Epson 10000 User Manual
®
COLOR
TM
COLOR INK JET PRINTER
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Seiko Epson Corporation.
No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein.
Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information
contained herein.
Neither Seiko Epson Corporation nor its affiliates shall be liable to the purchaser of this
product or third parties for damages, losses, costs, or expenses incurred by purchaser or
third parties as a result of: accident, misuse, or abuse of this product or unauthorized
modifications, repairs, or alterations to this product, or (excluding the U.S.) failure to
strictly comply with Seiko Epson Corporation’s operating and maintenance instructions.
Seiko Epson Corporation shall not be liable against any damages or problems arising from
the use of any options or any consumable products other than those designated as
Original Epson Products or Epson Approved Products by Seiko Epson Corporation.
EPSON and EPSON ESC/P are registered trademarks and EPSON ESC/P 2 and EPSON
Stylus are trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation.
Helvetica and Times are trademarks of Linotype AG and/or its subsidiaries.
General Notice: Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be
trademarks of their respective owners. EPSON disclaims any and all rights in those marks.
Copyright © 1994 by Epson America, Inc.
Printed on recycled paper
User’s Guide
FCC Compliance Statement
For United States Users
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital
device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This
equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed
and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a
particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio and television
reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is
encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures.
❑ Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
❑ Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
❑ Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the
receiver is connected.
❑ Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
WARNING
The connection of a non-shielded equipment interface cable to this equipment will
invalidate the FCC Certification of this device and may cause interference levels which
exceed the limits established by the FCC for this equipment. It is the responsibility of the
user to obtain and use a shielded equipment interface cable with this device. If this
equipment has more than one interface connector, do not leave cables connected to unused
interfaces. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the manufacturer could
void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.
For Canadian Users
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions from
digital apparatus as set out in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian
Department of Communications.
Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites
applicables aux appareils numériques de Classe B prescrites dans le règlement sur le
brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le Ministère des Communications du Canada.
ii
Contents
Getting Started
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-2
Energy Star Compliant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-2
Energy-saving tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-3
Where to Get Help for U.S. and Canadian Users . . . . . . . . 0-3
CompuServe on-line support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-4
Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-5
Chapter 1
Using Your Ink Jet Printer Safely and Efficiently . . . . . . . . 1-2
Unpacking the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Attaching the paper support and the paper separators . . 1-4
Your Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Plugging in and Turning on the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6
Installing the Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
More about ink cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
Loading Plain Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Testing the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14
Connecting the Printer to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15
Calibrating the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Recalibrating the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Installing the EPSON Windows Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . 1-17
Setting Up
iii
Chapter 2
Choosing Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Special papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Thick paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Loading Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Loading plain paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Loading special coated and glossy paper . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4
Loading transparencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5
Loading envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6
Choosing and Loading Paper
Chapter 3
About the Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Using the Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3
Displaying the dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Choosing settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6
Using the command buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7
Saving settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Restoring prior settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Getting help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Exiting the driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Before Printing for the First Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9
About printing with color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9
Choosing required settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9
Driver Settings and Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-12
Choosing the Best Settings for your Document . . . . . . . . . . 3-25
Printing black text quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-25
Printing with Windows
Printing Color with Selected Windows Software . . . . . . . . . 3-27
Making color selections in your software . . . . . . . . . . . 3-27
Printing your color Windows documents . . . . . . . . . . . 3-29
Printing Color with Selected DOS Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-29
Making color selection in your software . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-29
The EPSON Spool Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-32
The EPSON Despooler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-33
iv
Chapter 4
Using the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4
Using Special Power-On Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6
Selecting Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7
Scalable fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
Selecting Condensed Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9
Using the Default-Setting Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10
About the default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11
Changing the default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-13
The Control Panel
Chapter 5
Replacing an Ink Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Cleaning the Print Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7
Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8
Chapter 6
Problems With Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Print Quality Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Problems with Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Paper Handling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8
Clearing and preventing paper jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8
Paper feeding problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9
Maintenance
Troubleshooting
Chapter 7
Optional Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Installing optional interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Using Optional Interfaces
v
Appendix A
General Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2
Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4
Ink cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7
Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8
Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8
Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9
Safety approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9
Interface Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9
Parallel interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9
Serial interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-12
Optional interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13
Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13
Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-14
Specifications
Appendix B
Command List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2
Character Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
International character sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-7
Characters available with ESC (^ command: . . . . . . . . . B-8
Commands and Character Tables
Glossary
Index
vi
Printer Parts
sheet
feeder
cover
separators
rear edge
paper
guide
paper
support
printer
cover
knob
control
panel
interface
card
cover
parallel
interface
ink
cartridge
clamps
(AC inlet)
Control Panel
Operate button
paper
thickness
lever
Getting Started
The EPSON® Stylus COLOR printer gives you presentationquality color and monochrome printing with quiet operation.
