,windex to clean head(no direct contact though),cleaned cap station,wiper blade. I’ve been running prints of orange and various other prints.Even ran a few cleaning cycles in service mode.Per your advise-I haven’t done SS cleaning-ever.Sounds like the head is bad? Should I try the SS cleaning just this once?Test print of orange changes slightly but mostly-looks the same.
Same deal different day Michael. Unless you see changes through cleanings, one to the next to the next (with prints inbetween), your head is dead. Don’t waste too much ink on hope..
WOMP,WOMP!!Alrightly then.Will be in touch soon to replace the head.
thx
Last thing:is the printer head the same in the 4900,7890 and 9900 the same?
Mike
4900 head is unique to that machine. Many before you have considered the swap but no dice, those heads won’t fit the big machines.
Is the 9890 head the same head as the 9900 for less money(as I’ve read in the internet) or are the O/G channel disabled and can’t be used in the 9900?
I inherited some ink and a new Epson 9900 print head. I can use the ink but do not need the head. Does anyone have an idea what I ought to do with this print head? Thank you very much in advance for any advice.
Go ahead and email Pierre, just below. He’s looking for a head x900head@bmpromotional.com
John, if this is a brand new, unused 9900 print head, I would love to pay you for it, if you still have it? How does $300 or $400 sound? Please email me at sharonleenw@gmail.com. Thanks so much, John!
Hi Sharon, Thank you for contacting me. Yes I still have it, I was just thinking about it today. I’ll email you and we can talk about it. — John
I am also looking for a epson 9900 print head… I would pay $500.. is it still available? THANKs jen
Hi Jen, thank you so much. But no it is no longer available. I’m sorry.
I am looking for a defective head that has some (preferably two or more) channels still working. Would love to have one somebody pulled out after they replaced it with a new one. Would be willing to pay $50 for it and provide our UPS number for shipping. We print only black ink so help us out and and get few bucks for your bad head!
please email:
x900head@bmpromotional.com
THANX!!!
p.s. sorry for double posting, just trying to increase the chances of finding a defective head. Eric’s video worked out great, it made it easy to pull our head out and replace it with another. Unfortunately the spare I had was toast, too so we are looking for another head.
p.p.s. please let me know if you have a head available even if this is an old post. I’ll gladly buy some spares and there are ppl in our industry that can use them too.
p.p.s. Harbor Freight has a long magnetic #1! It comes as part of a $10 pack with red handles. It is the only way to remove the screws holding in the head.
Thanks for the awesome lead on the screwdriver set from Harbor Freight, Pierre!
just installed a head that was sitting for a year. More than half of it opened up with a soak and pressure flush. Please let me know if you have one sitting around, we can use a backup. Thanx!
Hi Pierre, Thank you. The print head I have is brand new as far as I can tell, nothing’s been opened.
I’m not going to replace my printhead. I’m interested in removing it for piezoflush cleaning. Are the steps involved still this long? I presume I can skip a lot of the service software. I saw a video on doing this on the 9700, and it was just 5 screws and a few minutes to get the head out. I’m betting I’d still have to largely disassemble my 9900, but I’m hoping for some reason I’m wrong if I just want to remove and put back in the same printhead.
Same procedure, just no head syncing.
I run a mac…can’t do .exe files..any suggestions ? I assume this video shows where to buy a new printhead?
If you’re in the US you can buy the head directly from Epson. Quick turnaround, reliable source. I’ve heard a few cases of people buying heads from Alibaba, and I get asked often about other “cheaper” sites – but to my knowledge nobody has actually chased that down. Too risky.
The program is PC only unfortunately. I am mac too. You’ll have to buy someone a drink and grab their laptop for an hour. Pretty painless procedure, many before you have made it through the goal posts. Even one woman, 70yrs old I think she said she was, who did the whole job on her own.
I’ll help you through if you have any hiccups,
Eric
Thanks Eric
Been trying the magic bullet cleaner, no luck yet. Actually looks worse.
May go this diy print head replacement route, do you know how much (about) epson charges for a new one? (9890) and is that the only part generally that needs to be swapped out?
Price has fluctuated over the years, not sure what it is right now but typically it’s around $1,600 to $1,800. Head is the only part Epson sells directly, all other parts you need to get from places like compassmicro. You will have the dampers off during head replacement, so you could swap that painlessly if you chose to and it’s not very expensive. Some just do the head. Actually most just do the head.
Epson said the new print head is about 1300 bucks. The professional repair IF all the parts they bring are used is $2400, but likely closer to $2100. Seeing as how costly the part is by itself I’m a bit concerned still. I’m concerned that my novice ability of diagnosing the problem may end up needing other parts. What else may be an issue aside from print head with one line missing from nozzle check on 9890?
