Most ink jet printers will not work if any cartridge is empty and it is somewhat rare for the actual levels to be displayed anymore. If the printer has not been used for quite a while the ink has probably dried out, that is why there is plastic tape over the cartridge outlet when new. With new ink jet printers so cheap it can be a lot less expensive to just buy a new printer that comes with all new cartridges. I have found that Epson cartridges from the Epson store are less expensive than the 'cheap' ones on the internet for my printer, CX5000.