How To Reset Epson Printer Waste Ink Pad

[Michael Rosiles]

Ifyou own an Epson printer, you may have encountered the dreaded "waste ink pad full" error message. This error occurs when the printer's waste ink pad, which collects excess ink during cleaning and maintenance, reaches its maximum capacity. When this happens, the printer stops working until the waste ink pad is replaced or reset.

Replacing the waste ink pad on an Epson printer can be a daunting task, but it's essential to keep your printer functioning properly. In this article, we'll guide you through the process of replacing and resetting the waste ink pad on your Epson printer, step-by-step.

Before we get started, it's important to note that replacing the waste ink pad on an Epson printer can be messy, and it may void your printer's warranty. If your printer is still under warranty, we recommend contacting Epson customer support for assistance.

The first step in replacing the waste ink pad on your Epson printer is to locate the pad itself. Depending on your printer model, the waste ink pad may be located in different areas of the printer. To find the waste ink pad, refer to your printer's user manual or search online for instructions specific to your printer model.

Once you've located the waste ink pad, check its condition. If the pad is heavily saturated with ink or is disintegrating, it's time to replace it. If the pad is only partially full, you may be able to reset the waste ink counter instead.

Before replacing the waste ink pad, it's essential to clean the area around the pad to avoid ink spills and ensure a clean work environment. Use a damp cloth or paper towel to wipe away any excess ink, and be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands.

To replace the waste ink pad on your Epson printer, you'll need to disassemble the printer and remove the old pad. Again, the process will vary depending on your printer model, so be sure to refer to your user manual or search online for instructions specific to your printer.

After replacing the waste ink pad, you'll need to reset the waste ink counter to clear the "waste ink pad full" error message. To do this, you'll need to enter your printer's service mode and run a waste ink pad counter reset utility.

Thank you Dana, the Maintenance Tank was showing it was nearing full when I started out trying to reset it following the instructions coming with the chip resetter. I may have waited too long. I did purchase two new Maintenance tanks though and the printer still reads Maintenance Tank Full, replace tank. When I have done this with the new tanks, the printer still shows full! I can call you to discuss this if that would work as I am waiting to print a big job. I appreciate any help getting it back going!

I finally have been able to get it to reset and show the maintenance tank full. I inserted the new tank, pulled out the ink carts and then closed the door. turned off the printer then rebooted it. This time it said replace the Maintenance tank which I just pulled it out and reset it then put it back in. The printer message then said there were no carts installed so I opened the door, replaced them and closed it back, this time it reset all to full!

INKCHIP provides the best software to reset your printer's waste ink pad counters. Just download our utility and with the WIC reset keys you can reset the ink pad counters to zero. It only takes a few seconds to easily reset your printer.

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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...

I can't speak for any other brands, since I've always used Epsons, right from day one. But from what I can figure out, this 'function' is peculiar to Epsons, and is all part of their efforts to 'encourage' you to have your device serviced regularly (for outrageous sums of money!) at their approved 'service centres'.

As if selling you a device at a reasonable price, followed by gouging you, ad infinitum, with extortionate ink prices, wasn't enough, the WIC value - once it reaches a certain point - will cause your printer to just quit working, without warning. All you'll see in your wee display panel will be something along the lines of

There used to be a free reset utility for Epsons, years ago, that worked under Windows. I had to use it, several years ago, because one of my Epsons gave some very heavy-duty service for a couple of years printing photos.....and I eventually hit the WIC value.

I've never been able to find one that functioned under Linux, until now.....and, TBH, I don't print anything like as much these days. Following a browse around the web, I located a repo of .deb packages for the WICreset utility. I downloaded an age-related one for my daily driver - jrb's lite version of BK's Quirky April 64 - installed it, annnd.....it works perfectly.

Most after-market ink vendors nowadays will sell you these reset keys - single-use, I'm afraid, though there's NO 'expiry date' - for a small fee (a few dollars or pounds). Many people will just chuck away and buy new again, but I intend to hang onto my SX218 for a while longer yet. The printer works, the scanner works, the drivers I have for it give full functionality.....why add to the growing e-waste problem? (And most EPSON users will probably only ever need a reset key perhaps once - or maybe twice - in all the time they own one.)

MacOS users are able to make use of the iWIC app which has matured nicely and now provides a stable utility to access and reset the waste ink counter on a wide range of Epson (and some Canon) printers.

In instances where your Mac will not allow you to use the iWIC service we recommend asking friends, family or colleagues if you can borrow or use a compatible computer system. While not ideal, the reset process only needs temporary access to complete and then the printer can be returned to your existing Mac.

In such situations our standard recommendation is that you borrow or purchase a windows capable laptop with Windows 2000 or XP installed, install your printer drivers, and then reset the utility using that.

My printer does not work at all anymore. Scan, copy and print functions are unavailable. The power, Wifi, ink and paper lights are flashing. I would like to reset it, as I think it might be a hardware update error. Please provide me any information on how to reset it.

Occasionally, some users will experience the error on their printer where it stops printing and all the lights start flashing. Different printer models may have different descriptions of this error, but it seems to be generally described as a 'Unknown Printer Error'. In fact, numerous users in the internet community believe that this error is most often experienced when the printer has reached a condition where it thinks the ink waste pads inside the printer are full. That's right - all that ink you lose in cleaning cycles and priming new cartridges has to go somewhere, and your Epson printer keeps track of roughly how much ink it has dumped into some large absorbent pads in the base of the printer!

Technically, this condition requires an Epson service engineer to resolve. It is however, possible that you could fix it yourself by resetting the printer and clearing the counter of how much ink has gone to those pads. You can do this as follows: (this seems to work on numerous Epson desktop printers, but we make no claims about it's reliability on your printer. Use at own risk etc!) However, we now have three separate procedures supplied by various users; it seems that there are either different reset procedures depending upon printer model, or something else is going on that we do no understand!

Additionally, we are now starting to hear about similar-sounding issues with the 2100 printer - except the printer is helpfully warning of the error before it just stops printing! The message you will see says something like 'Parts inside the printer are nearing the end of their service life'. Presumably at some time it will just refuse to print, unless the problem is addressed more directly.

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