Waste ink counter

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A Waste Ink Counter (WIC) is a firmware-based lockout that causes printers to cease to function when a counter has been incremented above a certain value.

How it works

Embedded software inside of a printer tracks how many times the print head has been flushed into an absorbent 'ink pad'. Print operations commonly cause flushing to ensure optimum print quality by preventing the print head from clogging and leaving unprinted (white) streaks on paper.

The explanation for the lockout being given is that an ink pad may get soaked and could possibly overflow. Replacement of the ink pad does not reset the waste ink counter as this is simply a counter in the firmware of the device.

Why it is a problem

WIC counters cannot be easily reset from regular driver software or open source software. Even though ink pads can be replaced, the printer's firmware will still cease to operate the printer as normal unless the WIC counter has been reset or decremented. Proprietary and undocumented commands must be sent to the printer for this to work.

Examples

• Item 1