I make prints on a network-connected Epson P800 from two different MacOS 12.6.5 machines using print drivers for the Apple operating system downloaded from Epson's website. From the printer's perspective, the two input sources are indistinguishable: i.e., both are transmitting to it through an Ethernet IP interface.
When I print from one of the two computers, a 2013 Mac Pro with an Intel architecture, the print job completes with no warnings. On the other, a Mac Studio with an Apple M1 Ultra architecture, the print job also completes but the print spooler reports that the P800's maintenance tank is due to be replaced. The display on the P800, on the other hand, has never indicated there was a maintenance tank problem.
I was skeptical since I print infrequently, but naïvely I went ahead an replaced the tank. However, the diagnostic error message continues to be displayed whenever I transmit a job (always from the desktop version of Lightroom, but I don't think that's relevant). As you can see from the attached JPEG, the Epson printer utility clearly indicates that the maintenance tank is new.
Obviously, there is some discrepancy affecting the communication with the operating system between the Epson print driver on the Intel machine and the driver on the M1 system.
Is anybody out there aware of a problem with the Epson software that might account for this? Is there a special P800 driver package for the newer Apple architecture? (I know some ISVs that provide low-level device software have had difficulty adapting to the new APIs.)
This is hardly a crisis since both computers print properly and identically to the P800. But if there is something I can do to eliminate this behavior, I would like to do it.
And, yes, I spoke to Epson a while back and the technical support rep told me the company had no knowledge of a bug that could be causing this; he comped me for a replacement maintenance tank since I had already installed one at my own expense, but the new tank did not quiet the warnings.
