epson 2200 troubles

Hi all. I've got an epson 2200 that I don't often use so often encounter ink issues. I'm trying to clean it in various ways and am still having some troubles. 1) the printer utility will not provide supply levels. 2) despite replacing empty cartridges, they are not updating...still blinking indicating need to replace. Thoughts or tips for cleaning, getting supply levels and getting machine to recognize new cartridge. Thanks so much