faulty Epson stylus c83

[bbutler1]

Hi my printer has started flashing alternate red lights and wont print. i have unplugged and restarted to no avail, pressed both buttons and held no good any ideas on what to do before i bin it!! regards Bryan

 

[jtoolman]

Since I do not have a crystal ball in front of me, I do not know what model printer and what make. So I will guess your ink pads are saturated and need "Servicing"???

 

[PeterBJ]

My HP 24" crystal ball shows me the printer is a faulty Epson stylus c83

The flashing lights indicate ink absorbers are full. The counter may be reset with this program: http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml . If you are using Windows XP you will need to patch Windows for the software to work. Link to the patch here: http://www.processlist.com/info/dosapps_sp2_patch.html . I don't know if the reset software will work with newer versions of Windows.

Resetting the counter doesn't make the ink collected in the absorbers go away. Some claim you can reset the counter once without risk, others claim that you risk a horrible mess when ink start flowing out from the printer.

For modification kits to use an external waste ink collector, after resetting, check this out: http://www.octoink.co.uk/_docs/wik_intro.php/ . Octoink also has a newer resetting program in case the other doesn't work with your printer. You will have to buy a key to use the newer program.

 

[websnail]

For modification kits to use an external waste ink collector, after resetting, check this out: http://www.octoink.co.uk/_docs/wik_intro.php/ . Octoink also has a newer resetting program in case the other doesn't work with your printer. You will have to buy a key to use the newer program.

Just to note that the only reason to buy a WICReset key for the C83 is if you have no access to anything other than a Mac (with compatible OS) and have to use the iWIC software or if the printer is dead.

Obviously the latter is not a good reason so just one reason then

Everything else provided by others answers is spot on... alternating lights is always a "Service Require" issue and easily resolved. The C83 is covered by this modification guide too:
http://www.octoink.co.uk/store/pages/Epson-C86.html

More info on the C83 is available here:
http://www.octoink.co.uk/qf/c83