If you get away with an Epson service tech only costing you $2,100 for a head replacement, ask him for a ride to the horse track on his way out of town and put all your money on the long shot. No way you won’t win.
Seriously, post the results of your service call here. Not only is that the lowest price quote for a service call I have ever heard, but it’s also the lowest price for an X900 head. At $2,100 I’d have them come do it too
Last year I had a new printhead set, device call and new wiper and the total with tax was $2103 from decisionone.com who was an epson authorized repair facility.
If you call epson and ask about 9890 new print head, she just quoted me $1300 for a new one.
You’re right I just searched it, you can buy 9890 heads for a lot cheaper than 99 series heads. Different animal
Can you post me the 7890/9900 service program, thanks.
Fixed Epson 9890
I thought I’d give a brief summary of my success in fixing my Epson 9890 printer. My printer was about 3 years old when it started loosing lines in the VM nozzle check. It progressively got worse, to the point that I lost about 1/3 of the nozzle pattern. To make a long story of woe short I decided to just go for it and replace the head and the selector unit (about $2,000 Canadian Pesos!). By the time I had replaced these items I had taken the head out 3 times (made some mistakes). After a few power cleanings for each color pair the printer had a perfect nozzle pattern. It has now been over 3 months since I replaced the head and my printer is working better than ever! When I first got this printer I always had a little trouble keeping a perfect nozzle check with my C/VM pair. Everyday would require one or two cleans. After replacing the head I rarely have to do a cleaning. NICE.
I bought my head and selector unit from Epson. The ServProg program needed to register the printhead I got off ebay.
So I have a few pieces of advice from my experience:
1. Make sure you carefully record all the small numbers on you new printhead before installing it! If possible take a photograph. If you forget you will have to take your printhead out again!
2. If you replace your selector unit make sure you mark the orientation of the two ink cables!! I installed one upside down, so mucked up my ink positions. I fixed it by simple flipping the suspect cable and running a bunch of power cleans.
3. Take a mental note of how little torque all the screws for the selector unit and ink lines have. Don’t over-tighten when you re-install!
Eric’s video and email help saved me LOTs of money. THOUSANDS. I cannot stress enough that the best way to show your appreciation is with MONEY!!!!!!!!!! Don’t be cheap, if Eric’s site has helped you donate some money to his paypal account. Otherwise Karma will get you in your next life!
Hi Eric,
Thank you so much for all is good info. I have had my 7900 since 2009. It has been very good for me – always able to clear a clog. Issue is that that yellow shows 2 bands of clogs going horizontally across the nozzle check. The interesting thing is that yellow ink is pooling across the paper feed on the ridge below the pourus pads. Ink is actually getting on the back of prints. Warm black show some horizontal banding. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Replace Dampers? Replace Cap and pump? Thinking of buying p9000 or canon. Thanks!
First off, many thanks to Eric for his efforts to archive and share all of this information. It’s been tremendously helpful in trying to sort out the problems with my Epson printer. I thought I’d share my experiences in the hope that it might help someone else.
I have an Epson 9890 that, after about six years of use (and frequent cleaning cycles to fix crummy nozzle checks), developed repeatably bad nozzle checks in the Cyan and Light Cyan channels (all other channels fine). The nozzle patterns in both channels printed okay at the top and bottom, but they were missing entire chunks in the middle — always the exact same chunks. I tried a number of remedies, including:
1) Numerous cleanings — I tried regular cleanings, paired cleanings, power cleanings, and SS cleanings, and to no avail. The nozzle patterns in the Cyan and Light Cyan channels continued to show the exact same missing chunks in the middle. The repeatability of the problem suggested that the issue was likely related to the piezoelectrics in the print head, but I wanted to exhaust all the other (less expensive) possibilities first. So, continuing on…
2) Soaking the print head — I tried soaking a paper towel in PiezoFlush from InkJetMall and letting it sit overnight (and for a few days) under the print head, followed by more cleaning cycles, but that had no impact. Others have reported doing this with Windex (or an ammonia solution), but I’m quite sure that PiezoFlush, which I believe is basically just isopropyl alcohol containing a faint red dye, should be as effective, if not more so, at breaking up dried ink. Again, no change.
3) Replacement of the ink cartridges with PiezoFlush cartridges — I swapped the ink cartridges with PiezoFlush cartridges, ran an “Initial Fill” cycle in Service Man Mode, and then ran several cleaning cycles, and to no avail. I even let the printer sit for about a week while away on business and it, again, showed no improvement in the Cyan and Light Cyan channels. The same blocks in the nozzle check were missing.
