Epson 740i User Manual

Printer Basics

Printed on recycled paper with at least 10% post-consumer content. Printer Basics

EPSON Ink Jet Papers

Use EPSON’s paper and inks to get the same photo quality results that have earned your printer all of its awards! EPSON’s papers are specially coated to work with EPSON’s quick drying inks. You’ll notice that when prints come out of your printer, you can immediately handle them. There is no drying time, no smearing or smudging, and your image is clean and smooth. Here are just a few of EPSON’s papers:

360 dpi Ink Jet Paper

Bright white coated paper for quick printing at lower resolutions with brilliant results. Perfect for letters, charts, clip art, and color drafts.

Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

Acid-free, bright white, with a smooth matte finish to create your best impression. Perfect for presentations, newsletters, color reproductions, and all your photo and craft projects.

Photo Paper and Panoramic Photo Paper

Photo lab quality, heavier weight glossy paper available in a variety of sizes. Perfect for color photo keepsakes of snapshots, framed art, banners, and panoramics.

Photo Quality Glossy Film

Durable, bright white film sheets with the highest-gloss finish. Perfect for printing professional quality, high-resolution photographs of all your digital images.

Iron-On Cool Peel Transfer Paper

Transfer your designs and photographs onto T-shirts or other cloth items. Perfect for ironing onto team T-shirts, canvas bags, crafts, and gifts.

See the inside back cover for a list of EPSON papers and ordering information.

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. The information contained herein is designed only for use with this EPSON printer. EPSON is not responsible for any use of this information as applied to other printers.

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 for 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.

Trademarks

EPSON and EPSON Stylus are registered trademarks of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION.

SoundAdvice is a service mark and EPSON FaxAdvice is a trademark of Epson America, Inc.

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.

The E

NERGY STAR

emblem does not represent EPA endorsement of any product or service.

CPD-8359

WELCOME! 1

About Your Software 1 About Your Documentation 2

Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips 2 System Requirements 3 ENERGY STAR Compliance 4 Year 2000 Ready 4 Important Safety Instructions 4

Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions 5

VIEWING YOUR ELECTRONIC PRINTER MANUAL 7

Opening Your Electronic Manual 7

Navigating an Electronic Manual 8

PRINTING FROM START TO FINISH 9

Printing with a Macintosh 9 Using EPSON Special Papers 11

EPSON Photo Paper 12

EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper 13

Envelopes 13

Choosing the Right Settings for EPSON Papers 14 Printing with Custom Settings 15

Using Custom Project Types 15

Customizing Print Settings 16 Preserving Photos on EPSON Photo Paper 18

iii

MAINTAINING YOUR PRINTER 19

Cleaning the Print Head 19

Using the Head Cleaning Utility 20

Using the Control Panel 21

Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern 22 Replacing an Ink Cartridge 22

Removing and Installing Ink Cartridges 23

Replacing an Outdated Ink Cartridge 26 Aligning the Print Head 28 Cleaning the Printer 29 Transporting the Printer 30

PROBLEM SOLVING 31

Diagnosing Printer Problems 31

Checking the Control Panel Lights 31

Running a Printer Operation Check 33 Problems and Solutions 34

Problems Setting Up the Printer or Installing Its Software 34

Problems Getting Good Print Quality 36 Where To Get Help 39

EPSON Technical Support 39

Creative Software Technical Support 40

USING YOUR PRINTER WITH WINDOWS 41

Windows System Requirements 41 Connecting the Printer 42

USB Connection 42

Parallel Connection 43

Installing the Printer Software 44

Windows 98 with USB Connection 44

Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0 with Parallel Connection 47

Windows 3.1 48 Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual 49

Opening Your Electronic Manual 49

Navigating an Electronic Manual 50 Printing with Windows 51 Troubleshooting 55 Uninstalling Printer Software 56

Uninstalling Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0 Software 56

Uninstalling Windows 3.1 Software 57

INDEX 59

Welcome!

Your EPSON Stylus® COLOR 740i printer is the ideal output device for business graphics, digital photographs, newsletters, and more. You can print anything from reports and résumés to photos and greeting cards with fabulous results. The printer gives you optimum photo quality using these features:

■ EPSON’s unique variable micro droplet technology for superior image quality

■ Four-color printing for photo-quality color and laser-sharp black text on plain

paper or a variety of special media

■ Resolutions up to 1440 × 720 dpi, even on plain paper

■ Creative software

■ Fast drying times for all your photos, courtesy of EPSON’s quick-drying inks

About Your Software

The printer software CD-ROM includes all the software you need for great printing:

■ Your printer driver runs your printer and lets you control how your documents

look. You can’t use your printer without it.

