Epson error code 031008 generally occurs due to improper insertion of the printhead or ink cartridges. Accumulation of dust on these two printercomponents can cause this error code to appear. It occurs suddenly in between an ongoing printing session without giving any prior intimation.

UPDATE

Contact points

• Make sure the cartridge chip is clean, free of ink smear and debris.
• Make sure the printer's contact pin is clean, free of ink smear and debris
• Verify that the cartridge is seated in the printer securely.  Push it down hard until you hear a click.  Once it is inside, wiggle it with your finger back and forth.  If the cartridge seems to be loose, insert folded paper to the back and thus push the cartridge forward to have good contact with the printer.

Installation

Possible Causes:

• If you installed cartridge with power off, then printer won't know you changed the cartridge.  It will confuse the printer and thus cause cartridge error.
• Sometimes Epson printer won't erase previous error code.  When it has a depleted OEM cartridge error, and a non-OEM cartridge warning come together, it causes the printer to display "cartridge not recognized".

Things to try:

• Install non-OEM cartridge early.  Do not wait till OEM cartridges empty.
• Put the OEM cartridge back and use on-screen prompt to change cartridges.
• Power off the printer and leave it about 1 hour then power it on
• Remove all cartridges.  Let the printer run without any cartridge.  It will create a "no cartridge installed" error and thus erase the "ink cartridge empty" error.  After the printer settles down, use on-screen prompt to change cartridges. A detailed tutorial can be found here:
• https://www.bchtechnologies.com/blog/res...