No Status Monitor for Epson printer

[George]

My Epson Stylus Color 600 printer prints fine in XP (previously
used it on a Windows 98SE machine). Problem is that the Epson's
Status Monitor, which shows you the remaining ink level, does not
come up. Checked Epson's drivers page and found no XP driver for
this model.

Has anyone found another model driver that would work for the
Stylus Color 600 to get it to show at least the ink level if not
the complete Status Monitor?

Thanks for any info.

George

P.S. Pls. reply in ng; e-mail address is invalid.

 

[Cari \(MS MVP\)]

Unfortunately it's too old for that to be an economical proposition for
Epson. Nothing to stop you opening the printer and checking the cartridges
every now and then though.

 

[George]

Thanks for replying, Cari, but since the cartridges are not
transparent, visually checking them for the ink level would not be
a solution.

Epson may shortsightedly believe that not providing a driver to
support a printer less than 5 years old may be an "economical
proposition" for them. In the long run however, they've lost
goodwill, customer loyalty and potential future sales. When it's
time to buy a new printer, those customers like me, abandoned by
Epson without a proper driver, are not going to buy an Epson
again. Writing a driver for XP would have been a much less costly
"economical proposition" for them.

George

 

[Mike H]

There is not one part of a computer that after a period of time will lose
support by the manufacturer.. right or wrong, Epson expect to sell new
technology.. they would bankrupt themselves if they didn't sell a new
machine.. so you think that you have been robbed, but for a small outlay,
you could avail yourself of a new printer that is faster, capable of higher
resolution, and more economical.. the benefits outweigh keeping old
technology, for you and Epson..

The sad fact is that you are going to be let down by all manufacturers over
time.. BTW, how is the model T?.. did you find a tire and wheel shop that
can supply Bridgestone Potenza runflats in your wheel size yet..

 

[George]

Mike,

The Model T is 96 years old; my Epson printer less than 5!

Are we not comparing apples (pun intended) to oranges?

Regards,
George

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

You made me laugh Mike....

I have a 1998 Buick Park Avenue Ultra with Bridgestone Potenza tires... (not
runflats)..... Bridgestone changed the design of the Potenza tires so I
cannot even replace my tire that has a slow puncture.... I must purchase TWO
tires (at like $150+ each)..... so that they match. All the other tires
have plenty of life left in them. So I have to throw one away to get a
matching set.

And the original poster is deciding whether he should get a new $70 printer!
Hmmmm!

What we buy today is obsolete by tomorrow.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Why not email Epson and ask them why they decided not to support it? It is
after all their product. They would love you to purchase a new printer.
Marketing and economics is a powerful force.

 

[Mike H]

Yo George

One year of a cars life is twenty years in computer technology terms.. kinda
like one human year is seven to a dog.. that would make my last dog aged 105
when she passed away.. and she was a passive smoker.. anybody who lives
either with me or close by is a passive smoker.. I smoke for piece in the
world.. a professional smoker.. I have no chance of living that long.. ..

So you still haven't found any tires then?.. I have located a model T
computer for you though.. EBay is a marvellous thing.. it is essentially a
wooden frame with seven parallel metal rods, and there are colored beads
(wooden for safety.. passes all of Health Canada's rigorous tests) and they
all work.. it has a label on it that appears to say 'fabrique en Chine'.. I
guess that the French gotten to China first too..

Geez, if I never made a joke of things, I would be on more vallium per day
than cigarettes..

Stay safe, George

Mike H

PS.. get an HP 5150.. really fast and current until at least midday, the day
after tomorrow..

 

[Mike H]

Michelin did that to me.. after years of ripping through tires faster than a
sideshow strongman rips through telephone directories, I decided to slow
down a little.. so when I needed new tires for the car, the guy in the tire
shop told me that he had never seen the type that I had fitted.. a fat mouth
later, he retracted his statement and agreed that my car, tires and me were
really not that ancient.. ) ..

However, the car in question, a BMW M635i (oooooooh I miss that car), had
TRX tires and rims.. couldn't get TRXs for love or money, so ended up with
new rims and tires.. my (ex)wife still laughs about how I went into seizure
at the price..

 

[George]

Hi Cari and Mike,

This thread is getting off topic, but I did write Epson about the
problem. Want to guess what solution they give you: install
Windows 95, 98, or ME, and that will give you the Status Monitor.
In other words, make my XP notebook dual boot just for the purpose
of giving the Epson printer the full functionality that a proper
XP driver should provide. Their lack of adequate driver support
is surpassed only by their arrogance!

As soon as my present supply of ink cartridges is used up, I will
be shopping for a new printer. You can bet it won't be another
Epson.

Regards,
George

 

[Mike H]

Not really, George.. it is about having to move on.. leave the older stuff
behind..

 

[Tim]

Hi Cari and Mike,

This thread is getting off topic, but I did write Epson about the
problem. Want to guess what solution they give you: install
Windows 95, 98, or ME, and that will give you the Status Monitor.
In other words, make my XP notebook dual boot just for the purpose
of giving the Epson printer the full functionality that a proper
XP driver should provide. Their lack of adequate driver support
is surpassed only by their arrogance!

As soon as my present supply of ink cartridges is used up, I will
be shopping for a new printer. You can bet it won't be another
Epson.

Regards,
George

Think about this George, you have upgraded your system and expect all
manufacturers to update all drivers regardless... (Many new systems
come with a printer).
Your printer is 5 years old, most of the other printers of that model
have worn out, and are wearing out so there will be less demand for
cartridges. As the demand decreases so the price will increase to
cover the manufacturers cost and initial outlay against a longer
storage times (return on capital) as manufacturing runs will have a
minimum run.
So you can buy a better printer for much the same cost as a set of
cartridges now, in 2 years the much better printer will be half the
cost of the old cartridges, and you want to add driver development
costs to this?
This is not just EPSON, all manufacturers will be the same even those
making compatible cartridges, in fact they will probably dip out of
the market first just at the point that the sales volumes take their
first dip. Yet the main manufacturers continue to support their
printers 5 years after they were sold across a number of operating
systems, I know EPSON does.
I do not think that EPSON is being unreasonable, with the pricing
demands from the consumer main manufacturers will be putting their
research and development into new models they will not have the
resources to put the same development into the older models. And the
cut-off point? That will be either an operating system restriction or
the point at which running the printer will become uneconomical to the
customer, (your printer may stop functioning shortly after you change
the cartridges, printers only have a finite life as in the total
volume of pages that they will print).
If you apply the the same ethos to all printer manufacturers you will
be back to the John Bull kit in a couple of years...

 

[Nick]

My Epson Stylus Color 600 printer prints fine in XP (previously
used it on a Windows 98SE machine). Problem is that the Epson's
Status Monitor, which shows you the remaining ink level, does not
come up. Checked Epson's drivers page and found no XP driver for
this model.

Has anyone found another model driver that would work for the
Stylus Color 600 to get it to show at least the ink level if not
the complete Status Monitor?

Thanks for any info.

George

P.S. Pls. reply in ng; e-mail address is invalid.

George:

I have an epson stylus 400 color and I have the same problem after
installed XP Home...I can't get any satisfaction from Epson. I can'
even get the right colors to come up ,most of my prints are blue.

 

[Victor D.]

So what did you do ???
You left us hangin

George:

I have an epson stylus 400 color and I have the same problem after I
installed XP Home...I can't get any satisfaction from Epson. I can't
even get the right colors to come up ,most of my prints are blue..