Hi

Any ideas........

I have a cheapo inkjet printer Epson stylus C42 plus which was OK for my home needs.

All of a sudden it has stopped printing and displays the message "parts in your computer are at the end of their service life. Please take to your agent for attention"

Has anyone else experienced this problem and (1) Is it just a ploy to get me to buy a new one. (2) is it practical to get it looked at or, (3) should I buy a new one.

Unfortunately I have just spent £30 on new ink cartridges, otherwise I would just upgrade to a better model.

Any advice appreciated.

TBWG

Your printer has decided that its waste ink pads are full. You ought to be able to reset the counter (sometimes called the Protection Counter) that decided this (try a Google search).

Remember however that if you do reset the counter without replacing the pads you could be in for a messy time should the pads overflow

EDIT Try this free utility http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

EDIT 2 http://www.2manuals.com/ have the official Epson service program and the service manual (how to take it apart and replace the pads amongst other things) for about US $10 each, make sure you order the (more expensive) Windows 2k/XP program unless you have a Win98 box to run it on

With the cost of printers shrinking to such low prices, after about 2-3 years, it is probably best to throw out an aging printer and just buy a new one.

A decent PSC (printer-scanner-copier) home printer in the US costs between $40-$100. Manufacturer's ink cartridges cost $15-$30 apiece! If I have a printer that's behaving "funny", I would not troubleshoot it... I would just toss it before investing in any more ink cartridges.

Merely my $0.02 worth of advice.