Nivona CR 680 frequently "Empty bowl"

Hello, hello,
I've had the above-mentioned Nivona machine for a good year now. Basically, it does what it's supposed to, good coffee and a usable latte macchiato. The espresso is also good for me.
What has annoyed me since the beginning:
1. My espresso beans, ground on a medium setting, mean that it takes ages for a cup of coffee to drip out of the spout. In my opinion, the coffee, especially espresso, should actually be ground finer.
2. The machine constantly screams "empty the bowl", sometimes after just 3 brews, one of which was a latte with rinsing of the milk system... In my opinion, there is a lot of water in the bowl for such a small number of uses.
I had it back to Nivona at the end of the warranty. They replaced the drainage valve, but nothing has changed.

Is it normal for the machine to process so much water and brew the coffee so slowly?

I used to have a simple De Longhi, where the coffee was ground much finer and the brewing process was much faster.

Hi,

you can remove the drip tray cover, then you can see if there is a leak somewhere during the dispensing process.
It is possible that the cover activates the drip tray detection switch. You then have to operate it manually with an object.