■ Your creative software includes:

■ Polaroid

■ ArcSoft

■ ArcSoft PhotoBase,

■ Your electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual gives you complete online

PhotoMAX™ Pro, a full-featured image editing program

™

PhotoPrinter,™ a multimedia file management program

™

a photo layout program

information about your printer, anytime you need it.

If you haven’t yet installed your printer software from your CD-ROM, see the Start Here card for instructions. If you ever need to rerun the installation program, insert the CD-ROM and double-click the EPSON icon.

About Your Documentation

To set up your printer and install its software, see the Start Here card. This book contains instructions on:

■ Viewing your electronic manual

■ Printing basic documents and selecting advanced printer settings

■ Maintaining the printer

■ Solving basic problems

■ Using your printer with Windows

get started)

For more details about your printer, see the electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual. For instructions on viewing it, see page 7.

Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips

You’ll find this information throughout your manual:

(if you’re using Windows, go to page 41 to

Warnings

Cautions

Notes

Tips

must be followed carefully to avoid bodily injury.

must be observed to avoid damage to your equipment.

contain important information about your printer.

contain additional hints for great printing.

System Requirements

To use your printer and its software, your system should have:

■ For USB connections:

■ iMac

■ System 8.1 or later (iMac), System 8.5.1 or later(Power Macintosh G3)

■ Shielded USB “AB” interface cable, from Series A (computer) to Series B

™

or Power Macintosh® G3 with built-in USB port

Note:

If your system is running OS 8.1, you must download and install the

iMac Update 1.0 from Apple

at http://swupdates.info.apple.com before you install the EPSON USB software. Contact Apple Computer if you have problems installing this update. If your system is running OS 8.5, you do not need to download and install the update. Your operating system already includes full support for the EPSON USB software.

(printer), up to 6.5 feet (2 m) long.

Caution:

Using an improperly shielded USB cable—especially a cable more than 6.5 feet (2 m) long—may cause the printer to malfunction.

■ For serial connections:

■ One of the following Macintosh models:

LC475, LC575, LC630; Quadra series; Centris series; PowerBook® series (190, 520, 540, 550, or later); PowerBook Duo 280, 2300c/100; Performa® 475, 575, 588, 630, 5210 or later; Power Macintosh series

■ System 7.5.1 or later (7.6 or later recommended)

■ ImageWriter

II serial cable or equivalent (8-pin mini DIN male/male, Belkin

brand recommended; EPSON part number: F2V024)

■ For all Macintosh computers:

■ At least 16MB of available RAM

■ At least 50MB of free hard disk space (100MB recommended)

■ 13-inch RGB display or better

■ Double-speed CD-ROM drive (quad-speed or faster recommended)

NERGY STAR

Compliance

As an E this product meets the E efficiency. The EPA E program is a voluntary partnership with the computer and office equipment industry to promote the introduction of energy-efficient personal computers, monitors, printers, fax machines, and copiers in an effort to reduce air pollution caused by power generation.

NERGY STAR

Partner, EPSON has determined that

NERGY STAR

guidelines for energy

Office Equipment

Year 2000 Ready

Your EPSON printer is Year 2000 Ready. However, be sure the other parts of your computer system are also ready for the year 2000.

Important Safety Instructions

Before using your printer, read the following safety instructions to make sure you use the printer safely and effectively:

■ Turn off and unplug the printer before cleaning. Clean with a damp cloth only.

Do not spill liquid on the printer.

Caution:

Always turn the printer off using the the printer until the

■ Do not place the printer on an unstable surface or near a radiator or heating vent.

Ppower light is off.

Ppower button. Don’t unplug

■ Do not block or cover the openings in the printer’s case or 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.

■ Place the printer near a wall outlet where the plug can be easily unplugged.

Placez l’imprimante près d’une prise de contacte où la fiche peut être débranchée facilement.

■ 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 ampere rating of all devices plugged into the wall outlet does not exceed the wall outlet’s ampere rating.

■ Except as specifically explained in this manual, 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 case 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.

Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions

■ Do not put your hand inside the printer or touch the cartridge during printing.

■ 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.

■ Do not dismantle the ink cartridges or try to refill them. This could result in

damage to the print head.

■ 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 the ink cartridge immediately after you remove it from its foil package.

Leaving the cartridge unpacked for a long time before use may result in reduced print quality.

■ Do not use an ink cartridge beyond the date printed on the cartridge package. For

best results, use up the ink cartridges within six months of installing them.

■ Do not shake an ink cartridge; this can cause leakage.

■ Always turn the printer off using the

button, the

Ppower light flashes briefly then goes out. Do not unplug the printer

or turn off the power to the printer until the

■ Before transporting the printer, make sure the print head is positioned all the way

Ppower button. When you press this

Ppower light is off.

to the right (capped) and the ink cartridges are in place.

Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual

Here are some quick guidelines for viewing your electronic printer manual using Adobe Acrobat® Reader. Your creative software may also include electronic manuals; check their program folders or Help menu options to locate these manuals.

Note:

The electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual contains information on using the EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i printer with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

Opening Your Electronic Manual

How you open your electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual depends on your operating system and whether the manual is on your hard disk or CD-ROM drive.

If you already copied the EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual to your hard disk and installed Acrobat Reader when you installed your printer software, locate the 740iDOC.PDF icon in the EPManual folder on your hard drive and double-click it to view the manual. The manual opens in Acrobat Reader automatically.

If you haven’t copied the manual to your hard disk, insert the printer software CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive. To copy the electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual from your CD-ROM to your hard disk, use the Copy Manual to Hard

option in the Installer or simply drag-and-drop the 740iDOC.PDF icon from

Drive

the Manual folder on the CD-ROM to the location of your choice.

If you don’t have Acrobat Reader, you must install it from the CD-ROM to view your electronic printer manual. Double-click the Acrobat Reader 3.01 Installer icon to install Acrobat Reader.

Navigating an Electronic Manual

When you open an electronic manual, you’ll see this toolbar at the top:

show bookmarks first page

last page

There are several ways to navigate through electronic manuals:

■ Click on hot topics, which are usually underlined or displayed in a different color.

To find out if a topic is hot, move your cursor over it. If the cursor turns into a pointing hand, the topic is hot—you can jump to it by clicking once.

■ If the manual has bookmarks, use the bookmark section on the left side of the

screen to move quickly to the topic of your choice. Click the show bookmarks icon on the toolbar to see the bookmark section. (Some manuals may only have a table of contents that you can use to navigate the manual, if the topics are hot.)

■ Use the arrow buttons in the toolbar or the vertical scroll bar on the right side of

the document to move through a manual. (The box to the left of the scroll bar displays the current page number.)

If you need more information, open Acrobat Reader’s Help menu and select the online guide.

Printing from Start to Finish

Here are the steps for printing a basic document on plain, letter-size paper, such as a memo, newsletter, or photograph—from loading the paper to selecting print settings to controlling print jobs. Follow the step-by-step instructions in this section.

For guidelines on loading special papers and envelopes, and for selecting the correct Media Type setting for them, see page 11.

For instructions on customizing your settings to fine-tune your printouts, see page 15.

For guidelines on preserving photos, see page 18.

Printing with a Macintosh

1. Make sure your printer and Macintosh are turned on.

2. Load a stack of plain paper and place it against the right edge guide. Then slide the left edge guide against the paper’s left edge, making sure the stack is lower than the arrow on the guide. If you are using letterhead or preprinted paper, be sure the top of the paper feeds into the printer first.

load paper only up to this arrow

3. Open an application program and select a document to print.

slide paper against the right edge guide

4. Open the File menu and choose Page Setup (Document Setup in some applications). You see a Page Setup dialog box like this:

Paper Size setting

5. Choose your paper size, page orientation, and printable area settings. Then click OK.

6. Now open the File menu and choose Print. You see the main printer settings dialog box:

Media Type setting Ink setting

Automatic mode setting

Quality/Speed slider

7. Check the following settings:

■ Make sure the Media Type is set to Plain Paper. (If you load a different type

of paper, select the corresponding setting for it, as described on page 14. For instructions on loading special paper, see page 11.)

■ Make sure Ink is set to Color if you want to print in color.

■ Set the Mode option to Automatic. This is the easiest way to get good

printing results for all kinds of documents, on all types of paper.

■ Move the Quality/Speed slider to the Quality setting. This selects a high

quality setting for the paper you’re using. (The slider is not available for some media types. You can use a higher resolution on some papers on the Advanced dialog box; see page 16 for instructions.)

8. Click the Layout icon to reduce or enlarge your image, print multiple layouts, or add a watermark.

Click the Background Printing icon to prioritize printing of your print job.

Click the Preview icon to preview your printout.

9. Click

to start printing. If you turned on background printing, you see the

EPSON Monitor3 dialog box to show you the print job’s progress. You can cancel , pause , or restart your print job as necessary.

job currently printing

jobs queued for printing

click to set priorities for waiting print jobs

For more information on printing, see the electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual. See page 7 for instructions on viewing the manual.

Using EPSON Special Papers

How can you get the best-looking photos, most vivid colors, and sharpest text? Always use EPSON’s special ink jet papers. To show you how much difference EPSON paper can make, we’ve included some free samples.

Check out the EPSON Photo Quality Media Pack that came with your printer. Then follow the instructions below to print your favorite photos and documents on EPSON paper.

