I had the same problem. I finally got my computer to connect to my printer and the printer utility said that my yellow cartridge had run out. It also said my magenta cartdige was low. the problem you may have is that once the ink light stops blinking youve already run out of one of the colors and the utility will have a tough time connecting to your printer through your computer. i don't understand why this happens. but i reloaded the software several times to get the ink message.
Luckily, I remembered that the magenta was low because I just got the same status 81 error message and the printer utility could not make a connection to the printer. I put a magenta cartridge in the printer and it started right up.
you either have to reinstall your software until your printer utility recognizes that a printer is connected to your computer and tell you which ink cartridges have run out.
Or replace all of your ink cartdiges.
If you like to suck the marrow out of ink cartdiges like i do, it probably makes sense to check you printer with the printer utility when the ink light is flashing and note which inks are low/runout, that way when you get the status 81 message you only have to replace the "dead soldiers." and not all of the cartidges.
Best
R