It *does* sound like someone updated the firmware, but I read about the dangers of doing this a couple years ago and so purposely avoid it. I don't recall upgrading firmware on *any* Epson I've ever owned, although I think there have been upgrades available for networking.
Because I get stuck at the "REPLACE INK CRTG" message, I can't even check which version of the firmware I have (assuming it is somewhere in the menus).