A printer error has occured

Some day you can see the error message on the screen of your printer. Such printers as Epson Artisan 700, Artisan 710, Artisan 720, Artisan 800, Artisan 810, Artisan 820, Artisan 830, Artisan 835, TX700, TX710, TX720, TX800, TX810, PX700, PX710, PX800, PX810, PX820 and other have built in monitor-screen.

This error is determined in the Epson Service Manual as FATAL ERROR. It means the printer can't finish his selftest. When you turn the power ON the printer begin to check its all systems. If for some reason it cant finish this selftest - the printer gives error message. It means you have to fix the problem first. If the selftest is finished the printer is ready to print.

Solution

Make sure the transportation lock has been removed.
Store the transportation lock as shown below.


If the CD tray is in the eject position, make sure you press the CD Tray button to retract the tray to the storage position. Never push or pull the CD tray into position.
Turn the Artisan OFF and make sure paper is not jammed inside the unit.

If you have printer with CISS installed make sure the printer carriage can go left and right easy.
Make sure the upper scanner part of printer is closed tightly. Nothing prevents to close it tightly.

Printer ink pads are at the end of their service life. Please contact Epson support
Waste ink pad in the printer is saturated
Parts have come to the end of their life

This errors (service request) are common with Epson printers, however it seems to be coming up more lately, and more for the Epson Artisan series specifically. Owners of the Epson Artisan 700, 710, 725, 800, 810, 835, 837, PX700, PX800, PX830 etc. be on the look-out for the following error message that will cripple any printer use until resolved.
Normally the printer will display the above INK PAD error messages for about 20 prints and then go into "limp" mode, where it will not print anything or give access to any other menu function.
Epson has put a counter in your printer that counts every page that has ever passed through the printer, even blank pages! When the counter has reached a certain number the printer will shut down.

This is not a death sentence for your printer. There is a way to reset this annoying little "error" for the Epson printers.

You can solve this problem by yourself easy:
1. Reset the Waste Ink Counter
2. Replace or Clean the Ink Pads or collect any future excess ink in an external box

What is, "waste ink?"

There are a set of super absorbent pads inside the printer that catch, store, and disperse ink that is not used by the printer directly. Ink is used when the printer starts up, shuts down, cleans, and prints - and when there is extra ink, it has to go somewhere. That somewhere is the waste ink pads, and they do get messy when you print in high volume (500 pages or more per month). This system is designed to re-route all the extra ink that is dispersed during cleaning, and printing, into an external waste ink container. This way the waste ink pads stay dry and clean.

Installation is similar to replacing the waste ink pads, however the tubing is attached to an extender tube and the waste ink is re-routed outside the printer. Very clever actually.

This product is not recommended for all Epson inkjet printer owners using Epson brand inks. The money it would cost to achieve print totals in the volume that would be required - to trip the waste ink pad reset - would be astronomical.

Many of the new Epson printers produced during 2010 (or even late 2009) have not been possible to reset as no suitable Reset utility (or Adjustment program) has been available.

WICReset: A New Utility

The WICReset tool is a completely new tool, written by 2Manuals.com developers and it provides two primary functions.

1. Check a printers Waste Ink Counter reading and provide a percentage indicator that shows how "full" the waste counter is [FREE]
2. Reset printer waste counters [RESET KEY REQUIRED]

Download last version: Download WICReset

How it works

The WICReset utility identifies all Epson printers installed on your computer and lists them. In most cases it will also determine whether it is compatible with your printer(s) by indicating this next to the printer name.

Note: You will need to be connected to the internet to make a reset.

If the printer is compatible you can then "Check" the waste counter to get the current count and a percentage so you can see how "full" the waste counter is.

If you need to reset a printer waste counter you then need to have a valid key (see below) which you input when prompted, after clicking on the "Reset" button. This should then reset your printer.

Reset Keys : Purchasing

IMPORTANT: You should check your printer compatiblity BEFORE you purchase a key as these are non-refundable

Checking Compatibility - Video Tutorial

My Printer is not Compatible

If your printer is not compatible with WIC Reset Utility we can ADD your printer model to WIC Reset Utility now.
Run the program and click the CHECK YOUR PRINTER MODEL - you'll get report file - send us.
Please watch the Video how it works.
We'll pass the report file to our developers and they will hopefully be able to work with you to add your printer to the list of supported models.

Why Pay for a Reset...

Anyone who knows the history of reset utilities over the last 4 years will know that there are free utilities available that reset many earlier Epson printer models.

Unfortunately as awareness grew of reset tools, so tools became rarer and Epson started making it harder to use the tools normally reserved for Service Techs. Only the efforts of key individuals made many of those accessible and naturally Epson got smarter about how to protect their tools.

The latest batch of printers have been impossible to reset until recently so a new approach was required and the WICReset tool does the job. It would be nice to think that someone would do this all for nothing except for a nice pat on the back and the occassional thank-you. Unfortunately many people don't say "thank-you" and in some cases are down right abusive.

The bottom line is that the developer has to pay the bills, so this service costs a small fee to allow you to reset your printer.

If you are unhappy about this and want to find a different option then by all means look around. Unfortunately it seems the only other options are Service Centers that will charge between $30 and as much as $50 for the same service.

Additional Information

This page will be updated regularly with any new information on this product and additional articles may be added to provide additional details on how to use the tool, etc...