My c86 printer is asking for a service can i over ride this as the print quality is still ok or can I service it myself. Dont want to buy another printer as i have many ink cartidges left

You can look in thr user guide or printer help for Troubleshooting and Routine Manteinance.Make sure that the Printer Driver or Paper Type setting in the menu matches the
type of paper you are using. (See Printing in the Software User's Guide on the CDROM.Make sure that your ink cartridges are fresh. The following may cause ink to clog The expiration date written on the cartridge package has passed. (Cartridges
stay usable for up to two years if kept in their original packaging.) The ink cartridge was in your machine over six months.The ink cartridge may not have been stored properly before use.
Try using the recommended types of paper.
CLEANING:
Press Ink.
Press a or b to choose Cleaning.
Press OK.
Press a or b to choose Black, Color
or All.
Press OK.
The machine cleans the print head.
When cleaning is finished, the machine
will go back to standby mode
automatically.

Checking the print quality
If faded or streaked colors and text appear on
your output, some of the nozzles may be
clogged. You can check this by printing the
Print Quality Check Sheet and looking at the
nozzle check pattern.
Press Ink.
Press a or b to choose Test Print.
Press OK.
Press a or b to choose
Print Quality.
Press OK.
Press Color Start.
The machine begins printing the Print
Quality Check Sheet.
Check the quality of the four color blocks
on the sheet.
Is Quality OK?
1.Yes 2.No
Do one of the following:
If all lines are clear and visible, press
1 to choose Yes, and go to step j.
If you can see missing short lines as
shown below, press 2 to choose No.
The LCD asks you if the print quality is
OK for black and three colors.
Black OK?
1.Yes 2.No
Press 1 (Yes) or 2 (No).
The LCD asks you if you want to start
cleaning.
Start Cleaning?
1.Yes 2.No
Press 1 (Yes).
The machine starts cleaning the print
head.
After cleaning is finished, press Color
Start.
The machine starts printing the Print
Quality Check Sheet again and then
return to step e.
Press Stop/Exit.
If you repeat this procedure at least five
times and the print quality is still poor,
replace the ink cartridge for the clogged
color.
After replacing the ink cartridge, check
the print quality. If the problem still
exists, repeat the cleaning and test print
procedures at least five times for the
new ink cartridge. If ink is still missing,
call Brother Customer Service

Your having a hardware issue and you need to have it serviced.

We know that having a printer serviced/fixed costs more than buying a new one, check out this link http://www.epson.com/loyalty .

***hi there,il be willing to help you on that. ****
the nozzles of the printer might be clogged by dried inks thats why when your printing, its feeding the paper, as if its printing but no inks on the paper. print a nozzle check to see which part or color have clogs, if there are gaps or breaks, do head cleaning untill no more gaps then try printing.
Running a Printer Check
You can run a printer check to determine whether a problem comes from the printer itself or some other source.
1. Make sure both the printer and computer are turned off. Then disconnect the interface cable from the printer.
2. Make sure letter-size plain paper is loaded in the printer.
3. Hold down the paper button, then press and release the power button. Continue holding down the paper button until the green power light starts to flash, then release it.
If your printouts are unexpectedly light, or dots or lines are missing, you may need to clean the print head. This unclogs the nozzles so they can deliver ink properly. Print head cleaning uses ink, so clean it only if quality declines.
You can also clean the print head by holding down the ink button on the printer for three seconds. (This only works when the red ink light is off.)
Caution: When you don’t turn on your printer for a long time, print quality can decline, so turn it on and print a few pages at least once a month to maintain good print quality.
***if my troubleshooting steps are helpful, pls vote for me, i will appreciate it, so that I can be a part of fixya, thanks, Godbless****

No doubt this is the result of some clogged print nozzles in the print head.

I have a C86 myself, and have ignored it for about 3 years. There were full cartridges in it, and now they are full of sludge instead of inks. The print head itself is probably full of solid ink (dyes, actually) too.

I love this inexpensive, easy-to-use printer. It is quick, quiet and inexpensive to run, and I have no desire to purchase a replacement.

Go to Ebay, look for the Dr.EpSun Majic Inkjet Flush Store (link should work)and locate the flush for this printer - with shipping about $25 US.

They claim a 100% Money-Back Guarantee if it doesn't work. I'm going to buy a kit myself right now, hope it works - I do miss this printer PLUS it works on MS VISTA with no added drivers!

Had this many moons ago and wrote a guide (which I update recently with pictures) on how to resolve it...

http://www.octoink.co.uk/store/pages/Epson-C86.html

The reset utility to fix it is linked to from the bottom of the article but you may need to use this utility instead if that doesn't work (see bottom of article).

It's not the easiest printer in the world to get into but if you can find a deep well of patience and a couple of hours to tackle this you should find it's more than possible and well worth the effort.

Good luck..
:)
Martin

plz clean noggle cheak

You need to change drum.

it is very important to use a good quality ink, you can buy ink and toner for very cheap online and that would cause malfunctions in the printing process. visit sites like www.yahootoners.com to get the best quality ink at the best possible price.. you could also try cleaning your printer with a special type of cloth, here is a link to explain this in more deatails. http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2006/01/sticky_paper_for_printer_cleaning_by_elecom.html Tonerdude

I have this same model printer and had this same problem. I solved it by running the cleaning cycle repeatedly (30 times or more). It nealy drained the black cartridge, but they're cheap compared to a new printer ($100 for the mfc240c that replaced it). Press the ink button to the left of the display. Select "test print" and "print quality from the menus, then hit print. After printing, the display will ask if quality is ok. Press 2 for no. It will ask if the black was ok, press 2 for no, if the color looks ok, then press 1 when it asks if color is ok, then press 1 when it asks to start cleaning. In a minute or so, it will beep and tell you to press start. Once the sheet prints again, repeat the same sequence. I didn't even wait for the display, I would just press 2,2,1,1, each time it printed. At first the black section was blank, the one dash appeared, then two or three. I gradually gained on it until I had most of them working again, then let it set overnight and ran a few more cycles the next day and it finally all started working.

The printer determines the amount of ink left in the cartridge by counting the number of ink "shots" when printing, head cleaning etc. This information is stored in the "chip" on the cartridge. Thus, it is not an actual measurement of the ink left, but an estimate calculated by subtracting the total shots from the original full ink quantity. This estimate can sometimes be grossly in error, usually due to a cartridge replacement not being carried out correctly. However, for all four cartridges to be suddenly out of ink is odd. The cheapest way to check this out is to buy a chip resetter on e-bay (currently one for sale at £3.25). Reset all your cartridges to "full", and see if the printer will now recognise them as full. If so, you can buy a new set OK. If the printer still says the cartridges are empty, post a new comment to this effect and we can provide further help.