Epson B163A User Manual

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.

A Note Concerning Responsible Use of Copyrighted Materials

Digital cameras and scanners, like photocopiers, conventional cameras, and ink jet printers, can be misused by improper copying and reprinting of copyrighted material. While some countries’ laws permit limited copying of copyrighted material in certain circumstances, those circumstances may not be as broad as some people assume. EPSON encourages each user to be responsible and respectful of the copyright laws when using digital cameras, scanners, and ink jet printers.

Trademarks

EPSON, EPSON Stylus, EPSON Photo Stickers, and MicroWeave are registered trademarks and PRINT Image Matching is a trademark of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION.

EPSON Print Lab, EPSON PhotoCenter, EPSON Store, SoundAdvice, and EPSON Connection are service marks, and Resolution Performance Management, ColorLife, EPSON Software, BorderFree, and PhotoEnhance are trademarks 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.

NERGY STAR

The E

Printed on recycled paper

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

Welcome!

PRINT Image Matching and Exif Print 2

About PRINT Image Matching 2

About Exif Print 3 About Your Software 3 About Your Documentation 4 Using the EPSON Printer Information Center 5

Launching the Movies 5

Launching the Manual 6

Printing From Start to Finish

Loading Paper 8

Loading Envelopes 9 Basic Printing in Windows 10

Selecting the Settings You Use Most Often 12 Basic Printing on a Macintosh 12

Printing with OS 8.6 to 9.x 12

Printing with OS X 14 Customizing Your Print Settings 17

Customizing Windows Print Settings 17

Customizing Macintosh Print Settings 19 Selecting the Correct Media Type 21 Printing BorderFree Photos 22 Using PRINT Image Matching 24

Using Film Factory 24

Using the P.I.M. Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop 29

iii

Maintaining Your Printer

Cleaning the Print Head

Running the Head Cleaning Utility

Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern

Replacing an Ink Cartridge

Checking the Ink Supply

Purchasing Ink Cartridges

Ink Cartridge Precautions

Removing and Installing Ink Cartridges

Aligning the Print Head

Cleaning the Printer

Transporting the Printer

Solving Problems

Printer Parts

Diagnosing Printer Problems

Running a Printer Check

Problems and Solutions

33 34 35 35 35 36 36 37 39 40 41

43 44 45 46

Setup and Software Installation Problems

Printer Problems

Quality Problems

Paper Problems

Miscellaneous Problems

Uninstalling and Reinstalling Printer Software

Where To Get Help

Installing Your Printer Software

Installing Printer Software on Mac OS X

Installing Printer Software for Mac OS 9.x

Installing Printer Software on Windows 2000

Installing Printer Software on Windows 95

Contents

46 47 48 50 50 52 53

55 57 59 60

Requirements and Notices

Windows System Requirements

Macintosh System Requirements

Important Safety Instructions

Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions

Energy Star Compliance

FCC Compliance Statement

Declaration of Conformity

Epson America, Inc. Limited Warranty

Index

63 63 64 65 65 66 67 68

Contents

Welcome!

Your EPSON Stylus® Photo 820 is an exceptional photo printer that gives you these advanced features:

EPSON’s exclusive 6-color ink technology produces beautiful digital photos that

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look like traditional photographs, as well as crisp everyday documents of all types.

Four-picoliter variable droplet ink technology achieves finer shadow detail,

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dazzling highlights, and better fill across a wider range of colors.

Photo-optimized black ink yields rich blacks that exceed the density of traditional

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prints.

Ground-breaking Resolution Performance Management™ (RPM) technology

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optimizes the number and placement of ink droplets on a variety of papers for

superior photo quality and performance, with manageable print file sizes.

Versatile paper handling lets you create BorderFree,™ frame-ready prints in a

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variety of sizes.

Genuine EPSON ink and papers deliver long-lasting, water-resistant prints.

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PRINT Image Matching and Exif Print

Your EPSON Stylus Photo 820 printer supports these innovative digital image formats to give you the best photo prints possible:

PRINT Image Matching

■

Exif Print

■

About PRINT Image Matching

EPSON’s revolutionary PRINT Image Matching™ (P.I.M.) technology lets your digital camera and printer work together automatically to produce the best prints possible. Digital camera manufacturers that support PRINT Image Matching include EPSON, Casio,® Konica,® Kyocera,® Minolta,® Nikon,® Olympus,® Pentax,® Ricoh,® Sanyo,® Sony,® and Toshiba.® Check with your camera’s manufacturer or visit www.printimagematching.com to find out if PRINT Image Matching technology is included with your camera.