To get started with your EPSON Stylus COLOR printer, please:
❑ Make sure you have the equipment you need to use this
printer as described below in “System Requirements.”
❑ Read about using energy wisely and the important safety
instructions in this introduction.
❑ Read Chapter 1, “Setting Up,” to test and install the
Windows
❑ Refer to the rest of this User’s Guide for help with selecting
printer driver software.
paper, choosing printer driver settings, maintenance,
troubleshooting, optional interfaces, and printer
specifications.
❑ See the Color Printing Tips booklet to learn to produce
high-quality color documents.
If you need additional assistance, see “Where to Get Help for
U.S. and Canadian Users” on page 3.
Getting Started
1
System Requirements
To use your EPSON Stylus COLOR printer, you need
Microsoft
3.1 or higher, a shielded, twisted-pair parallel cable, and:
Minimum system Recommended system
80386/16 MHz processor 80386/25 MHz or faster processor
4MB RAM 8MB RAM
10MB More than 10MB free hard disk space
VGA monitor VGA or better monitor
Your computer dealer can help you update your system if it
does not meet these requirements.
®
Windows 3.1 or higher or Windows for Workgroups
Energy Star Compliant
Your EPSON Stylus COLOR printer complies with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program,
which promotes the manufacture of energy-efficient printers,
computers, and monitors.
The EPA estimates that if all desktop computers, printers, and
other peripheral devices met Energy Star standards, energy
cost savings would exceed $1 billion annually and carbon
dioxide emissions would be reduced by 20 million tons.
All of EPSON’s ink jet printers conform to Energy Star
standards.
The Energy Star emblem does not represent EPA endorsement of any
2
product or service.
Getting Started
Energy-saving tips
Here are a few additional tips you can use to be even more
energy-wise:
❑ If your monitor isn’t Energy Star compliant, turn it off
when you’re not using it.
❑ Use the print preview option on your software before you
print something. You’ll be able to catch formatting errors
before you commit them to paper.
❑ If you have an electronic mail system available to you, send
E-mail rather than memos. Not only is this faster, but you’ll
save paper and storage space too.
Where to Get Help for U.S. and Canadian Users
Epson America provides local customer support and service
through a nationwide network of authorized EPSON dealers
and Service Centers.
EPSON also provides the support services listed below through
EPSON Connection.
Canadian users can call (800) GO-EPSON.
❑ Assistance in locating your nearest Authorized EPSON
Reseller or Service Center
❑ Technical assistance with the installation, configuration,
and operation of EPSON products
❑ EPSON technical information library fax service
SM
U.S. users can call (800) 922-8911;
❑ Product literature with technical specifications on EPSON’s
current and new products
❑ Customer Relations
Getting Started
3
You can purchase supplies, parts, documentation, and
accessories by calling EPSON Accessories at (800) 873-7766
(U.S. sales only). In Canada, call (800) GO-EPSON for sales
locations.