4) Manual flushing of the print head — Using Eric’s instructional video above, I removed the print head from the printer and manually flushed PiezoFlush through each of the 8 nipples on the print head using a 3-mL syringe and a small length of rubber hose attached to the end of the syringe. (I should clarify that the print head of the 9890 has 10 nipples, but to my understanding only utilizes 8 of them, with the remaining two nipples being reserved for the 11-ink models, e.g, the 7900 and 9900. In all of these models, one nipple is shared by Photo Black and Matte Black.) I visually confirmed that PiezoFlush was spraying out of each hole on the other side of the print head on each channel, which to my mind demonstrated there were no “clogs” or obstructions inside the head. After reassembling the printer and running some cleaning cycles, the nozzle check was still the same — the exact same chunks were missing from the Cyan and Light Cyan channels.
5) Replacement of the ink selector — I order a new ink selector (i.e. “damper”) and two new rubber seal joints from Compass Micro, Inc., in the hope that they would fix the problem. One of the things Epson doesn’t make *entirely* clear about the Stylus Pro line of printers is that they need frequent replacement of “non-user-serviceable” parts (i.e., once every six to 24 months), including the ink selector, to maintain longevity. Long story short, replacing the ink selector had no observable impact on my nozzle checks. They still showed the same missing blocks in the Cyan and Light Cyan channels. The other channels have continued to print perfectly fine.
That brings me to now. I’m on the fence regarding replacement of the print head versus investing in a new large-format printer with a better operational reputation (e.g., Canon). The print head replacement is the less expensive route, though without any guarantee that it’ll work (though, I’d wager I’m about 70% confident it will, based on the fact that the repeatability of the problem only makes sense from the perspective of inoperable piezoelectrics). The print quality of the 9890 has been great, but between the overall unreliability of the printer, Epson’s abysmal customer service, and the printer’s other quirks (e.g., trouble feeding paper, inefficient ink usage, clunky software, inexplicable errors/stoppages in the middle of print jobs, etc.), the thought of investing any more money in an Epson product doesn’t sit well with me, on principle. We had several Epson inkjet printers in the lab/office where I work and they all went belly-up in 8-12 months after wasting a lot of ink on near-constant head cleanings. We replaced them with Canons and haven’t had any problems — not even the need for a single head cleaning that I’m aware of — in roughly six months of use. Time will tell, of course, but there really does seem to be something about Epson’s hardware that makes them highly prone to frequent failures.
I’ve got some price inquiries out on new print heads for the 9890, so depending on what I hear back, I may give this printer one more shot. If so, I’ll update with my results. Best of luck to anyone else struggling with a similar problem.
EPSON 9890 PRINTHEAD REGISTRATION HELP
Howdy, does anyone have any information on how to register a new printhead in a 9890? The servprog.exe program does not have the 9890 listed. How did you register the head? I need to order a new head but I’m hesitant to do so if I am not confident that I can get by the necessary Epson registration step. thanks!
I’m in the exact same boat as you. I’m considering the purchase of a new head for my 9890, but noticed that my copy of servprog.exe (Version 3.02) does not have an option for the 9890. It only lists options for the 9900, 7900, 9700, 7700, and WT7900. If you select one of those (just to see if it works), you get an error message that reads: “Please install the driver for the model you selected.” Since I only have the driver for the 9890 on my computer, I’m assuming that the program scans your hard drive and looks for the driver of the printer you selected (e.g., the 9900) and then returns the error message when it can’t find it.
Interestingly, the service manual for the Epson Stylus Pro printers does make brief mention of servprog.exe on Page 358. This part caught my eye:
“Adjustment items differ between Epson Stylus Pro 7900/7910/9900/9910/9890/9908/7890/7908 and Epson Stylus Pro 7700/7710/7700M/7710M/9700/9710 and Epson Stylus Pro WT7900/WT7910, but the used Service Program is the same. You can select and execute the adjustments for each model by selecting your printer from the model drop down selection list.”
That paragraph *seems* to imply that the program is universal across all models. At the same time, however, it also seems to imply that there is a version of the program out there that might actually list the 9890 in the drop-down menu. In typical Epson fashion, it’s clear as mud.
I ran across a post on Luminous Landscape (http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=61585.1430;wap2) in which a guy describes how he took the print head out of a 7890 (the 24″ machine) and put it into his problematic 9890 and it worked fine. More interestingly, he specifically mentioned that the swapped print head worked without having to register it with servprog.exe (which he had a copy of, but didn’t use). Maybe registering isn’t necessary with the 9890?
I’d love to hear back from Neil W. who posted below (August 17, 2016) and mentions that he successfully changed the head on his 9890, but didn’t specify what he did (or didn’t do) with servprog.exe.
Hello,
Have you ever replaced the dampers? Is there a special procedure? I may have to change my head and was thinking of changing the dampers because of problems with my yellow ink.
Thanks. (How can I get the servprog.exe for the 11880?)
Hi,
Thank you very much for this tutorial.
A question: After having replaced the head do you have to clean it or inject ink ?
