Beth said:
On my old Windows 98, a window would appear and show me
how much ink was left. Now with Windows XP, I cannot find
out what my ink level is, I am out of ink but I do not
know if it is the black or color or both. If I do not
need both cartridges then I do not want to buy both of
them. Can someone please help? Epson doesn't seem to want
to help unless I pay them.
Beth Allen
When you upgraded to XP, you did things correctly and allowed XP to
install its own printer driver for your printer. Unfortunately,
especially for older printers, the printer drivers included with XP
perform only very basic functions -- not including ink level
monitoring. Currently, Epson seems to have XP drivers for 23 models of
its printers:
http://tinyurl.com/byuf If you have one of these,
download and install the Epson driver and, if offered, the Epson Status
Monitor for that printer. Before you install the new driver, you might
want to read the following from MS-MVP Cari:
http://www.coribright.com/Windows/Article one.htm
If your printer isn't listed above, you can try searching on the Epson
site (
http://tinyurl.com/s2go), but I would guess that they would update
that list whenever they add another driver to the site.
FYI, Here's what Epson says about the difference between its drivers and
the XP drivers
Question: Should I use Epson's drivers or the drivers provided from
Microsoft with the Windows XP software?
Answer: If you use the Epson Windows 2000 or Windows 2000/XP drivers
from the Epson Support web site you will receive all functions and
features the printer offer. If you use the Microsoft Windows XP built-in
driver, you will be able to print but you will not be able to use the
following functions:
Ability to check your ink levels
Ability to print at 2880dpi (if your printer supports that resolution)
Advanced Color Management features
Advanced Page Layout features like watermarks, multi-page support, or
doublesided printing (if your printer supports this feature)