When you call for technical assistance, be ready to identify
your system and its configuration, and provide any error
messages to the support staff.
If you need help with any software application program you
are using, see the documentation that came with that program
for technical support information.
CompuServe ® on-line support
The fastest way to access helpful tips, specifications, drivers,
application notes, and bulletins is through the Epson America
Forum on CompuServe.
If you are not currently a member of CompuServe, you are
eligible for a free introductory membership as an owner of an
EPSON product. This membership entitles you to:
❑ An introductory $15 credit on CompuServe
❑ Your own user ID and password
❑ A complimentary subscription to CompuServe Magazine,
CompuServe’s monthly publication.
To take advantage of this offer, call 1-800-848-8199 in the
United States and Canada and ask for representative #529. In
other countries, call (614) 529-1611 or your local CompuServe
4
access number.
If you are already a CompuServe member, simply type
GO EPSON at the menu prompt to reach the Epson America
Forum.
Getting Started
Important Safety Instructions
Read all of these instructions and save them for later reference.
Follow all warnings and instructions marked on the printer.
❑ Unplug the printer before cleaning. Clean with a damp
cloth only. Do not spill liquid on the printer.
❑ Do not place the printer on an unstable surface or near a
radiator or heat register.
❑ Do not block or cover the openings in the printer’s cabinet.
Do not insert objects through the slots.
❑ Use only the type of power source indicated on the
printer’s label.
❑ Connect all equipment to properly grounded power
outlets. Avoid using outlets on the same circuit as
photocopiers or air control systems that regularly switch on
and off.
❑ Do not let the power cord become damaged or frayed.
❑ If you use an extension cord with the printer, make sure the
total ampere rating of the devices plugged into the
extension cord does not exceed the cord’s ampere rating.
Also, make sure the total of all devices plugged into the
wall outlet does not exceed 15 amperes.
❑ Except as specifically explained in this User’s Guide, do not
attempt to service the printer yourself.
❑ Unplug the printer and refer servicing to qualified service
personnel under the following conditions:
If the power cord or plug is damaged; if liquid has entered
the printer, if the printer has been dropped or the cabinet
damaged; if the printer does not operate normally or
exhibits a distinct change in performance. Adjust only those
controls that are covered by the operating instructions.
Getting Started
5
Chapter 1
Setting Up
Using Your Ink Jet Printer Safely and Efficiently . . . . . . . . 1-2
Unpacking the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Attaching the paper support and the paper separators . . 1-4
Your Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Plugging in and Turning on the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6
Installing the Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
More about ink cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
Loading Plain Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
1
Testing the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14
Connecting the Printer to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15
Calibrating the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Recalibrating the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Installing the EPSON Windows Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . 1-17
Setting Up
1-1
Using Your Ink Jet Printer Safely and Efficiently
The EPSON Stylus COLOR uses two ink cartridges, one black
and one color. Inside the print head, tiny spray units shoot ink
from the cartridges onto the page to form characters or graphics.
The printer will be damaged if you use ink or cartridges
not manufactured by EPSON or which do not meet EPSON’s
specifications. Do not attempt to refill ink cartridges manually.
If you use substandard products with your EPSON printer,
you will damage the print heads and void your warranty.
❑
Under normal circumstances, ink will not come out of the
cartridge. If it does get on your skin, wash it off with soap
and water. If it gets in your eyes, flush them immediately
with water.
❑
Keep ink cartridges out of the reach of children.
❑
Once you install an ink cartridge, do not open the clamp or
remove the cartridge except to replace it with a new one.
The cartridge may become unusable otherwise.
❑
Install an ink cartridge immediately after you remove it
from its package. Leaving a cartridge unpacked for a long
time before use may result in poor print quality.
❑
Do not use an ink cartridge beyond the date printed on the
cartridge carton. Use up the ink cartridges within six
months of installing them.
❑
Do not shake an ink cartridge; this can cause leakage.