Thanks
Regards
No just fill it (prime it), which you can do via normal cleanings. Normal cleanings suck ink through the head.
Hi Eric,
Ok, Thank you.
Regards
I have an Epson stylus pro 9908 am working on vivid light magenta will not appear during printing and nozzle check even after manually cleaning the printhead and manually removing the air gaps along the ink tube can anyone help me out on a solution.
Tue 10/18/2016
Eric,
What a great post and video. And what an amazing find, ONE DAY AFTER I FOLLOWED THE SERVICE MANUAL TO DO THIS on my 7890 yesterday! WISH I HAD FOUND THIS FIRST!
I saved all the machine screws in separate containers. The tape is a better idea. The manual had me remove the right cover and control panel as well. That was a waste of time and energy. Realized after I had completed the job I dind’t need to do that.
Had to go to Home Depot halfway through to get a narrow, long Phillips head screwdriver. Learned it was a #1 looking at all the choices. Realized I needed to magnetize it first. Bought a rare earth magnet there to do that.
Anyway, my problem going into the ordeal was that my Yellow channel was partly blocked. No amount of cleaning did any good. I tried the Windex on a paper towel under the head method of cleaning. After 4 hours, the result of that was that the Vivid Magenta channel which had been faultless went totally blank. More cleaning and no improvement in either Magenta or Yellow. Lots and lots of very expensive ink in the waste tank.
So I removed the head and soaked it in distilled water with a drop of household ammonia. I drew repeated replenishing of the mixture through all the sections using a 60 cc syringe with a plastic tube. Eventually all channels ran clear and it appeared that all jets were open as I could see an even pattern of fine, unbroken streams coming from all. Flushed all many times with just distilled water.
Got everything back together. Now the Magenta is perfect again, everything else good, but Black and Yellow are totally blank! ARRRRGGGG!
Air in the “damper” (ink selector)? Repeated cleanings don’t do anything to help. Can’t see any air gaps in the lines.
So I’ll go through the process again tomorrow. I’ll try to draw ink down through the Black and Yellow lines through the ink selector before re-assembling everything.
Rich
Hi Eric. Very helpful video! Will you be so kind to advise for me good source where it is possible to order print head for Epson printer? I need dx5 F160010. I will be so grateful for this!
Thanks a lot!
Hi,good video,i need the servprog.exe program,can you send it ti me,please,thank you
I can’t put it online directly or the Epson cronies get angry. email me and I’ll take care of you
Do you have the servprog for the 7890? If so could you send me a copy of it?
Looking for the service program for the 7890. Do you have it?
Hi Eric. Have you any video’s on how to change/ replace the main kit part no 1516124 on a SP9900. Thanks Jimmy in Ireland.
Thanks to Eric’s video, I was able to change the print head and selector unit on my 9900 with relative ease-and I am a gray haired old lady. 😉 The biggest problem I had was owning a Mac and getting the printer to hook up via Fusion and Windows so I could register the head. Eventually I got it to work and all is smooth sailing now.
You ROCK Bonnie. Amazing what you can accomplish with a little determination. Impressive, and thank you sincerely for your generous contribution!
Eric
Excellent video. I need to replace print head for my Epson 9900. Any suggestions on where to find the software after replacing the print head.
email me directly I’ll take care of you Dan
Eric
We have an Epson 7890 with clogged nozzles.
I would like to change the print head, couple of questions:
Is this the same print head that is in your video of the 7900? (excellent video by the way)
And where can I get the “service program” applicable to the 7980?
Thanks & great job!
Nick
hi Eric
A huge thank you. Using your amazing video I managed to change the head in my 9890. The only structural difference I found between the 9890 and the 9900 in your video was the 2x ground wires that run from the board to the side of the carriage. On my machine one of those wires runs instead to a plate which is inside the housing which holds the ink lines. Changed the damper unit at the same time – am now hoping to get another 3 years out the machine. Holding thumbs.
You’re a life saver thank you
Glad it worked out for you Neil. Good luck!
I also have a 9890 in need of a new head. Where did you purchase your printer head?
Hello Neil,
What choice of printer have you made in the servprog program?
Thanks
Shabtai
Hi – very helpful reading this blog. We have an Epson 9900 it’s 6 years old we have never had any issues with it and have not had to replace anything on it (not even the cutting strip) and we use it everyday but just today it seems to be weak on the yellow – test strips doesn’t show any breaks it’s not a clog – in order to match prints to previous prints we have had to bump up the yellow 100% and print at a higher resolution and while not an exact match to proofs it’s good enough to sell. Is the beginning of a print head failure? My husband seems to think so, but I wonder if it could be air in the line or would that give us breaks on the test strip? We tend to ignore the low ink flashing for awhile before replacing the ink but we have been doing that for 6 years without prior issues. Should we just be glad we got 6 years out of it?