With PRINT Image Matching, the digital camera manufacturer can set specific printing options for each camera model. These options include:

contrast, sharpness, and brightness

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Welcome!

gamma level, color space, color saturation, and noise reduction

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shadow point, highlight point, and color balance

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The camera saves this information in each image file. Your printer—along with P.I.M.-enabled software, such as EPSON Software™ Film Factory,™ the P.I.M. Plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop,® or ArcSoft™ PhotoImpression™ (included with your printer)—uses the information to ensure the most accurate image reproduction.

But don’t worry if your camera doesn’t include PRINT Image Matching technology—your EPSON Stylus Photo 820 gives great photo printing results, just without the adjustments P.I.M.-enabled cameras may add.

About Exif Print

The Exif (Exchangeable Image File) Print format includes information about your digital camera settings in JPEG files so your printer and application can use them to create accurate print settings. Most digital cameras store Exif Print information such as shutter speed, metering, flash, and exposure settings, resolution, and lens use in the JPEG image file. Your printer—along with EPSON Software Film Factory or ArcSoft PhotoImpression—uses the information to ensure the most accurate image reproduction.

About Your Software

The CD-ROM that came with your printer includes all the software you need for printing. See the Start Here sheet for installation instructions.

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

■

look. You can’t print without it.

Tip: It’s a good idea to check EPSON’s support web site periodically for free

updates to your printer driver. Visit http://support.epson.com. Download

instructions are posted for your convenience.

Your photo software includes these great tools:

■

EPSON Software Film Factory is a photo management program

that lets you organize, beautify, and print your photos in a flash.

Supports PRINT Image Matching and Exif Print (except with

Mac® OS X).

P.I.M. Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop lets you retain PRINT Image Matching

image quality when you import JPEG files from your P.I.M.-enabled digital

camera. (Compatible with Photoshop 6.0, 7.0, and Photoshop Elements 1.0.)

ArcSoft PhotoImpression is an easy-to-use photo editing

program that lets you edit, enhance, retouch, or add special

effects to any image with just a few clicks. Supports PRINT

Image Matching and Exif Print (except with Mac OS X).

Welcome!

Your EPSON Printer Information Center gives you quick,

■

on-screen access to information about your printer. It includes EPSON Print Show animated tutorials on loading special paper, replacing ink cartridges, improving print quality, and other tasks. It also includes your on-screen Reference Guide for complete information about your printer. (The desktop icon may be different on some Mac OS X systems.)

EPSON PhotoCenter is EPSON’s free photo-sharing web site

■

where you can store, organize, and share your photos; print high-resolution photos straight from the web; and create free online postcards with your photos. Your printer software installer lets you add a link to the EPSON PhotoCenter on your desktop.

About Your Documentation

To set up your printer and install its software, see the Start Here sheet.

This book contains system requirements, important safety information, your warranty, and instructions on:

Using the EPSON Printer Information Center

■

Printing with Windows® or on a Macintosh®

■

Maintaining the printer

■

Solving basic problems

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Please follow these guidelines throughout:

Warnings must be followed carefully to avoid bodily injury.

Cautions must be observed to avoid damage to your equipment.

Notes contain important information about your printer.

Tips contain hints for better printing.

For more details about your printer, use your EPSON Printer Information Center, described on page 5.

Welcome!

Using the EPSON Printer Information Center

Need help loading special paper, replacing ink cartridges, or cleaning the print head? Use the EPSON Printer Information Center (EPIC) to view printer movies that quickly tell you how. EPIC also includes an on-screen Reference Guide with additional printer details. Follow the instructions on the Start Here sheet to install the EPSON Printer Information Center, if you haven’t already.

Note: You need a browser—such as Microsoft

Netscape Navigator

browser, the pages may not display correctly.

3.0 or later—to view the manual. If you are using a different

Launching the Movies

Internet Explorer® 4.0 or later or

1. Double-click the

EPSON Printer Information Center

icon on your

desktop. (The desktop icon may be different on some Mac OS X systems.)

2. Click

Print Show

3. Click the appropriate topic, then click the title of the movie you want to watch.

Use the program tools to pause a movie, replay a step, or skip ahead.

Click a topic, then click a title on the next screen

4. Click

Exit

to exit Print Show.

Welcome!

