Epson Printer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

How do I install my new cartridge?
Remove the yellow tape seal or plastic red tab from the ink cartridge you are going to install. Do not remove the tape or plastic caps covering the holes at bottom of cartridge. Do not remove the white label from the top of the ink cartridge. The ink in a cartridge missing the white label will be exposed to air and will thicken such that print head clogging and possible print head failure can occur. If the white label has been removed from the ink cartridge, the cartridge will not function correctly and it will need to be replaced. More importantly, to avoid potential damage to the printer, do not install the cartridge if the white label has been removed. If the black ink out light is flashing or solid, hold the black cleaning button until the print heads move to the left, and then install the black ink cartridge. If the color ink out light is flashing or solid, hold the color cleaning button until the print heads move to the left, and then install the color ink cartridge. After installing the cartridge, press the load/eject button to begin charging the ink delivery system.

The quality of my printed output is unacceptable. What can I do?
Verify that you are using the correct printer driver for your printer model. Make sure that the printer’s paper adjust lever is set to 0 for regular paper and + for envelopes or thicker media. If MicroWeave is off, turn this feature on. If High Speed is on, turn it off. Make sure the Media Type setting matches the paper or media loaded. Also, the Halftoning and Color Adjustment Mode options may be set incorrectly for your document type.

Let the printer driver automatically select the settings for the best quality. The paper you are using may be damaged, old, dirty or loaded incorrectly. Remove the paper and reload a new stack ensuring that the printable side is face up. If your output is faint, check the printer driver to make sure you have selected a print resolution other than Economy.

For vertical banding, rough or grainy images run the Print Head Alignment utility to align the print heads for precise vertical lines. If the image does not contain the colors you expected, the color settings on your application software may need adjustment. Refer to your software documentation for help on adjusting colors.

If the previous steps do not resolve the issue, the print head nozzles may be clogged (this is very common with Epson printers). From the Utility section found in the Epson printer driver, clean the print heads by performing a head cleaning followed by printing a nozzle check pattern. A head cleaning and nozzle check must be performed as a cycle. After printing a nozzle check, examine the printed dot pattern. Each staggered horizontal and straight vertical line should be complete, with no gaps in the dot pattern. If there are gaps in the dot pattern, continue with another cycle. Performing up to four cleaning cycles is not uncommon if the print heads are severly clogged.

Note: Don’t run more than four cleaning cycles. If the problem isn’t solved after four cycles your best bet is to purchase a commercially available Epson printer cleaning cartridge or cleaning kit.

If the nozzle check prints completely, and you’re still experiencing a problem, make sure you are using the most current version of the printer driver. You can obtain the latest printer driver from the Epson web site. The resolution of your image may also be set too low. Increase the image resolution using your image-editing software, or decrease the size of the image.

Another troubleshooting test to try is moving the printer to another computer. This will eliminate the possibility of a defective printer cable, parallel port, or software issue.

My printouts are missing color and/or black print. How can I fix this?
If the printer is printing blank pages, make sure you are using the correct printer driver and make sure the paper size is correctly selected in the driver. If the printer is printing black only, the Ink option in the printer driver may be set to Black instead of Color or a setting in the software may be set to print black only.