Update – we have purchased an Epson P9000 – we will still be replacing the print head on the 9900 but it was quicker to get a new printer than wait for a new print head which as it turned out is/was the problem.
You list 8 screws to remove for the head cover. Screw location 3# on your video has two screws under that location. which do I remove ? the right or left screw??
Only remove screws holding down something plastic. Do not unscrew anything holding down metal. If you stick to this rule you should be fine
Hi Eric,
Fabulously detailed video. Two questions: 1) What do you do if your printer is too far away from your computer to connect it with a usb for the part where you enter the new printer head number? 2) When your friend Steve showed us how to do that part he already had the servprog.exe program. Where do you go to get that program, or should it already be on the computer?
Thanks again!
Whit
Also, shoot I guess 3 questions – could I just loosely cover the nozzles with a piece of tape while I install the new head if I don’t have one of those fancy cover thingys?
You actually don’t even need tape. The reason for the cap is long term – like when working on the head for days and days. Don’t sweat the cap just put the new head on
email me directly I can give you the program
Hi again :-). This seems quite complicated, but I do think that you explain it well – are you an engineer ? Anyway, I bought my 7900 used for 1.500 € and to get it repaired would cost me 2.166 € … so before I simply through it away, I will of course try your solution. By the way, I’m a girl too and I’m 56. I found some interesting videos too about simply cleaning the printhead instead of changing it. A new printhead costs about 1.200 Euros here in France, so if you can just clean it, then why not ? That’s what I will try and then thanks to your video and the cleaning videos, it will cost me about 10-15 Euros instead of 2.166 Euros for the repair man ! Anyway, there is something very rotten in the state of Epson and others (yes, I’m Danish – Hamlet you know). The way they do business does not help the environment at all and I hope that it will come to an end very soon ! If I succeed, I would like to send you some money – is it possible without having a PayPal account ?
Can you recommend a good source for buying a new damper and print head.
I’m scared to make the leap into buying a new head, but I’m hopeful it will be worth it in the end.
Dear All, Dear Eric,
I had problems with my green channel (totally gone) in my 7900, all other channel are perfect.
I was able to follow the entire procedure described here and to replace the damper assembly unit. I didn’t change my printhead.
If you are thinking about doing it, please notice that you should be careful with the O-Ring Chain, remove it from the old damper assembly and install it in the one.
I completed the procedure and started to use the 7900 again. The first nozzle check had all channels in it. I was impressed. Unfortunately, after another 2 cleanings, the green is gone again. I don’t think that the print head is defective, it was able to print green in the first test.
I do think that the problem could be the green tube (maybe no pressure in that particular channel?). Do you have any idea?
Let me know!
Thanks,
Vittorio
In my opinion when you lose an entire channel (rather than a nozzle or small group of nozzles), your problem is pre-head. At this moment I would like to coin that phrase, as I would like to use it other places than here. Thank you. Back to Epson problems – I think you have a supply problem. Air in the lines, bad damper connection, faulty o-rings, bad cart connection. Something is starving your green channel of ink. Take a flashlight and shine it on your lines, everywhere that you can. Look for blank spots where the green ink in the line suddenly goes missing. Let me know what you find
Dear All,
The green channel of my 7900 is death. All other channels are working fine. When I do a nozzle check, I can easily see that all channels are perfect but green, and green is totally missing, not a single dot of ink is printed on paper.
Do you think that this could be a print head problem? The fact that not a single line of ink is printed makes me think that the problem may be generated by a defective damper.
Do you have any other idea?
I would greatly appreciate if anyone can send me the manuals and/or the software related to the 7900
vittoriovillani AT hotmail DOT com
Thanks!
Vittorio
Done, Vittorio
Dear Eric,
Thanks a lot!
What do you think? Should I try to replace the damper or is a waste of money and time?
I already replaced the wiper blade.
I can confirm that, after some cleaning and some days, green is the only non-working channel that I have and it is 100% non-working! All other channel are perfect.
Is it possibile that the green is 100% gone on the printhead?
Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
Vittorio
In my experience, Vittorio, you don’t lose an entire channel at once due to clogs/failed head. I think you might have an ink supply problem. Damper/air in line, etc.
Eric I just want to say thank you again. Unfortunately I still have problems with the green channel (seems death). I will try to keep you updated, maybe if I find a solution it could help other people too. Best, Vittorio
So I just replaced my second printhead on a 9900 using Eric’s Great video. Thanks again! I now have a new problem that I have seen some posts about, but no fixes. I was running some cleaning cycles after the head replacement and suddenly got an “Ink Cartridge Error” with red “X” on ALL ink slots. I have tried every combination of cartridge removal and replace, tank replace, smacking the side of the printer, etc. It now always boots up and shows the Ink Cartridge Error on all slots. One interesting side note: For a brief moment the display shows the correct cartridge levels before it goes to all Error. Any ideas??? Thanks in advance
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/diy-dtg/t201841.html
According to another feed, when you change / clean the head, there are sometimes too much moist and it sends a serge of power to the main board. This creates the damage. Fuse on main board blows. My damage was to great. Wasn’t able to fix. Will need to replace main board.
