Bought this printer in my Year 1. Canon PIXMA iP1000
Had been getting responses from friends around that a lot of their iP1000 are spoilt recently.
After using mine for 3.5 years, recently it had been showing a lot of pop-ups saying the 'waste-ink absorber is almost full'
And today, it finally pop-up one saying:
"The waste ink absorber is full. contact the service center for replacement of the waste ink absorber"
No matter how dry I clean it, it just won't allow me to print.

I prowl the web, and there are many helpful souls out there who faced the same situation before and are willing to share their experience.
Many suggested sending it to the Canon Service Center. (I might as well buy a new one..)
Some say remove the cover, then dismantle and clean the waste-ink absorber (I tried already la...)
Buried under the many suggestions of physical steps to solve the problem,
I finally come across this forum which says 'the problem can be solved just by resetting the counter'

4 step to Reset waste ink tank counter CANON PIXMA iP 1000
STEP 1:- Disconnect printer from AC power
STEP 2:- Press and HOLD the POWER button, and connect printer to AC power
STEP 3:- release the the POWER button
STEP 4:- Press the POWER button again
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/30101
Fixed it for the time being..
Hope this will last me a few more years. =)
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Some software recommended by some other forums that allow one to reset the various counters built into the printer.
http://www.unpackstudio.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's how to really clean the Waste Ink Absorber physically. I consolidated them from a few websites into this word document.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13791877/Blog%20Stuff/How%20to%20Clean%20your%20Canon%20IP1000%20Waste%20Ink%20Absorber.docCredits given to the respective authors.