Launching the Manual

1. Double-click the

EPSON Printer Information Center

desktop.

2. Click

Click here to expand the table of contents

Reference Guide

. You see this screen:

3. Click a topic on the left to expand the table of contents.

4. Click on the topic you want to view.

Click right arrows to view subtopics, then click on a topic.

■

icon on your

Welcome!

Click down arrows to close subtopic lists.

■

Closed list, click to expand

Click to go to a topic

Note: If you see an icon for a graphic when viewing your Reference Guide in Netscape Navigator, click the Reload button to load the graphic.

Printing From Start to Finish

Follow the instructions in these sections to print using all your printer’s features:

“Loading Paper” on page 8

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“Basic Printing in Windows” on page 10

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“Basic Printing on a Macintosh” on page 12

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“Customizing Your Print Settings” on page 17

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“Selecting the Correct Media Type” on page 21

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“Printing BorderFree Photos” on page 22

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“Using PRINT Image Matching” on page 24

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Whenever you print, make sure you:

Tip:

■

Use the right paper.

For the best-looking photos, most vivid colors, and greatest detail, always use genuine EPSON papers and EPSON ink.

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Choose the right printer settings for the paper.

Make sure your printer settings are correct for the document you’re printing and the paper you’ve loaded. Your printer automatically adjusts itself for the type of document and paper you’ve selected.

Loading Paper

1. Slide the left edge guide to the approximate width of your paper.

2. Place your paper in your printer on the right side of the feeder, behind the tab.

3. Press in the locking tab on the left edge guide and slide it to fit lightly against the paper.

4. Open the output tray extension.

Follow these guidelines when loading paper:

Always load the short edge first, even when you’re printing landscape-oriented

■

documents.

Load the printable side face up. It’s usually whiter or brighter than the other side.

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Load letterhead or preprinted paper into the printer top edge first.

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Don’t load paper above the tabs inside the edge guides.

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See your Print Show movies for instructions on loading various types of special paper. Select the

Printing From Start to Finish

EPSON Printer Information Center

icon on your desktop.

Loading Envelopes

1. Load up to 10 envelopes, flap edge first and printable side up.

Tip: For best results, press each envelope flat before loading it, or load one envelope at a time.

2. Place the envelopes against the right edge of the sheet feeder, beneath the tab.

3. Press the locking tab on the left edge guide and slide it against the envelopes.

Load with the printable side up, flap side down

4. Before you print, make sure you choose the correct envelope size as the paper (Windows) or

Paper Size

(Macintosh) setting. See page 10 (Windows), page 12

(Macintosh OS 8.6 to 9.x), or page 14 (Macintosh OS X) for instructions.

Printing From Start to Finish

Size

Basic Printing in Windows

After you create a document in a software program, follow these steps to print it using the basic printer settings:

1. From the File menu, click

Check for your printer name here

2. Make sure

3. Click the

Options

EPSON Stylus Photo 820 Series

Properties

Preferences

button, click it. Then click

screen.)

. You see a Print window like this one:

is selected.

button. (If you see a

Properties

Preferences

Click here to open your printer software

Setup, Printer

on the next

, or

Printing From Start to Finish

4. Select the following settings on the Main tab in your printer settings window:

1 Select the type of document you’re printing:

Draft: for rough drafts with reduced print quality

Text: For text-only documents (like letters) with

2 Select your paper

type (see page 21)

3 Select your paper

size

good print quality

Text & Image: For documents with text and images with higher print quality

4 Select your

document or image orientation

5 Click OK

Photo: For photos and graphics with good print quality and speed

Best Photo: For photos or graphics with high print quality

Tip: For more information about printer settings, click the or Help button.

5. You return to the Print window. Click OK or

to start printing.

During printing, this window appears and shows the progress of your print job. You can use the buttons to cancel, pause, or resume printing. You can also see how much ink you have left.

Click to cancel printing

Click to pause or resume printing

Printing From Start to Finish

Selecting the Settings You Use Most Often

Your printer settings apply only to the program you’re currently using. If you want, you can change the Windows default printer settings for all your programs.

1. Right-click the printer icon in the lower right corner of your screen (taskbar).

2. Select

Printer Settings

. You see the window shown on page 11.

3. Select the default settings you want for all your applications, then click OK.

You can still change the printer settings in your program, if necessary.

