Epson Stylus Pro 9000 blown heads?

[Bill W]

A few months ago I had to replace the black head in my 9000 and after it was accomplished the head would not print at all. I later discovered that if you replace an ink head without removing the main power plug from the wall that you may blow the head or the main board. Therefore if you install a new head the faulty main board will blow the head or the bad head will blow the main board. This information was not from Epson and nowhere documented. the question I have is---Is there a test that can be done to determine if the bad part is the main board or the ink head? At the present time neither head now works as I switched them around to see if the other head would work and so the vicious cycle began. I have a set of new heads but hesitate to install them if in fact the main board is blown. OR--maybe just throw the 9000 in the garbage and upgrade to a better printer. I have never found a replacement main board anyway. Thanks Bill :confused:

[Michael T. Murphy]

You might try posting on the Yahoo Epson Wide Format board:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpsonWideFormat/messages

[paradoxbox]

I'm by no means an epson technician but I've never heard of a head "blowing" from having the power plug left in the wall.

My guess is that you may have electro statically damaged something while working on the innards of the machine, or far more likely you simply blew a fuse.

I'm not 100% sure about Epson printers but on Roland printers they have a number of fuses to prevent small shorts from destroying the entire system.

Check the fuses (and surrounding circuits and wires) with a voltage meter. Make sure the head is still receiving electricity. You should be able to find the problem quickly. Call a local inkjet printer sales/service department if you need parts. Don't expect them to be friendly though, they are usually just after your money (I know, I worked for one for a few years)