❑
Do not put your hand inside the printer or touch the
❑
1-2
cartridge during printing.
Before you turn off the printer, make sure that the print
head is capped (in the far right position). The print head is
capped when no data is received for several seconds; you
can also cap the print head by pressing the
Setting Up
Pause
button.
❑
Before you unplug the printer, be sure to turn it off by
pressing the
Operate
light stops flashing before unplugging the power cord or
turning off the power to the electrical outlet.
❑
Do not remove the ink cartridges before transporting the
printer.
Unpacking the Printer
Your printer box should include an EPSON printer driver disk
and these items:
button. Then wait until the
Operate
paper
separators
printer
black ink
cartridge
paper
support
color ink
cartridge
Remove all protective materials packed with your printer
before you set it up and turn on the power. Follow the
directions on the Notice Sheet (inserted with the printer) to
remove these materials. Save all of the packaging and the
protective materials in case you need to transport the printer
in the future.
Setting Up
1-3
Attaching the paper support and the paper separators
1. Place the paper support’s right side hole over the mounting
post as shown in bubble 1 below. Then push the support’s
left side notch onto the mounting post until it snaps in
place as shown in bubble 2.
2. Hold the wire paper separator, marked with an R near its
shortest tip, and insert the longer tip into the third notch
from the left, as shown by arrow 1 below. Next, twist the
other tip and fit it in the fourth printer notch as shown by
arrow 2 below. Repeat this procedure for the paper
separator marked with an L.
1-4
Setting Up
Your Work Area
When choosing a location for your printer, follow these
guidelines:
❑
Place the printer on a flat, horizontal, stable surface. If the
printer is tilted, it cannot operate properly.
❑
Always leave approximately 2 inches of clear area next to
the knob on the printer’s right side. The printer will not
print if anything is pressing against the knob.
❑
Avoid places subject to rapid changes in temperature and
humidity. Also keep the printer away from direct sunlight,
strong light, or heat sources.
❑
Place the printer near a wall outlet where the plug can be
easily unplugged.
Note for French-speaking users:
Placez l’imprimante près d’une prise de contacte où la fiche
peut être débranchée facilement.
❑
Use a grounded power outlet; do not use an adapter plug.
If you plan to use a printer stand, follow these guidelines:
❑
Use a stand that supports at least 32 lb (14.8 kg).
❑
Never use a stand that tilts the printer. It should always be
kept level.
Setting Up
1-5
Plugging in and Turning on the Printer
1. Make sure you have removed all protective packing
materials as described in the Notice Sheet.
2. Make sure that the
Operate
button is turned off. It is off
when its surface is even with the button protectors on the
left and right.
button
protectors
3. Plug the power cord into a properly grounded electrical outlet.
4. Turn on the printer by pressing the
shown below.
Operate
button as
1-6
Setting Up
Installing the Ink Cartridges
Caution:
c
Note:
❑
❑
1. Make sure the printer is turned on, and then open the
The ink cartridges are self-contained units. Under ordinary
use, ink will not leak from a cartridge. If ink does get on your
hands, wash them thoroughly with soap and water. If ink gets
into your eyes, flush them immediately with water.
Do not open an ink cartridge package until just before you install
the cartridge or the ink may become unusable.
Install both ink cartridges. If either of the cartridges is not
installed, the printer will not work.
printer cover. Press the
Pause
button.
Setting Up
1-7
2. Hold down the
Alt
button for about 5 seconds until the print
head moves very slightly to the left, which is the ink
cartridge install position.
3. Pull each of the ink cartridge clamps toward you to open
them.
1-8
Setting Up
4. Open the foil ink cartridge packages and remove the
cartridges from their protective cardboard. Remove the
tape seal from each ink cartridge. (Your packaging may
differ slightly from that shown below.)