15 days ago I clean my printhead on my 9900 and I have exactly the same problem. I look for a solution…
hello jef
Hi Joel,
I’m having the exact same problem as you described here. Did you happen to find a solution to it?
My Immediate solution was to purchase a new P9000. I own a large-format print studio and run several Epson printers. I could not be without the malfunctioning 9900 while I tried to repair. I still own the bad 9900 and will work on it at some point. I am told that replacing the main circuit board will solve the problem. You can find the boards on Ebay for about $300. Good luck!
What would happen if I removed the head and cleaned it with an ultrasonic solution to clear blocked nozzles ?
Been there. Done that. Several times. Even shipped a head to Canada for special cleanings via ultrasonics. Ruined all the heads.. Sorry
It will not let me play your video any more i am half way through changing the printhead
I just played it all the way through. Try refreshing the page, maybe something got out of whack. Eric
Eric thanks for the great how to! I just swapped out the print head on one of my 7900’s. Went smooth as can be, and I am also now a fan of using tape for screws. Here’s my problem though, as soon as I finished swapping out the print head and turned the machine on, I got a error code 150C…. I looked it up here- https://www.scribd.com/doc/91839121/27/Printer-Error-Codes-Service
it says that code means “The Platen Gap Home Position Sensor does not report to the Main Board”
I don’t know what I did wrong, AND you don’t have a video to help me!
That’s a first Alex. Have you looked through the service manual yet? Email me and I’ll give you the link
same problem, here. Did you ever figure this one out? I checked the manual. Maybe the sensor got damaged somehow in the installation?
This guy is funny and was actually entertaining. Great job tape boy! He looks like he could be related to Mark Wahlberg.
…not the first time I’ve heard the Mark Wahlberg comment.
I also get the odd Renée Zellweger comment now and again but only since the plastic surgery gone-foul, which scares the crap out of me.
I’ve done it for two times, not for replace the prinhead, just for removing it and clean it with a special solution. The first one I had no problems but the printer still had clogging nozzles. The second time I put the printhead in the solution for a couple weeks and then I plunged it into alcohol to dry it. After the mounting when I turn on the printer for the first time it seemed to worked fine before printing anything and I replaced some almost-empty ink cartridges to make a head cleaning but when I installed one of them (I think it was the cyan, a refillable cartridge) the printer turned off by itself. Since that every time I turn on the printer displays the message INK CARTRIDGE ERROR REMOVE DE INK CARTRIDGE. I try to change the cartridges but the message still appearing. If I insert the ink cartridges in, up to 9, the machine will recognize them and accurately show their ink amount and the one empty bay saying: “No cartridge Install ink cartridge”
As soon as I push that last one in, the printer does its little boot up procedure and them announces:
“Ink cartridge error Replace ink cartridge” and flashes ALL compartments as empty with the red circle and white cross; not one cart is seen. It does not matter which cartridge is left as the last one to be inserted. They all register accurately until that last one is pushed in.
Any advice? Thanks
I forgot to mention that the printer model is 9890
alberto, I haven’t had that issue with an x900 but on a smaller epson printer (with refillable cartridges) the issue was actually coming from the maintenance cartridge…
Alberto, I worked with refillable carts in order to do cleanings and experiments. Even though they look identical, sometimes the chips do not sit right. I am confident you have experienced this as well. From what I remember, when one cart failed they all failed, like you say is happening to you. I could be wrong but that is what I remember. I would try installing an original cart if you have one, even if it is empty. See if there is a difference and let us know.
Hello Eric. Yes, I tried with original carts and it is the same problem. Otherwise, if I install an empty cart the printer recognizes all the others and display their ink level and the message is the usual when there is an empty cartridge, but when I replace it the problem come back. Thanks for your answers and sorry for my bad english 🙂
Any solutions to this problem? I have the same problem with my 9700. Would appreciate some help.
hi, have you fixed that issue ? what was wrong ? i have the same thing , please help !!
Hi. I have not fixed the issue, but working on it. I found that a fuse (F2) on the main board is blown. (This feed led me to it: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/diy-dtg/t201841.html.) I soldered a normal fuse holder in it’s place and bought 20 x 2A fuses. Removing all my connections to the main board, I tried to isolate the reason for the fuse blowing and found it was on the main board itself. The transistors attached to the heatsink was damaged. They are Sanken transistors, but are not available to the public. Had to order from China. Awaiting delivery …. 54 days to go. (sigh) The transistors are:2SC6104 and 2SC2198.
