My Pyramid 4000 time clock feeds time card after the printer head cycles. Why?

The maintenance code 4000 for the Epson Stylus Pro 7890 indicates that the print head are starting to clog. You should power cycle the printer (turn off and then back on) to clear the error code. Then enter the maintenance menu and do a power cleaning. Make sure that paper is loaded. Then press Menu on the printer's control panel and press the down arrow until you reach the line "Maintenance". Press the right arrow to enter the sub-menu. Press the down arrow until you reach "Cleaning" and again press the right arrow. Press the down arrow to highlight "Power Cleaning" and press OK to start the cleaning routine. (You can do a nozzle check before and after to check how well the printer heads are working after the cleaning cycle.)

The information on Power Cleaning is on page 5 of the Quick Reference Guide, https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pro789/pro789qr.pdf , and page 151 of the User's Guide , https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Professional-Imaging-Printers/Epson-Stylus-Pro-Series/Epson-Stylus-Pro-7890/s/SPT_SP7890K3#manuals . The Nozzle check is on the previous page.

I hope this helps. The Epson FAQ about the error code is here: https://epson.com/faq/SPT_SP7890K3~faq-298430?faq_cat=faq-8796127406156 .

Cindy Wells

As you said you followed the recommended direction, I'm assuming you've set the card-thickness gauge by the feed-mechanism to "MAX". Otherwise, there are usually 2 things that users don't get quite right when initiating a cleaning-card cycle on the Evolis Pebble (and Dualys) printers:

1. Even though the ribbon is already out, you still have to open the lid, then latch it closed EACH TIME you start a cleaning cycle. This is the signal to the printer's "brain" that you've checked for and removed the ribbon and any cards. This step has to be performed with the printer powered on.
2. We prefer to initiate the cleaning by depressing the power-button momentarily - about 1/2-second to 1 full-second. Less than that, and it might not register; more than that and it might power off.

The other thing you sometimes need to do is help the cleaning card into the printer with light pressure on the trailing edge until it is grasped by the feed roller, as the pre-saturated cards are slicker than a regular PVC card, with the cleaning solution acting almost as a lubricant.

Error 1 - Indicates time card stuffing. If an individual tries to force a card into the unit, the 4000/4000HD will accept the card but will not print or store any payroll data. If this situation occurs, an ERROR 1 will show on the front display and the card will not be "punched".

Solution: Rerun the time card through the time recorder without pushing on the card.
Resource 1 : Owner's Manual

Use the Canon software to check the ink-levels in the COLOUR cartridge. If empty, replace it.

Use the Canon software to run a few "print-head-cleaning" cycles, to unclog any ink-jets that are not spraying ink onto the paper.

Cleaning clogs

1. How to tell what the heck is the Nozzle test really showing you
2. How to tell the difference between a air pocket and a true clog

You see if you get a lot of random skips when doing a nozzle test you more that likely do not have a true clog you really have a few air bubbles in the print heads. Just doing clean cycle after clean cycle is not the best way to purge out the bubbles. you are far better off just letting the printer sit overnight or printing random test and a few pages of color blocks.

2000P nozzle patternAlso if you still get random skips then it is time to reseat the cartridge all you do is lift the blue cartridge locks and push then down. This will burp out those air pockets that have been known to lock up a print head.. In the worst case you can remove the cartridge and knock it on the table top yes ink will spill out but this is what you want to see...ink spilling out of those feed holes. Now once you do this the ink counter or ink low lights will not work so you have to keep a close eye on the printer when you see the ink stop flowing stop the printer!!! These print heads do not like to be run dry!! Now if you always have the same nozzle that skips then you may have a real clog. The Windex trick really does blow out just about the worst clogs. And Windex is cheap and it will not hurt you or your printer.

The cleaning pads are those foam pads located under the print heads when they are in the parked position (power off) The pads are colored with guess what ....the ink you are using!!! The are about 1/2 x 1 inch and they are under the carriage or print heads when they are parked! But please be careful. As I have posted before, do not contact those cleaning pads; they are spring mounted and they can be knocked out of position very easy! Once you have knocked them out of position it is time to send in your printer to Epson!