Caution:
c
5. Lower the cartridges into their holders with the labels face
up and the arrow on the top of the cartridge pointing
toward the rear of the printer. The color cartridge, which is
larger, goes on the left, the black ink cartridge on the right.
You must remove the tape seal from the cartridges.
Leaving the tape on will permanently damage them.
Setting Up
1-9
6. Push the ink cartridge clamps toward the back of the printer
until they lock in place.
Caution:
c
7. Press the
home position. (Even if you do not press
moves the print head back to its home position about
60 seconds after you install the cartridges.)
Once you install the ink cartridges, do not open the clamps
or remove them except to replace them with new ones.
Otherwise, cartridges may become unusable.
Alt
button again to return the print head to its
Alt
, the printer
1-10
Setting Up
8. Close the printer cover.
The first time you install ink cartridges, the printer
automatically charges the ink delivery system. This takes
about one minute. The printer mechanism moves while the
system is charging.
Caution:
c
9. Press the
10. While holding down the
The carriage moves to the left.
11. Look at the small blue lever in front of the ink cartridges.
Make sure that the left side of this lever is pressed down.
12. Press the
13. Press the
During the ink charging process, the
Never turn off the printer while the
flashing.
Pause
Alt
Pause
button.
button.
button.
Alt
button, press the
Pause
Pause
light flashes.
light is
Font
button.
More about ink cartridges
In order to maintain optimum print quality, the printer
periodically performs a cleaning operation. You might notice
the cleaning cycle being performed when the printer has been
on for a while without being used or when you turn the printer
on after it has been off for a while.
The number of pages a black ink cartridge can print
depends on the amount of text and graphics you use. The
number of pages a color cartridge can print depends on the
amount of color you print. You can replace black and color ink
cartridges independently. See Appendix A for ink cartridge
capacities.
Setting Up
1-11
Loading Plain Paper
The following procedure describes how to load plain paper
(copier-quality or paper specifically designed for ink jet
printers), which works well for most color printing. To load
coated papers for higher-quality output or to load
transparencies and other special papers, see Chapter 2.
1. Open the sheet feeder cover by lifting the lever on the left
until it clicks into place. Then slide the left edge guide as far
to the left as it will go.
2. Fan a stack of paper; then tap it on a flat surface to even the
1-12
edges.
Note:
The sheet feeder holds up to 100 sheets of 17-lb or 64-gm
Do not load paper above the mark on the edge guide.
Setting Up
2
paper.
3. While aligning the paper’s edge with the right edge guide,
insert it with the printable surface (the printable surface is
marked with an arrow on most plain paper packaging) face
down into the sheet feeder until it meets resistance. Then
adjust the left edge guide as shown.
4. Adjust the rear edge guide to match the length of your
paper as shown below. Then close the sheet feeder cover.
Setting Up
1-13
Testing the Printer
Use paper at least 8.27 inches (210 mm) wide; otherwise the
print head sprays ink directly on the platen, which could
smudge your next document.
1. Make sure the printer is turned off.
2. While holding down the
Operate
The self test begins by printing on the first and last lines of
the first sheet of paper to measure the page length. Then the
printer prints character samples on the next sheet of paper in
the available fonts and colors.
3. To pause the test, press the
continue to print for a few seconds.) Otherwise, the test
continues until the paper in the sheet feeder runs out. To
resume the test, press the
4. To end the self test, press the
printer by pressing the
Note:
( ) button.
Load/Eject
Pause
Pause
Operate
button again.
Pause
button, press the
button. (The test may
button and turn off the
button.
Do not turn off the printer before pressing the
Otherwise, a cleaning cycle occurs when you turn it on again and ink
is wasted.
If the quality of the test output is not good, clean the print
heads as described in Chapter 5. Note that it might take as
many as three cleaning cycles to solve the problem. If cleaning
the print heads does not improve the print quality, see
Chapter 6, “Troubleshooting.”
1-14
Setting Up
Pause
button.
