Unable To Clean – Waste Ink Pad Full

When you have an issue with how your printer is printing, using the printers clean cycle is normally the first thing people try. A clean cycle works by releasing a small amount of ink into the system which should soften any blockages, the ink used is then emptied into a sponge or pad of felt inside the printer.

After X amount of clean cycles your printer assumes the sponge or pad is full and will display a message saying something like “Waste Ink Pad Almost Full”. If you continue to use your printer you will get a message saying “Waste Ink Pad Full”. When this happens you will not be able to print and unfortunately there isn’t much you can do from there.

The cost to take your printer to be repaired would far exceed the price of a cheap new printer. It is possible to change the pad yourself but not recommended (Unless you are some sort of technician)

Don’t give up all hope though, almost every printer has a “Reset Code”. A sequence of buttons to reset either the whole printer or the Waste Ink Pad counter, allowing you to print again. Search the net for “Unable to clean reset code [Your Printer Model]” Beware though, unless you actually remove and clean the waste ink pad it will eventually overflow, potentially ruining your nice wooden desk or favourite table cloth.