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 print head 'clogging' that would leave unprinted streaks on paper.

The explanation being given that an ink pad may get soaked and could possibly overflow is one of the explanations given by manufacturers to disable printing all together.

Why it is a problem

WIC counters cannot be easily reset from 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