According to another feed, when you change / clean the head, there are sometimes too much moist and it sends a serge of power to the main board. This creates the damage.
Hope this helps.
Hi Alberto. The same exact happen to me, whit the only difference that the first time every thing work perfect and the second I end up in the exact same situation. how did you fix your printer? I will appreciate any information that can help me to fix mine. Tankeyou.
I have a 9900 that kept giving me clogged nozzle warnings. I would run cleanings / power cleanings and would continually get Failed Cleaning warning, even though print quality was not affected. I had to run a b&w photo, and there was a horizontal band about 1/2″ from the lead edge of the print. You could see the band throughout the print but not as pronounced as the one at the 1/2″ mark.
I did a few more cleanings, googled for clogs, did several nights of the windex treatment with no luck. ON the nozzle check, the LLK is missing about 25% of its pattern right in the middle. I folded the nozzle check page and it matches up perfectly with the initial band on the photos.
I’ve done the things I found online to try and work bubbles out, power clean the pair, run several prints, clean the pair again and nozzle check. No change at all.
I’ve also contacted my closest tech who is 2+ hours away. They don’t do in house service, so I would have to load this up and drop it off for two weeks at a cost of 2-4k.
What I’ve discovered is that color prints that don’t use (or use much) LLK ink are still fantastic. That leads me to believe it’s a channel issue in the head only. The tech I talked to told me that Epson wanted him to replace the main board, head, pump cap and damper unit. I’m kind of in the same boat as everyone else. Why pay 2-4k for a repair when that’s so close to the cost of a new printer?
My question, does this sound like a head issue to you? Has anyone sourced a head in the US from anywhere except Epson? The only other ones I could fine were on Ebay for $1800+ or from Indonesia. What about the wiper, can’t locate one of them in the US either, and if I’m going to change the head for the $$ and while I’m in there I may as well change it out too.
Thanks for your help.
Breuer, I just called CompassMicro.com and asked them directly for you. Yes they sell wiper blades apparently every day, yes they have them on the shelf in stock. As far as heads, one user got back to me saying he bought a head from Alibaba and all was good. I can’t say personally though, I have never bought a thing from them. I have bought two heads off ebay – one I got for $800, it was perfectly new and worked flawlessly. Another I got for $1,100 out of a “shipping damaged” machine. That head didn’t work at all. I never even charged it with ink because the machine could not identify it. They took it back and returned my money. So I am batting 500 on ebay.
I wish I could tell you exactly how to get out of your head problem but I can’t. If it were my machine I would not change the board or pump and cap. Probably the damper, definitely the head – they are both part of the same disassembly/assembly process anyway so it’s easy to do them both at the same time.
It has been my experience that once you throw everything but the kitchen sink at an X900 clog, it’s not coming clear again. I have, however, very rarely heard of them being cleared. Mostly this happens on 4900s, I do not know why. Only once has it happened, that I know of, on a 7900. To put this into perspective for you, that means my inbox which gets sprinkled daily with x900 issues, says 99.8% of the time just replace the head and be done with your problems. Get back to printing rather than flushing more expensive ink down the clog-chasing drain.
Thanks. I looked on Ebay earlier and they are in the 1800 – 1900 range right now, unless I’m looking wrong. They did have a damper as well. Thanks for the help, it’ll definitely narrow my options down.
Hi
Where can I get the service program for Epson 9890
In my experience the issue was not / is not the head, it’s the selector unit / ink delivery. After swapping both the head for a used one and putting a new selector unit in the nozzle check was initially identical to the original head and selector. As the ink finally started flowing the missing black / light black started to fill in. Eventually it was perfect. For the relative cost and ease of changing the selector unit I think this should be tried more often – at 10% the cost of the head, it’s worth a shot.
Hi Eric,
I have the 9890 printer and I had to change the selector unit… All went well but after I turned the printer on I noticed that the ink was coming out from the pipes that they are attached to the selector unit.. Is there any plastic washers? Or maybe I forgot something?
Regards
Stef
Stef,
This is a bit late, but I thought I’d reply just in case anyone else had the same question. Both of the ink tube connections (each being a bundle of six rubber ink hoses) require a set of rubber joint seals that create an air-tight seal between the ink tube connections and their respective ports on the ink selector (you can see this on Page 282 of the Epson Stylus Pro Service manual). Without those rubber seals, you’ll likely get ink leaks just as you’ve experienced.
The rubber joint seal comes in the form of six o-rings that are fused together in a single “set”, which means you need two “sets” to make the connection between the two ink tubes and the ink selector. They can be purchased directly from Compass Micro, Inc. (Part # 596; https://compassmicro.com/products/inkjet/stylus-pro-9890/rubber-seal-joint-for-epson-stylus-pro-9890.html).
