Epson R-200 "Parts Nearing End Of Service Life..."

[moviebuff2]

Hi everyone:

My 2-year-old Epson R200 gave me a warning: "Parts of your printer are approaching the end of their service life. Please consult your printer document."

I checked the manual and found nothing that would relate remotely to this warning.

So, I am asking for your expert advices on this issue:

To which parts could the printer's warning message refer?

Can these parts be purchased and replaced by someone non-technician like me?

Thank you

p.s.: this question is for EPSON! How could you do such thing? My printer (bought brand new) is about 2 year-old and I have been using it very seldomly. Shame on you!!!

[valvehead]

Oh, they just want you to buy a new printer.

Are you having any trouble with it other than the "warning"? No? Then just keep using it until it dies!

[Bjs]

Your waste ink pad is getting full most likely.

Page count max is about 20,000 , hit that , and service fuse on main board blows .

Search on CIS systems in forum will show more than one post related to cis system install and waste pad info for epson.

[moviebuff2]

valvehead, LOL. But I do agree with your assessment. I still can print most of time. Although, sometimes the printer just printed part of the job then spat out the sheet, thus wasting my paper. Don't you think that's also part of Epson strategy to make me spend more money on them. COL!

Bjs, where can I locate the waste inkpad? I don't think the paper count is anywhere near 500 since together with the printer, I bought a package of 500-count Epson Premium Bright White. Today, I still have more than 1/2 of the package!

[Poppa_Meth]

You not only have to replace the pad, you have to reset the counter which can be a difficult thing to do on your own. They want you to take it in for service or buy a new one. If it were me, and it WAS me with my R300, I'd toss it and buy an HP 5160 which also prints discs and has much cheaper ink.

[RabidDog]

Something like that should be outlawed.. think of the unnecessary waste! Let them charge more for the printer in the first place and then allow anyone to sell inks and carts

[bassbinn]

download this http://www.inkuniverse.co.uk/epson_tool.html and reset the protection counter as someone said above sounds like ink pads are full if you open up the printer you can remove the ink pads and wash em in soapy water let em dry then put em back in worked for me if you just reset the counter you run the risk of the ink pads overflowing and leakage saying that though when i removed mine they were hardly even touched and very dry

getting in printer can be difficult

[moviebuff2]

Sorry for a late "thank you". I totally forgot my question.

bassbinn, I just d/l-ed the tool. I will try to understand what I am supposed to do. This printer scared the life out of me once. I was reaching in to replace the ink cartridges and suddenly the whole thing just moved very quickly from one side to another and almost crushed my hand.

I think I will have to post my own video on "You Tube" to get this f!@#$% manufacturer's attention!

[moviebuff2]

The printer stopped working, flashed red lights (where are the blues and yellows so that I may offer my doughnuts? ) then came the message "end of service life"!

I reset the protection counter and the printer is working fine. Later, I think I will try to locate the ink pad to see whether or not it needs replacement.


My big "thank you" to those people who wrote the SSC Service Utility program.

[classfour]

Pappa_Meth - Where are you getting HP ink that's cheaper than Epson???

OEM, yes cheaper - for the lot, but won't print as many pages.

I've run generic on three Epsons (2 - R200s, 1 R300), and am currently using refillable carts and CIS - I can get six 4oz bottles of ink for $35 - much less than a single HP cart - that'll refill ten times.

Reset the counter and Google "Epson Waste Ink Pad Mod".

my 2 cents

[Bjs]

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=51595&forum_id=40

First post , image link at bottom shows back (open in a new window to see)
Second post , image link is close up

You have to dismantle it to get access to those waste pads in the back .

For those with C42 or similar : http://ianwillis.co.uk/c42/

[Poppa_Meth]

I'm talking stock ink on these. I used several different 3rd party inks on the epson and they work fine but if you don't print very often they seem to clog the print heads much faster than epson's inks do. So I ended up going back to OEM on that.

Oh and my HP prints just as many pages easily. It doesn't waste huge quantities of ink to clean itself every time you fire it up. The epson does this almost every time when not using OEM carts. The HP also lets me print until the cart is empty instead of cutting me off with plenty of ink left just because the counter thinks it should be empty. And I don't have to use third party software to trick the printer this way.

It all depends on what you are willing to put up with.

[moviebuff2]

Thanks, Bjs. It looks like a pretty daunting task. I will give it a try.

[Wile_E]

I did the waste bottle thing too for my Epson R200. You should see the amount of ink this printer wastes. Everytime you turn it on, and in between some printings, when it primes ink. It wastes a lot. No wonder why the waste pads get full so soon and need to be serviced! I use the SSC Service Utility to reset counters and stuff.

[robakbbs]

I have the R200 service manual. Pulled the page so you can see.
Dont forget to reset the counter with the SSC utilty after cleaning or replacing the pads.

[moviebuff2]

Thanks, robakbbs, for the demo pictures.

What do you mean by "pull the page"? Do you mean the sheets?

Do you have these pictures in larger sizes available somewhere?

Cheers!

[sandralink]

it is actually quite normal to all epson printers.
you can reset the waste ink counter by using http://www.ssclg.com software or the epson adjust software.
And dont forget to install an external waste ink kit that can redirect all the waste ink to an external bottle
for example
http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R800WasteInk.asp
http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R2400WasteInk.asp

this way, you will not need to replace waste ink pad, since you wont use it anyway.

[Nelson37]

To Rob or anyone -

I have two of these printers. One started the blinking light error, I have reset the protection counter multiple times and no dice. Sometimes, after being unplugged for days or weeks, it will print one page before giving the error. The printer will ALWAYS print a test page.

One additional thing, when it fails, it will pull in the page a few inches before stopping with the error. But I can pull it out, reset, and print a test page every time. It is just print from any other program which fails.

This really, really frosts me as the test page repeatedly proves that the printer is perfectly capable of printing.

Does the manual show a replaceable fuse on the board, or is there a reset for this problem? The printer is going out the window otherwise, in fact it may already be gone. In my office its hard to tell.

I have already reset the counter on my other R200. I also use refill inks from Staples and have had no problems, I refill the standard cartridges and use a resetter.