Epson WF-C5710 Printing No Ink After Fuse Jump - Understanding Damage to Driver Chips and MOSFETs

Question

This is a follow-up regarding an Epson WF-C5710 issue involving an F1-related problem. After struggling with printhead clogging and attempting to clean it, the printhead was removed. During reassembly, one of the ribbon cable contacts shifted and caused a small amount of smoke. The cable was trimmed and reconnected, but then an error appeared. After jumping the F4 fuse, the error disappeared, but the printer began showing a "check black ink" message, despite firmware that normally bypasses ink chip checks. After reinstalling the firmware, the printer attempts to pump and prime ink, but the printhead never sprays any ink. No visible errors appear on the screen. The printhead's ribbon pins were checked for shorts and none were found, yet the printhead still doesn't fire.

Answer

Based on the symptoms you described-including the smoke incident, fuse jumping, "check black ink" behavior, and the complete lack of nozzle firing-this points strongly to electrical damage rather than a mechanical or clogging issue.

Why Jumping the Fuse (F1/F4) Causes Additional Damage

The fuses on Epson boards (such as F1 or F4) are protective components. They are engineered to blow whenever a surge, short, or incorrect electrical load threatens downstream parts such as:

• Printhead driver chips

• MOSFETs

• Power management components

• Mainboard traces

When a fuse is bypassed or jumped, the underlying problem is not eliminated-instead, the surge continues unrestricted, often damaging multiple circuits at once.

This is why we always advise never jumping the fuse. When the fuse is removed from the safety chain, the next component in line receives the full fault current.

Why Your Printhead Is Not Firing Ink

Even though the printer primes ink and shows no errors, the fact that the head never fires a single droplet indicates that the printhead is no longer receiving the correct firing pulses. This is classic behavior when the 041B driver chip has been damaged.

Identifying 041B Driver Chip Damage

From your description, you mentioned silver MOSFETs, which strongly suggests the printer uses the 041B driver version, not the older 041A (which typically uses black MOSFETs).

Damage to the 041B driver chip or its paired MOSFETs results in:

• Printhead receiving power but no firing signals

• Priming cycles powering the pump normally

• Nozzle tests producing no ink at all, not even faint lines

• Printer displaying no error messages (because the head is detected but non-responsive)

This exactly matches your scenario.

What Happens When a Ribbon Cable Arcs

When the ribbon cable "rolled over" a pin and released smoke, that arc can easily:

• Short firing channels

• Burn traces inside the cable

• Damage the MOSFET pair next to the driver chip

• Destroy sections of the 041B driver IC itself

Even if the ribbon cable is later trimmed and reconnected, the damage inside the chip has already been done.

Why the 'Check Black Ink' Message Appeared

This message is often triggered when:

• The driver chip can't activate a color channel

• There is a voltage imbalance in the firing circuit

• The MOSFET pair controlling the black channels is damaged

• Firmware attempts to compensate for missing signals

The message going away after firmware flashing doesn't mean the electrical issue was resolved-only that the firmware is no longer looking for ink chip communication.

Why the Printhead Still Doesn't Fire Even Though Ohm Testing Passed

Measuring continuity across ribbon pins only checks for:

• Shorts between adjacent pins

• Broken traces

It does not evaluate the internal state of:

• Driver chips

• Power distribution ICs

• MOSFET switching circuits

• Signal waveform generators

These components fail internally and are not detectable by simple resistance checks.

Next Steps

Searching for "041B driver chip" on the BCH website will bring up more information, symptom descriptions, and repair insights:
BCH Technologies - 041B Driver Chip Resource
(https://bchtechnologies.com)

This will help you confirm the typical electrical failure signatures and determine whether the driver chip and MOSFET pair need to be replaced.

Addressing printer issues can be complex because these problems often require hands-on electrical testing and physical diagnostics. For this reason, we're unable to offer remote troubleshooting or repair suggestions beyond general guidance. If you prefer professional help, we provide in-person diagnostics at our repair facility:
BCH Printer Repair Service (https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service).
We operate on a first-come, first-served basis and may require a few weeks before drop-off availability. While our repairs are thorough, they may not be the lowest-cost option, so we encourage starting with self-research. You can browse repair videos on our YouTube channel homepage (https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologies) and use the search icon next to "About" to locate videos by topic. With nearly a decade of content, the search tool is the fastest way to find what you need-and YouTube may also recommend videos from other creators that could help.

Thank you again for your patience, your engagement, and your continued support of BCH Technologies. We truly appreciate you and hope this information gives you a clearer path forward.