Good morning and what a wonderful site. I had thought that I was one of the few foolish to have bought such an ink system (that I must from hence forth refer to as CIS) but apparently not.

The problem is that in all probability the increased throughput has wrecked my C86 because it now shows “Service required” presumably because some stupid counter needs resetting. The SSC site forum has many posts from people with C86’s who want to reset so I assume that as yet no one has figured out a way of getting around Epson’s trick for swindling another sum out of the poor punters?


Simon

Hi Simon,

Given that you've already found the SSC utility site you'll just not have actually dug around to see how it works and what the different settings do..

The critical bit you're after in this instance is the "reset protection counter"..

You'll need version 3.80 (or newer) of the SSC utility to do this...


What to do:

• Uninstall your printers status monitor software from Epson (not the driver)
  
• Start the SSC utility
  
• Choose the "configuration" tab
  
• Set the Installed Printers and Printer model selections according to your setup (this is common sense stuff)
  
• Check the "Disable Epson Status Agent" checkbox
  
• Close the SSC Utility
  
• Look for the Printer icon in the System Tray (bottom right)
  
• RIGHT click on the printer icon
  
• Select "Protection Counter" -> "Clear Counter overflow"
  

You may need to select the "Reset protection counter" later if this doesn't completely clear any other error.


IMPORTANT: Your waste ink pad will be completely full of ink so you need to get it either replaced or you need to seriously consider completing the installation of a waste ink tank of your own (as posted here)

If you don't sort this aspect out you can expect your printer to start leaking ink and/or completely fouling itself with waste ink as it rises into your printers components.


_________________
Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

Er…. Actually Snailz,..

It may not be just a question of digging around the right way. I did download or try to download the SSC service utility but on mine it looks nothing like how it’s supposed to on the site. It was afterwards that I read the SSC footnotes that say that their utility does not work for the C86 counter reset.

However I am very grateful to you for publishing the correct procedure here, it is a helpful asset, the thing is a kind correspondent has recently sent me a slip of code that I installed and this seems to have done the trick and reset the counter. I am very happy to be printing again. It is even more satisfying to have for the first time defeated the Epson parasites.

Looking inside my C86 at the end of the carriage, it looks like someone has been having a slop around with a tar brush. I can see that you are probably wise to counsel the use of a waste ink pot and that is the next project on the list. I suppose that you will say that it is just too hard to get the ink pad assembly out and clean it, then stick it back. Not that I want that fiddly job to do every six months anyway.

Given that I now seem to have the means to reset the ‘Epsom (sorry that’s a medication for when something gives you a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach) Epson ink pad counter’, do you think that I am in the clear? I have read suggestions that there are two counters in these machines, one for the ink pad and another master counter. Do you know if this is the case? If so does the master counter have a limit and require a different resetting procedure?

Many thanks for your help and advice again and for putting up this useful forum.

Simon

wainwright wrote:

It may not be just a question of digging around the right way. I did download or try to download the SSC service utility but on mine it looks nothing like how it’s supposed to on the site. It was afterwards that I read the SSC footnotes that say that their utility does not work for the C86 counter reset.

I had a feeling that was the case but couldn't confirm that properly... I do know that there's a manuals4u.com has a CD with official utilities on them (here ref:CD2) so that may be the only way to go.

In truth I haven't actually had a C86 for all that long (had plenty of C84's though) so I'm going by what I've been told.

Quote:

However I am very grateful to you for publishing the correct procedure here, it is a helpful asset, the thing is a kind correspondent has recently sent me a slip of code that I installed and this seems to have done the trick and reset the counter. I am very happy to be printing again. It is even more satisfying to have for the first time defeated the Epson parasites.

Well that's good news at least.. I'd be interested in knowing more about that code but I suspect you've been asked to keep it private.. Not to worry.

Quote:

Looking inside my C86 at the end of the carriage, it looks like someone has been having a slop around with a tar brush. I can see that you are probably wise to counsel the use of a waste ink pot and that is the next project on the list.

Yes... you should be very careful at this point because you're likely to suffer from overspill if you leave it too late to deal with the waste ink build up.

Quote:

I suppose that you will say that it is just too hard to get the ink pad assembly out and clean it, then stick it back. Not that I want that fiddly job to do every six months anyway.

Unfortunately, yes... it's a nightmare... I've had far too many people, with service tech backgrounds, telling me that the Epson R2xx, R3xx, C8x, etc.. printers are all designed to have a limited shelf life and not be easily servicable. After someone sent me a completely DOA R200 I took a stab at removing the waste ink pads in it and just gave up after an hour of trying to work out what went where..

Fitting the waste ink tank is MUCH easier!

Quote:

Given that I now seem to have the means to reset the ‘Epsom (sorry that’s a medication for when something gives you a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach) Epson ink pad counter’, do you think that I am in the clear? I have read suggestions that there are two counters in these machines, one for the ink pad and another master counter. Do you know if this is the case? If so does the master counter have a limit and require a different resetting procedure?

At this point your guess is as good as mine... I've seen some hypotheses that Epson, Canon, etc... all have code in them to "kill" the printer at a specific point but only time will tell.. Somehow, if such a thing were to exist and proven, I could see Epson being sued VERY quickly for dubious business practices.

Quote:

Many thanks for your help and advice again and for putting up this useful forum.

No problem at all... I've discovered a couple of other forums out there as well (check the links section) which can also help


_________________
Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680