After trying cleaning cycles, you can try my trick of carefully dripping only 5 or so drops of Windex (from a new bottle) on the cleaning pads. Just drop about 5 to 6 drops of Windex [A better solution is a mix of distilled water, household non-sudsy ammonia, and cheap vodka. An ounce or so of the vodka and ammonia to a liter of water (It doesn't seem too critical)] on the pads (unscrew the sprayer and drip the windex out of the feed-tube) and then make sure you turn off the printer this forces the pads up to the print heads and the Windex will do it's thing very quickly! About 1 hour works most of the time - overnight on the clogs from hell.


You can also drop windex on the ink inlets in the carriage, but try the pad trick first. After you tried the pads trick 2 times: You can drop Windex directly on the spikes in the bottom of the carriage. These will be seen when you take out the cartridge. You must remove the cartridges to see the spikes. Here is what you do:

1. Make sure that you turn off the printer before you drip on the spikes!
2. do not drop more than 7 drops from a clean eye dropper!
3. Wait at least 10 minutes and drop 5 more drops on the spike, You also should put 2 drops on the other "good ink feed spikes" to prevent them from drying out (it happened to me!)

After this, install the cartridge making sure that when you install the cartridge the ink out light goes out!

You may have to run up to 2 to 4 clean cycles, this is normal in your situation Just make sure that you do not exit the clean menu and continue doing cleaning and nozzle checks

You must stay in the utility menu for the printer to use increased suction, you must also run a nozzle check between cleaning cycles, or the printer won't actually clean its self, just spin the roller. Each time you repeat a cleaning cycle without exiting the menu, the printer will use increased suction (contrary to popular belief, the print heads aren't actually spraying ink out during the cleaning cycle, rather ink is being sucked through the heads by a pump).

3000 nozzle patternThis works very well and should be tried before you go trying windex! This not only will clean the heads but this will align the heads, it is a procedure I use for both cleaning & head alignment. Compare the test prints as you go to see if you are making any progress. Follow these closely:

1. while the printer is on hold down the button with the ink drop icons on it for 5 seconds. This will do a clean cycle by the printer. Do this a couple times.
2. Now shut off the printer and while holding down the paper advance button, turn on the printer (don't release the paper advance for at least 5 seconds) this will print a nozzle check pattern.

If you have a clog or head out of line, repeat the first procedure AT LEAST 3-4 times. Then repeat the second. If the heads are REALLY BAD you may have to keep going, as long as you can see that the heads are being moved or the test pattern changes with these cycles.

In all likelihood your ink is running out. If your print monitor reports that you still have ink remaining in the colors you are missing, the issue is probably just a clogged print head. To clean your print heads, first insure you have paper loaded into the feed tray on top, press the "Menu" button on the face of your printer then press the down arrow until you see "Clean Cartridge". Select "Clean Cartridge" and wait for the cleaning cycle to complete. If the colors are still missing after running the cleaning cycle 3 times, you will need to replace your color cartridge. Low cost replacements can be found using a web search or visiting your local office supply store.

If its just orange led flashing .. You need to replace the print head..

if its cycling 5 times between orange and green than there is a problem with the ASF cam sensor (which means paper feed unit)

Where are you located? is it Humid? possibly the chips on the cartriges have something on them (corrosinon, oil from a finger touching the chip, etc) that is interferring with good contact with the wire "feelers" inside the machine. clean the chip with Qtip and alcohol, or fine fiberglasss bristle battery contaact cleaner (hard to find these days)

Canno ip 4000:

please go to the maintenance tab.
This you will find if you try to print anything.
In the print box >go to properties>go to maintence
Here the following Maintenance option are there:
cleaning,
deep cleaning,
Head Alignment,
Nozzle check.
Before your start maintenance, please check whether all print tanks have ink in them
Do a Nozzle check first, this will indicate where you have the problem. Once identified, you can do a color cleanig or a deep cleaning.
Do a Nozzle check again.
You could repeat this cycle about three times or so.

If your problem still persists, then its probably the Print head with jammed nozzles.

Please let me know whether you could solve it.
Please do rate this solution and thanks for using FixYa.

Have you tried a cleaning cycle? If not, try one (right click the little printer icon in the bottom right corner of the screen and select head clean). Now run a nozzle check (right click the little printer icon in the bottom right corner of the screen and select nozzle check). Is there any sign of ink on the paper. Try up to three
cleaning cycles. If ink is now flowing, but not yet perfectly, don't carry out any more cleaning cycles. Just leave the printer for 24 hours (to allow any air in the print head to disperse). Then repeat the cleaning cycle/wait process. It may take a while to restore a perfect nozzle check print. If these actions produce no positive results, report back.