Epson ET-2650 Printing Only Rectangular Boxes After Mainboard Repair: E09A92GA Driver IC Overheating Causes and Fixes

Question

I repaired an Epson ET-2650 that previously had a no-power/mainboard issue. I replaced the IC chip (marked E09A92GA), replaced two transistors, and even replaced the printhead. Now the printer powers on, but the print output is very strange-it's mostly rectangular boxes instead of normal text or images. I also noticed the E09A92GA chip gets extremely hot very quickly (too hot to touch for more than a couple seconds). Does that mean the IC is bad again?

Answer

Why "rectangular boxes" usually means a data/drive problem (not clogging)

When an Epson prints rectangular blocks/boxes instead of recognizable text, patterns, or missing-line style clog symptoms, it almost always points to an electrical signal / data / drive issue rather than ink flow:

• Clogs typically cause missing lines, banding, faded colors, or gaps.

• Rectangular blocks often indicate the printhead is being triggered incorrectly-like the head is receiving corrupted serial data, a bad latch timing signal, or a partial "always-on" style firing condition.

This is why your symptom strongly suggests the problem is between the mainboard/head driver circuitry and the printhead, not inside the ink system.

About the E09A92GA chip getting dangerously hot

If the IC marked E09A92GA becomes too hot to touch within seconds, that is not normal. That level of heat is a strong sign the chip is under excess load, often from a short or leakage path downstream. In plain terms: the IC may be failing-but more importantly, something may be causing it to fail again.

This usually happens in one (or more) of these scenarios:

1) The replacement printhead is shorted, damaged, or incompatible

Even a "new" printhead can be defective, or it can be the wrong electrical variant. A partially shorted head can still print something, but it overloads the driver circuit and causes:

• rapid IC overheating,

• abnormal firing,

• and strange blocky output.

What to do:

• If possible, disconnect the printhead and power on briefly to see whether the IC still heats abnormally fast.

• Measure resistance checks on the printhead flex/pins (to ground and across key channels) if you have the experience and tools. A shorted head often reveals itself as an unusually low resistance path.

2) Damage in the signal path between the driver IC and the head (ribbon cable, connectors, traces, resistors)

Epson printheads rely on serial data signals plus timing/control lines. A key concept here is the LAT (latch) signal-it controls when the print data gets "released" to fire. If the data lines, clock lines, LAT line, or related return/ground reference is compromised, you can get:

• data that "kind of" transfers but isn't correct,

• timing that "sort of" triggers,

• resulting in blocky rectangles instead of true image data.

Common causes after board repair work:

• a flex cable not fully seated or slightly skewed,

• a connector with heat damage or cracked solder joints,

• torn traces,

• blown or out-of-spec inline resistors (often tiny resistor arrays near the head connector),

• flux residue / contamination creating leakage paths.

What to do:

• Inspect the head ribbon cable for creases, burns, or pin damage and reseat it carefully.

• Closely inspect the connector pins and surrounding area under magnification.

• Check for bridged pins, lifted pads, and micro-solder balls-especially if you had to do hot air work.

• Look for any burnt resistor arrays or discoloration near the head connector and driver IC area.

3) The E09A92GA IC is defective, counterfeit, or was damaged during soldering

This is more common than people expect. With board-level parts:

• Some replacements are reclaimed/counterfeit.

• Some are thermally stressed during installation.

• Some have internal damage that only shows up under load (so it "boots," but fails when printing starts).

If the chip overheats immediately, it can be internally shorting. But based on your description, the bigger risk is this: even a good IC will overheat and fail if the downstream fault still exists (like a shorted head or shorted data/drive lines).

What to do:

• Avoid replacing the IC again until you isolate whether the load is normal.

• Confirm your soldering quality: no bridges, correct orientation, clean pads, no lifted traces, and clean the area (proper electronics-grade cleaner) to remove flux residues.

Why it prints boxes instead of printing nothing

This detail is important. When the system is "partially working," you can get output that looks like:

• blocks,

• rectangles,

• repeated patterns,

• or random barcode-like artifacts.

That often happens when:

• the driver IC is still functioning enough to fire,

• but the data stream or latch timing is corrupted,

• so the head fires in crude shapes rather than following image data.

That's why your observation supports the idea of a signal integrity issue (data/clock/LAT) or a load/short condition causing unstable driver behavior.

Bottom line: is the IC bad again?

It could be bad again-but in many cases, the IC is being forced into failure by another fault, most commonly:

1. a bad/shorted printhead, or

2. damage/leakage on the head signal path (ribbon cable, connector, resistors, traces), or

3. solder/installation defects creating internal shorts or unintended connections.

Replacing the IC again without isolating the printhead and verifying the signal path often leads to the same result: the new chip overheats and fails.

Addressing printer issues can be complicated because so much of it is hands-on-boards, connectors, signal lines, and component-level faults can't be confirmed reliably through messages alone. Because of that, we're not able to provide remote troubleshooting, suggestions, or support for printer repairs. We do offer an in-person evaluation and repair service through our local diagnostic facility: printer repair service (https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service). Due to high demand, we operate on a first-come, first-served basis, so it may take a few weeks before there's an opening to drop off your printer. Our services can be structured to repair either the whole printer or specific parts, with clear instructions on how to proceed. However, we also recognize our rates aren't the most economical-so we strongly recommend self-help via online research first. You can start by checking YouTube or visiting our channel homepage: BCH Technologies YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologies). Use the search icon next to "About" on the right-hand side of the menu bar to find topic-specific videos. I get dozens of questions a day asking which video matches a certain repair, and after years of making videos it's hard to remember every single one-so YouTube's search tool is the fastest approach. It may also suggest relevant videos from other channels that can help you.

Thank you again for reaching out and for supporting our work-it truly helps us keep improving the repair knowledge we share.