Theoretically, you could remove the rubber seals from your old ink selector and install them on the new selector (assuming they’re still in good condition), but it might not be a bad idea to just get two new sets if there’s any question about the integrity of the old seals. If you can manage to disassemble your printer to get to the ink selector (as detailed in Eric’s great video above), replacing the seals is an easy fix. Hope that helps.
Amazing site, picked up a 9900 for cheap but after two weeks of trying everything- including paper towels and cleaning fluid (from inkjetmall) – I’m pretty sure the cyan channel is dead (it has been consistently printing the top and bottom lines only, no change)
my question is: can I swap out a 4900 or 7900 head into it? they’re all the same dx6 printhead, right?
there’s working 4900s floating around on craigslist for cheap and beats the hell out of humping another 9900 into my van.
thanks,
dan
Unfortunately no, 4900 heads are different. They won’t work on 79/9900 machines. Been there, thought of that, looked into that already. Good idea though..
But 79&99 are interchangeable? 7900s are still floating around for less than $1800 on some weird site like ‘alibaba’ or whatever – thx Eric
where do you get the program servprog.exe to register the print head.
Thank you;
Bill
email me directly Bill.
Need the servprog.exe.
Can you tell me where can I get it?
Dear Gogo-
Thanks for your posts! Where can I download a correct version of service pro? (there are many service pros online, not sure which is the right one).
Thanks so much!
All best-
Jane
gotagteam.com/epson/Epson_7900_manuals
Thank you GoGo, my problem disappeared but I found a link to the service manual… just in case…
http://www.qmanual.com/epson-stylus-pro-7890-7900-7700-9890-9900-9700-service-manual.html
The Canon has otherwise been 100% dependable, never clogs, and produces output as beautiful as the Epson’s.
In any case, thank you for the wonderful video; it really made a huge difference in enabling me to change the head myself. I’m heading over to the FERTILIZER! page to give what I can. Thanks again!
I’m actually running an HPZ3200PS these days, and I agree – it’s such a beautiful thing running prints after prints after prints and never having clogs or fears or endless wasted ink.
My 4.5 year old 7900 finally hit the unclearable clog 2 months ago with Green. So, after wasting waves of ink on attempts to clean it, I started searching for a solution and ran into the mega thread on LuLa and to myx900.com. Your excellent video was all I needed to swap the head with a used one I bought for $700. No problem whatsoever with any of the process. Of course, the replacement head was also clogged, also Green, even more so than the original head. I am getting a refund, so I’m still out in left field, but I have nothing but gratitude for your video and the information you’ve provided about the problem.
Anyway, I can’t afford to hire DecisionOne or to buy a new head, so I plan to sell it for a song as soon as I can find a buyer, As a point of contrast, I also have a Canon ipf8300 and it’s like night and day. It just works. I did have to replace the printheads a year or so ago, but at a fraction of the cost of an Epson head and very easy to do.
Curious, are you still happy with the Canon? Tossing around option on either changing the printhead in my 9900 or switching to the ipf8400. There is a $2000 rebate on the Canon right now, so that brings it in line with a new 9900 or only about $1800 more than just replacing the printhead.
Thanks
I guess I shouldn’t say $2000 rebate, it’s $2000 off MSRP
I just saw this now from almost a year ago. Sorry about that! Anyway, the Canon printer has been totally problem free. It does tend to print darker than the Epson did, so you need to compensate in your workflow, but it’s frugal on media and never clogs.
The only thing I miss about the Epson is the straight paper path, which allowed me to print on mat board and other inflexible surfaces.
I love your video and it is so helpful. But I am having a big problem right now with my Epson 7890 and I do not know what to do.. it was working great and yesterday I could not feed any paper media anymore… an error code 122E keep stopping me. I have tried to clean the sensors for better feeding but was unsuccessful…Now I don’t know where to start. Do you think that my PF sensor or motor could be shot? Please any help would be appreciated…Thanks so much in advance.
Have you resolve your problem? I have the same error code 122E.
Please any help would be appreciated…Thanks so much in advance.
Here is what the service manual lists for “Error code 122E”:
122E; 1- Irregular load 2- Encoder Failure 3- Motor Driver Failure 4- Motor Failure REMEDIES: 1- Replace the PF Encoder 2- Replace the Main Board Assy 3- Replace the PF Motor
If you need the service manual I have no idea where you can get it, but email me anyway.
OK, watched the vid and no big deal for me since I was a pretty good tech in a former life. Two quick questions. You mention that the cover for the capping station can be obtained from you… how? Second, Where do I get ahold of a new printhead?
Thanks!
BTW, this is a magnetic #1 long shaft screwdriver if you are interested: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ETJEDO/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1