See the inside back cover for a list of EPSON papers and ordering information. For complete instructions on using all of EPSON’s special ink jet papers, see the electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i Manual.

EPSON Photo Paper

You can use EPSON Photo Paper to print photographs that look almost as good as the ones you get from film processing. Photo Paper is available in 4 × 6-inch, letter, A4, and Panoramic (8.3 × 23.4 inches) paper sizes. Your Media Pack includes samples of 4 ×6-inch and letter-size paper. 4 × 6-inch Photo Paper is perforated around the edges, so you can trim your printouts and “bleed” the photo—extend it to the edge of the paper—on all sides.

You can load up to 20 sheets of 4 × 6-inch or letter-size Photo Paper. Make sure you place a support sheet beneath the paper if it is included in the paper package.

Keep the following in mind when using EPSON Photo Paper:

■ Load the paper with the whiter (glossier) side facing up.

■ Select Photo Paper as the Media Type setting

■ Select the correct Paper Size setting for the paper you’re using.

For details on preserving your photographs printed on Photo Paper, see page 18.

If you’re loading 4 × 6-inch Photo Paper, follow these steps:

1. Position the perforated margins as shown and load up to 20 sheets with support sheets A and B beneath the stack.

2. When you create the image you’ll print in your application software, size it to 4.25 × 6.25 inches so the image covers the perforations as shown below:

trim size

printed image size

3. Choose the following settings:

■

Photo Paper

■

EPSON Photo Paper 4×6 in

■

Maximum

as the Media Type setting

as the Paper Size setting

as the Printable Area setting

4. After you print, fold the paper back and forth along the perforations and carefully tear the margins off.

EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

This low-cost paper makes all your printouts look their best. Load the paper only up to the arrow on the left edge guide and choose Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper as the Media Type setting in your printer software.

load paper only up to this arrow

Envelopes

You can print on just about any kind of envelope. Load up to 10 at a time, flap edge first, with the printable side up.

You may get better results if you press each envelope flat before loading it, or try loading one envelope at a time.

Select Plain paper as the Media Type setting and select the correct envelope size in your printer software.

Set the paper thickness lever to the

+ position. (Return the lever to the 0 position before you print on regular

paper.)

Choosing the Right Settings for EPSON Papers

Your printer automatically adjusts itself for the type of paper you select in your printer software. That’s why the Media Type setting is so important. It tells your printer what kind of paper you’re using and adjusts the ink coverage accordingly.

Before you print, always check your Media Type setting. Here are the settings you should choose for your paper:

For this paper . . . Select this Media Type setting . . .

Plain paper sheets or envelopes

EPSON 360 dpi Ink Jet Paper

EPSON Iron-On Cool Peel Transfer Paper

EPSON High Quality Ink Jet Paper

EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet Cards

EPSON Photo Quality Self Adhesive Sheets

EPSON Photo Paper

EPSON Photo Quality Glossy Paper

EPSON Photo Quality Glossy Film

EPSON Photo Stickers

EPSON Ink Jet Transparencies

Caution:

If any paper you buy comes with a cleaning sheet, don’t use the cleaning sheet with this printer; it may jam inside the printer.

Plain paper

360 dpi Ink Jet Paper

Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

Photo Paper

Photo Quality Glossy Film

Ink Jet Transparencies

Printing with Custom Settings

Your EPSON Stylus COLOR 740i printer software includes convenient project type settings for printing specific types of documents or images—such as photographs, graphics, text, and drafts—and a variety individual custom settings to fit your needs.

When you use custom settings, you can choose to either:

■ Use custom project types, or

■ Customize your individual settings.

Using Custom Project Types

When you’re printing a particular type of document and want to quickly select the best settings for your type of paper, you can use custom project types in your printer software. Some project types may not be available, depending on your operating system and the Media Type and Ink settings you choose.

1. Open an application and create your project. Then open the File menu and choose Print. You see the main printer settings dialog box.

2. Select the correct Media Type setting for your paper and choose Color or Black Ink.

3. Click the Custom button, then click the Custom Settings list. You see a list of custom project types. Select one of the types listed on the next page.

click

, then click here to see a list of project types

Custom

+ 48 hidden pages

Epson 740i User Manual

Contents

Welcome!

About Your Software

About Your Documentation

Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips

System Requirements

Year 2000 Ready

Important Safety Instructions

Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions

Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual

Opening Your Electronic Manual

Navigating an Electronic Manual

Printing from Start to Finish

Printing with a Macintosh

Using EPSON Special Papers

EPSON Photo Paper

EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

Envelopes

Choosing the Right Settings for EPSON Papers

Printing with Custom Settings

Using Custom Project Types