Epson Secrets (Anybody Know???)

[Kenny <hla@att.net>]

As far as I know, all Epson inkjets have absorbent
pads in the bottom of the printer (call it a "diaper"),
that collects waste ink used during cleaning cycles 
(this is definitely true for the Color Stylus 800, 850 
and the little SX480 printers I purchased last fall.

    The printer keeps track of how much ink is sent
down to the pad, and after a preset volume of ink 
has been used in cleaning cycles, it disables the
printer (on the 800/850, all LEDS flash continuously).
Gee, I wonder how many hundreds of thousands or millions
of Epson printers are living in landfills today because
their owners thought they were broken ! The manuals that
come with the printers don't tell you about this
wonderful built-in feature ! (But the service manual does.)

     I learned how to reset the printer, which must be 
done after changing the pad (procedure is described in 
the Epson service manual) on the 800 and 850, but I don't 
know how to reset the SX480.  Since there are no switches, 
no buttons and no LEDs on the 480, I suspect it might 
be done thru software, but I'm not sure.  My computer
indicates an error on the printer and it won't print,
and since the pad is pretty saturated, I'm guessing 
the controller in the 480 wants the pad changed and
has to be reset.

     Can anyone enlighten me on the procedure ?
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