Printer Status Monitor on print server

tsb

I have an old, but reliable, Epson R265 printer which the laptop and desktop computers connect to through a Netgear WGPS606 print server which connects wireless to the broadband router. Or that's how I think it works! Printing has all worked fine since setting up a few weeks ago but I know that the print server doesn't send the Epson printer status monitor information back to the computers so I have no way of knowing the ink levels or be able to run a nozzle check/clean.

Now after printing a couple of documents fine this morning, the printer won't print and computer says 'printer busy'. I've switched the printer on and off (a few times) to reset and checked the cables are not loose. There is no error lights on the printer - just the green on light.

I'm wondering if one of the ink cartridges is empty (would have expected the red 'ink' warning light to be lit on the printer but it isn't). So I connected the printer direct into the laptop via usb thinking I could make the direct link, as I used to before the print server was installed, but it still thinks it is connected via the print server.

How do I connect to the printer directly and bypass the print server for the purpose of viewing the status monitor?
Reading back it all seems more complicated than I thought, sorry!