Epson Stylus PHOTO 2200 - Service Required????

[dandeliondigital]

Hi all,
I have a workhorse Epson Stylus PHOTO 2200 workhorse printer that has been a great performer for many decades now. Time flies.

I was printing a job the other day, and I got a warning:

SERVICE REQUIRED - see attached screen shot

So I am at a loss to know what to do, or if I need to be concerned.

This printer is very old, but it's still working beutifully and I just bought $200 of inks! Oh no!

Anyone have any experience with this printer and this message?

Any or all comments and help is very much appreciated.

Thanks, and so long for now, Tom

[langier]

Yes Tom, I have experience of keeping an Epson 2200 for two such cycles.

My expert in NorCal fixed my 2200 up until it finally gave up the ghost after the third announcement...

There are ink waste pads that much be changed every 4,000-5,000 prints and probably a few other parts at the same time, then the counter can be reset. Usually, the printer got a general cleaning and everything else that needed to be done. He's done the same with the printer that replaced it, an Epson 3880, but that had to do with the MK/PK valve that seems to be an inherent problem for some, but also I think there were a couple similar things like the 2200 that needed service while he was at it.

The last time the 2200 was serviced was sometime around 2010 and most likely parts may not be available today, but probably someone knows a work-around and the secret reset routine/button...

Though the 2200 was a great printer, it may be time to sell the ink on eBay and get a newer printer to last you through another decade or more. If you PM me, I can give you the phone number of my guru and you can talk with him and get a real expert's opinion if parts can be had for your printer.

[JeanMichel]

Hi,
Years ago I had that printer and got the same message. At that time I was able to get some sort of program that allowed me to reset the ink cycle and mop up some of the waste ink, or something like that — memory is fading!

The 2200 eventually died, replaced by a 2400, and that one with a P800. If I were you, I would look at getting a new printer.

[Ferp]

As a former owner of a 2200, let me me congratulate you on keeping it running for as long as you have.  Mine died and went to e-waste years ago.  It would have just turned 17 this month.

While you can pay someone to replace the waste ink pads, by far the easier and cheaper option is to buy a one-time key to use in the WIC Reset utility to reset the waste ink pad counter.  Then fit a waste ink tank so that the waste ink flows into that tank rather than into the nearly full waste ink pads.  You need to empty the tank periodically.  It's a bit frightening how much ink goes into such a tank.

I recommend waste tanks from Octoink in the UK.  The 2200 is rather different to all the small format Epson printers that came after it as you how you fit one of these tanks, but it's not overly difficult and Octoink provides good instructions.  Octoink also sell reset keys, although I've never used one of theirs so can't comment on how they're used.  Martin from Octoink is very responsive to customer questions.

[dandeliondigital]

If you PM me, I can give you the phone number of my guru and you can talk with him and get a real expert's opinion if parts can be had for your printer.

Hi,
I could not find a way to use Private Mail. If you can send it to me to tom@dandeliondigital.com, I would appreciate that.

Thanks to all who responded. Family emergency has kept me away.

I primarily use the 2200 to print cards. It's never been fun to load manually, and the sheet feeder has been an issue for about 5 years because the rollers just don't grab card stock anymore, it will still work with plain paper.

So I may have to start a thread asking which is the Best Replacement for an ESP 2200 to print card stock.

I bought the ethernet option, and for about 12 years I ran the printer as a RIP with the RIP-X Software, but that has been dead for a long time now.

I profile all stock I use, and usually print out of Adobe ID CS6.

Thanks again to all.

So long for now, Tom