Epson Service Life Reset

[Enrique Fats]

In the event a user receives this alert, the printer needs to be properly maintained in order to continue printing. Epson understands the importance for its customers to be able to print whenever they need to and offers flexible options to extend printing, including:

Epson printers are designed to provide the optimal level of print quality and performance. Depending on the level of use, the product may reach a condition where satisfactory print quality cannot be maintained, or components have reached the end of their usable life.

The service alert refers to the ink pads. There are a number of porous pads in the printer that collect, distribute, and contain ink that is not used on printed pages. Ink is collected by these pads during the initial setup of the product, during cleaning cycles, and when printing borderless photographs.

Most users will never receive this message under normal use scenarios. However, some high-volume users or those who use the printer for many years may receive this message about ink pads before other components reach the end of their usable life. It is dependent on the frequency and type of printing done over time.

Yes, the service alert and service repair process may be temporarily delayed on most printers by using the Maintenance Reset Utility to enable printing for a short period of time. This method is available to Windows users (Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP) as a one-time option while customers determine the best next steps for repairs. Currently there is no Maintenance Reset Utility available to Mac OS users.

The timeline for the message appearing varies depending on the printer model and print volume. It is offered to customers to complete existing print run needs and is not intended for extended use.

By submitting my information, I agree that it will be handled in accordance with the Epson Privacy Policy, and I authorize Epson to send me marketing communications about Epson products and services. I understand that I can unsubscribe at any time. By using the Epson website, I agree to the Epson Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You have two options to keep using this printer. One would be to take it to an Epson service centre, have them replace the pads and reset the waste ink counter. That is almost never economic for a desktop printer, and especially for the 1430. A new one would be much cheaper, or at the very least, least close to the same price.

Using my Mac 10.7.5, does anyone know of a download that will reset the waste ink counter on my Epson Artisan 730 printer. I have changed the waste ink pads, but my 730 printer has locked me out until I change the waste ink counter back to 0. The printer screen message is:" A printer's ink pad is at the end of its life.Please contact Epson Support. Turn Off." Epson support says go to an Epson Service Center and have the machine serviced. The Service Center charges over $100 to do a reset. I found a reset program online but it was only used on PCs not Macs. Any help would be greatly appreciated, to get my printer back in service.

That out of the way, to answer your question there are Windows only utilities that will work to reset the printers waste ink counter and just need to be used to complete the reset. Once reset the printer can then be returned to the MacOS machine and not need the windows machine again (well, not until the waste counter hit maximum again).

Alternatively there's a MacOS compatible pay-per-reset option in the form of a utility called iWIC. This requires the purchase of a one-time digital key to complete the reset itself but the utility can be used without a key to read the waste counters and get some other information from the printer.

One critical thing to note though is that resetting and then ignoring the waste ink is a bit of a daft thing to do so if you do decide to reset, then consider replacing the waste pads or fitting something like a Printer Potty to you don't later discover you need a new carpet, etc...

But no. Epson instead pushes its customers to throw away the entire, working printer unit simply because some sponges are saturated with ink. In doing so, the company amplifies our epidemic of e-waste and forces customers into an expensive and (as it turns out) unneeded upgrade.

You have a perfectly healthy, functioning Epson inkjet printer in your home office. It\u2019s served you well for years and you use it frequently. Then, one day, you go to print a document and realize that the printer isn\u2019t working. A message on the display reads \u201Ca part inside your printer is at the end of its service life. Service is required.\u201D

That\u2019s funny, you think. You hadn\u2019t noticed anything wrong with your printer before this message appeared. The device was working well and the quality of the printing was fine. If nothing was broken, why are you suddenly getting this message? More important: how do you get rid of it so that you can continue using your printer?

As it turns out, your printer manufacturer, Epson, has hard coded an \u201Cend of life\u201D into the software that runs the inkjet printer you bought. Note: this pre-determined end of life was not a feature of the device explained to you when you purchased the printer, but it\u2019s there all the same. It doesn\u2019t matter that your printer was working. Epson corporate has determined that your printer and its constituent parts are simply too old. They\u2019re at the end of their service life (even though the printer appears to be working fine) and the device needs to be replaced or (reluctantly) serviced\u2026 by an Epson authorized service professional, of course.

In particular, this message is linked to ink pads, which Epson describes as \u201Cporous pads in the printer that collect, distribute, and very importantly contain the ink that is not used on printed pages.\u201D Over time, these pads wear out though- as Epson explains- generally not \u201Cbefore the printer is replaced for other reasons.\u201D

Mark Tavern, a lecturer at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, was one of the lucky ones. Tavern received more than 4,500 \u201Clikes\u201D and 800 retweets when he wrote about his wife\u2019s Epson encountering the error, with leading consumer rights advocates weighing in on the practice.

\u201CA printer self-bricking after awhile is a great example of \u2018you think you bought a product, but you really rented a service,\u2019\u201D wrote Jonathan Zittrain a professor of International Law at Harvard University.

For printer owners, the options once this error is encountered are limited, as Epson explains on their website. If this is the first time you encounter it AND you happen to use Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP, there\u2019s an official Epson reset utility that \u201Ccan only be used once and will allow printing for a short period of time.\u201D (Epson: \u201CWe hope to develop an option for Mac users as well; however, we do not have an ETA or the OS requirement at this time.\u201DDon\u2019t hold your breath, Mac users.)

If you\u2019re a Mac user or have already encountered the error and run the reset utility, your options are to have the printer serviced by an Epson Authorized Customer Care Center, or replace the printer and recycle your old one using Epson\u2019s recycling program. And in case you\u2019re wondering what Epson recommends, the company\u2019s website notes that \u201Crepair may not be a cost-effective option for lower-cost printers because other components may also be near the end of their usable life.\u201D

I mean, this is a raw deal. But let\u2019s put ourselves in Epson\u2019s shoes. The stakes for letting aging ink jet printers continue operating couldn\u2019t be higher, as the company explains on its website.

\u201CLike so many other products, all Epson consumer ink jet products have a finite life span due to component wear during normal use. At some point, the product will reach a condition where either satisfactory print quality cannot be maintained or components have reached the end of their usable life. Epson is committed to ensuring the proper operation of all our devices to minimize the risks of property damage or personal injury during the life span of the product. The printers are designed to stop operating at the point where further use without replacing the ink pads could create risks of property damage from ink spills or safety issues related to excess ink contacting an electrical component.\u201D

That\u2019s right. The company has designed its printers to stop operating, citing the danger of \u201Cproperty damage from ink spills\u201D or dangerous unspecified danger from \u201Celectrical components.\u201D (Note: Epson\u2019s printer ink appears to be water-based and therefore not particularly flammable.)

As outrageous as this behavior is, it does not appear to be new. This video, from 2017, shows an Epson printer owner doing a manual replacement of the saturated ink pads to clear the \u201Cend of service life\u201D message on an L-series printer, suggesting that Epson instituted the hard coded end of life at least five years ago.

And, as the YouTube \u201Chow-to\u201D video suggests, Epson\u2019s claims that saturated ink pads necessitate an entire device upgrade are overstated. In fact, YouTube is filled with videos of Epson customers servicing saturated ink pads using their own tools and ingenuity, but with zero support from the folks at Epson.

The video below shows just one of these, but makes the case that there is an easy, cheap way to replace the saturated ink pads on L-series printers using common, inexpensive materials to continue the work of the saturated \u201COEM\u201D ink pads. Epson could, of course, also sell replacement ink pads specifically manufactured to work with its hardware and show their customers how to do this simple replacement.

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