I have an Epson L3210 and I'm now getting the "A printer's ink pad is at the end of its service life" message. I replaced the ink pad with a 3rd party pad about two months ago, but now need to reset the counter. Doing a search I see any number of programs to do that, but they require a fee, plus they look dodgy to me.

Any suggestions on what to use to reset the counter?

Not sure if you seen this.

From Claude:

• Only use wic-reset.com or wic.support — same operator, legitimate long-running service.

• Avoid random resellers, eBay listings, or “free full reset” downloads — several of the pages I found (resetkey.net, wicresetconnect.com, etc.) are clone/affiliate sites bundling the same tool with extra markup or bundled installers. Not necessarily scams, but no reason to use them over the original.

• Never disable your antivirus to “let it work” — that’s a red flag regardless of the source.

Alternative: Epson’s own free tool, “Epson Printer Adjustment Program” (sometimes called SSC Service Utility as an open-source alternative), also resets waste counters on many Epson models including the L-series, and is free — worth checking if L3210 is on its supported list before paying for a WIC key.

Given you’ve already physically replaced the pad, this is purely a counter reset — low risk, no firmware being altered.

2 hours ago, Joeleg said:

Not sure if you seen this.

Thanks, but I don't think I would trust the guy. He does a download and install of the printer driver, but then demonstrates running a reset Epson program with no indication in the video of where he downloaded the file from. His replies in the comments to requests for the source of the file is "Mail me". Good chance if you do that you'll either be hit up for a fee for the file, and/or get a file loaded with viruses.

Edited to add: This is probably the program he's using. Good chance he gets a cut of the fee for the referral.

2 hours ago, Keewe said:

From Claude:

• Only use wic-reset.com or wic.support — same operator, legitimate long-running service.

• Avoid random resellers, eBay listings, or “free full reset” downloads — several of the pages I found (resetkey.net, wicresetconnect.com, etc.) are clone/affiliate sites bundling the same tool with extra markup or bundled installers. Not necessarily scams, but no reason to use them over the original.

• Never disable your antivirus to “let it work” — that’s a red flag regardless of the source.

Alternative: Epson’s own free tool, “Epson Printer Adjustment Program” (sometimes called SSC Service Utility as an open-source alternative), also resets waste counters on many Epson models including the L-series, and is free — worth checking if L3210 is on its supported list before paying for a WIC key.

Given you’ve already physically replaced the pad, this is purely a counter reset — low risk, no firmware being altered.

That's one of the programs I saw when doing a search. Cost is $9.99 to reset to 0%. I was hoping to find a simple, free solution to resetting the counter, but it's looking like one of Epson's dirty tricks to get you to pay to have them do it, or you pay someone else to do it.

I asked AI Bob for a solution and got the response below. Here's a link to the GitHub program mentioned in option 1.

As I'm not comfortable putting my computer system at risk by installing 3rd party programs I'll either buy a new printer or haul my printer to Tukcom and let them use their computer and reset counter program to breathe new life into the old printer.

It's probably time to buy new anyway as the printer is 4 1/2 years old and I've been having problems with clogged print heads with increasing frequency. It just grates on me how Epson pulls this reset counter BS and makes it more difficult to reset the counter than it should be.