Can you keep using it?
Can you keep using it?
Contact customer support if any of these apply
- !The warning is recurring and you need to prevent downtime.
- !You rely heavily on borderless printing and need a clean service plan.
What to check first
Step-by-step checks
- 1
Safe first step
Continue printing only if you understand the warning is still active.
Start with the official recovery step before moving on to parts or deeper servicing.
- 2
Escalate
Plan Epson service before the warning becomes a full stop condition.
- 3
Safe first step
Reduce unnecessary borderless jobs if uptime matters.
Background
What this message usually means
Epson shows this warning on the ET-4950 series when the borderless-printing ink pad is nearing its service limit. Printing can continue for now, but Epson is warning that service will soon be needed.
Before the message
What users usually notice first
Messages like this often appear after the printer fails one of its normal startup, supply, or paper-path checks and cannot return to ready state cleanly.
Diagnosis
Likely causes
The borderless-printing waste-ink area has reached a warning threshold.
Frequent borderless printing shortened the remaining pad life.
The printer is tracking a warning-stage service-life condition.
Service
When service or replacement is more likely
- -This is a service-life warning, not a low-ink alert.
Avoid wrong turns
Common misreads of this message
- -Treating the message like a confirmed failed part instead of a support clue about which system has stopped the printer.
- -Assuming any supply-related wording means the next step is automatically to buy a cartridge, toner, drum, or printhead.
See also
Related codes in this family
Explore more
More Epson printer families
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Helpful guides for this problem
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Before ordering a printer printhead or other expensive part
The checks worth doing before you spend real money on a printhead or another printer part that may not solve the fault.
Guide
When a printer says paper jam but there isn't one
What a false paper-jam warning usually points to, from hidden scraps and tray issues to faults that are no longer simple jams.
Guide
How to tell if a printer fault is a cartridge issue or a service issue
How to separate ordinary cartridge or toner trouble from the kind of printer fault that usually points to real service.
Boundary
When to stop troubleshooting and move to support
Use the message once to classify the problem, then move to support if the printer still cannot return to ready after the first safe checks.
Keep browsing
Where to go next
Source notes
Epson's ET-4950 series guide says the borderless-printing ink pad is nearing the end of its service life and warns that service will soon be required.
Built around the official ET-4950 series user's guide and related Epson support pages for ET-4950, ET-4955, and ET-4958. Message wording can vary slightly by model and firmware, but the status behavior stays close across the family.
Printer error codes can vary a little by firmware, region, and exact model variant. Use this guide as a family-level starting point and stop if the next step would require disassembly or service-mode changes.
Known family variants: ET-4950, ET-4955, ET-4958
Last reviewed: 2026-04-12
Reference: Open reference