Epson Ink Monitor in Vista?

[Guest]

Per the Epson website, the drivers for many Epson printers including my R200
are 'in the box' and Epson does not offer a separate Vista driver.

My R220 does operate correctly with the Vista driver, but when it is
accessed through printer properties it does not offer the ink monitor that
the XP driver did. I do get something in the notification area saying that
the ink is low when I print however. Is there a way to access an ink monitor
in Vista without having to print?

In addition, I really miss the ability to save printer settings for
different types of print jobs as I could with the old XP driver. Any
solutions?

 

[Guest]

You can find a VISTA driver for the R-series at Epson's Austrailia web site,
version 6.50. The ink monitor works fine with it and Vista!!! Paper sizes
default to metric, but are also shown in "US" sizes.

 

[Guest]

You can find a VISTA driver for the R-series at Epson's Austrailia web site,
version 6.50.

Thanks so much for the suggestion. I've checked the Au site and do not find
a Vista driver for the R200 (sold here) or R210 (which I think is essentially
the same printer??). Instead there is a note indicating that the drivers are
included in Visat. There is a Vista driver on the Au site for the next model
up however.

From checking the Epson NA site, the file downloads are different for the
different models; do I understand correctly that you have used an R series
Vista driver for another model sucessfully on an R200 - R210? Not sure I want
to try unless I know it would work!

 

[Guest]

I have the R1800...I assumed the R-series were all the same. I just checked
the .inf file for the R1800 driver, and it is only for the R1800. I think I
misled you--sorry! I guess you'll just have to buy an R1800!

 

[Guest]

Did you check the printing preference? Thats where the ink level indicator
for the C88 is

 

[Guest]

Did you check the printing preference? Thats where the ink level indicator
for the C88 is

Thanks for the tip; problem solved. At least one of them anyway. I always
use the advanced view of the printing preferences, and had not really
explored the basic option. Sure enough, in the basic view I find the ink
monitor, which even works correctly! Next problem is to find a way to save my
dozen or so special settings for different media.

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Thanks for the tip; problem solved. At least one of them anyway. I always
use the advanced view of the printing preferences, and had not really
explored the basic option. Sure enough, in the basic view I find the ink
monitor, which even works correctly! Next problem is to find a way to save
my
dozen or so special settings for different media.

The driver for the Epson Stylus Photo R200, while it did install (eventually)
evidently is not FULLY-compatible with Vista. All works EXCEPT the Ink status
part.

At least I was able to use my last-gen printer.

 

[Guest]

Really? This works?? I have an Epson R220 and, like you, can't get the
Status Monitor to work. I didn't know that there is a "basic view" for
printer preferences.

I called Epson Support and was told that the Vista-supplied R220 driver
doesn't include the Status Monitor. They are "working on" a new driver that
will (yeah, right).

I, too, saw some traffic about an updated driver but it's for the R260. I
also saw some postings of the "new" Status Monitor SW, downloaded it, but it
requires an R1800 to install.

So, if all I have to do is change to "basic view", then that's great!! How
do you do that?

 

[Michael]

I also have an Epson R220, have been checking the Epson site for Vista
drivers for it but so far they haven't shown up. Where did you get Vista
drivers for your R220?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Guest]

I actually tried two things and don't know which actually worked. I tried
installing the XP drivers (from the Epson site first), and that failed during
install. I then used Add a Printer to add the R220 as a local printer, using
the Virtual USB Printer port. After a reboot, the Unknown Device was gone,
the R220 was listed in the Printers page, and I could print to it.

Good news is that the printer does work, even prints CDs and DVDs. Bad news
is that the ink monitor does NOT work. If you look at the Printer
Preferences, Tools tab, the Status Monitor is greyed out. There is
apparently no way to actually check the ink levels until the ink light
flashes on the printer. Then, you can only find out which cartridge needs to
be replaced.

 

[Michael]

Thanks for info,
I have saved your solution and will try it if I have to get the Vista
machine hooked to the R220 (currently moved it to a XP machine)

 

[Guest]

I was looking at this page as I have just changed my pc to vista and have a
Epson RX425, the printer stopped working and the low ink was flashing but I
didn't know how to tell which cartridge needed changing without the status
moniter as I didn't need to before I changed systems. I now feel a bit thick
as when I looked inside the printer I noticed that there is the facility to
check manually but just in case anyone else is also in lala land, you lift
the lid, press the ink button and the cartridge that is empty moves to a
crossed through ink symbol then press again and it will move to the position
to be able to change it, when you've changed the ink, press again and you've
done!