Connecting the Printer to Your Computer
You need a shielded, twisted-pair parallel cable to connect your
computer to the printer’s built-in parallel interface.
Note:
The printer also has an RS-422 serial port, which is standard for the
Apple
1. Make sure both the printer and computer are turned off.
2. Plug the cable connector securely into the printer’s interface
®
Macintosh® but is not often used for PCs.
connector. Then squeeze the wire clips together until they
lock in place on both sides.
3. Plug the other end of the cable into the computer’s parallel
interface.
Setting Up
1-15
Calibrating the Printer
Before calibrating the printer, make a backup copy of the
EPSON printer driver disk. Then put away the original and use
the backup for calibration and printer driver installation.
Use the print calibration utility to adjust your printer so that
the vertical lines in text and graphics are correctly aligned. This
ensures the highest possible quality printing.
You can calibrate your printer in either DOS or Windows. Just
follow the appropriate steps below:
DOS
1. Insert the EPSON printer driver disk into drive A (or B).
2. At the DOS prompt, type A:CALIBRAT (or B:CALIBRAT).
3. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Windows
1. Open Program Manager in Windows.
2. Insert the EPSON printer driver disk into drive A (or B).
3. Pull down the File menu and choose
4. When the Run dialog box appears, type A:CALIBRAT (or
B:CALIBRAT) and press Enter.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Recalibrating the printer
In most cases, you will only need to calibrate your printer once.
Run
.
If, however, your text or graphics print quality declines, repeat
the calibration procedure.
1-16
Setting Up
Installing the EPSON Windows Printer Driver
Now that you have calibrated your printer, you can install the
EPSON Windows printer driver. It allows your computer to
communicate with the printer.
Always use this printer driver when you print from Windows;
it is specifically designed to provide fast, sharp printing while
optimizing all of the printer’s features.
Note:
If you are not using Windows, choose the LQ-2550 printer driver in
your software. This lets you print in color but does not give you some
EPSON Stylus COLOR features, such as 720-dpi printing and
MicroWeave.
1. Make sure Windows is running and that the Main window
is open.
2. In the Main window, double-click the
3. Double-click the
appears.
4. Click the
of the box. Click
to highlight it and then click Install. The Install Driver box
appears.
5. Insert the EPSON printer driver disk into your computer.
Make sure the correct drive letter (A or B) is displayed in
the Install Driver box and then choose
6. The
Add Unlisted or Updated Printer
Add
Printers
button. A list of printers appears at the bottom
Install Unlisted
icon. The Printers dialog box
or
Control Panel
Updated Printer
OK
.
box appears. Select
icon.
once
EPSON Stylus COLOR
.
Setting Up
1-17
7. Click
driver to your hard disk and adds it to the list of installed
printers.
OK
. Windows automatically copies the new printer
8. Choose the
printer is selected whenever you begin using your
Windows software. Click
If you want to use the driver’s original factory settings, simply
choose
To customize the printer settings and learn more about printing
in color with your Windows software, see Chapter 3, “Printing
with Windows.”
c
Print
Caution:
Color printing of large photographs may require a large
amount of free hard disk space.
To let you get back to work more quickly, the Stylus COLOR
sends print data to your hard disk for temporary storage before
Set As Default Printer
Close
in your Windows software and then choose
button so that your
.
OK
.
it is printed. The amount of hard disk space required depends
on the size and complexity of the image and on the application
you are using. Ordinary text and graphics use very little hard
disk space, but photographic images in color can use more.
Although your Windows driver compresses data, a full-page
color photographic image at 360 dpi may require 10MB to
20MB of hard disk space (or in some cases as much as 30MB).
A full-page color photographic image at 720 dpi may require
40MB to 60MB, or in some cases up to 125MB.
If you plan to print large photographic images, be sure to have
enough hard disk space available or do one of the following:
Reduce the size of your image.
Reduce the resolution of your image.
1-18
Setting Up
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