Basic Printing on a Macintosh

After you create a document in a software program, follow the steps in one of these sections to print it using the basic printer settings:

For Macintosh OS 8.6 to 9.x applications, see the next section.

■

For Macintosh OS X applications, see page 14.

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Printing with OS 8.6 to 9.x

Before you begin, make sure you selected your printer in the Chooser as described on the Start Here sheet.

1. From the File menu, select

Page Setup

. Select the following settings:

2. Click OK to close the Page Setup window.

Printing From Start to Finish

1 Make sure you see SP820 Series

2 Select your paper size

3 Select the orientation of your

document or image

3. From the File menu, select

Tip: For more information about printer settings, click the button.

. Select the following settings:

4. You can also do the following:

Click to reduce/enlarge your printed image, print multi-page layouts, or

■

add a watermark.

Click to control background printing and schedule print jobs.

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1 Select your paper type

(see page 21)

2 Select Color (for color

documents and black and white photographs) or Black (for black text documents)

3 Select Automatic mode

4 Select Quality or Speed

(for faster printing)

Click , then click

■

Click to check your ink levels.

■

5. Click

6. If you turned on background printing, you can select

Preview

to preview your printout.

EPSON Monitor3

Application menu in the upper right corner of the screen. You see the EPSON Monitor3 window:

Select your print job, then click here to cancel printing

Note: If you’re not using background printing and you need to cancel printing, hold down the

J key and press the . (period) key.

Printing From Start to Finish

Click to check ink levels

from the

Printing with OS X

If you’re using an OS X compatible printing application, follow the steps below to print a document. (If you’re using an application that’s compatible only with Macintosh Classic mode, follow the steps on page 12 instead.)

Before you begin, make sure you added your printer to Print Center as described on the Start Here sheet.

1. From the File menu, select

Page Setup

2. Select the following Page Setup settings as necessary:

3. When you’re finished, click OK.

4. Select

from the File menu. You see a screen like this:

Select SP820 Series from the Format for pop-up menu

Select the Paper Size, Orientation, and any other settings you want to use

Click here and select Print Settings

5. Select

Printing From Start to Finish

Print Settings

from the pull-down menu.

6. Select the following Print Settings as necessary:

1 Select your paper type

(see page 21)

2 Select Color (for color

documents and black and white photographs) or Black for black text documents

3 Select Automatic mode

4 Select Quality or Speed

(for faster printing)

Tip: For more information about printer settings, click Help. The OS X printer driver contains a subset of the settings available with the OS 8.6 to 9.x Macintosh printer driver described in this book.

7. You can also choose other print settings by selecting these options in the pull-down menu:

Copies & Pages

■

Layout

■

Output Options

■

Color Management

■

, to select page layout options

, to select the number of copies or a page range

, to save your print job as a PDF file

, to select ColorSync,® adjust the color controls, change

the gamma setting, or turn off color adjustments by the printer software

Summary

■

Save Custom Setting

■

8. Click

, to view a list of all your selections

, to save your selections for future use.

Printing From Start to Finish

9. To monitor the progress of your print job, click the

Print Center

appears in the dock on the bottom of your desktop. You see a screen like this:

10. Monitor the progress of your print job or do one of the following:

icon when it

click the print job, then click

■

click the print job, then click

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click a print job marked “Hold” and click

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if multiple print jobs are listed, click a print job, then click the

■

Delete

Hold

to pause printing

as necessary to reorder the jobs

11. When you’re finished, close Print Center.

to delete the job

Resume

to resume printing

Priority

arrow

Printing From Start to Finish

Customizing Your Print Settings

You can use advanced settings for color matching, printing at a higher resolution, or selecting a variety of special effects and layouts.

Customizing Windows Print Settings

1. On the Main tab, click the

Advanced

button in the bottom right corner of the

window. The Basic settings change to the Advanced settings.

2. Select the following advanced settings as necessary:

1 Select Paper & Quality

options as necessary

Click here to select

Photo RPM

print quality on photo and glossy paper types

2 Select Print Options as

necessary

Click here to select

Black Ink Only

3 Select a color

management method

To choose

Adjustment ICM

for the best

printing

No Color

, click

first

3. Once you’ve finished selecting advanced settings, you can:

Click OK to save your settings, return to the Print dialog box, and print.

■

Click the

■

Click the

■

Basic

button to return to the Basic settings.

Page Layout

tab and continue with step 4 to select layout options.

Printing From Start to Finish

Note: For more information about advanced settings, or instructions on saving them as a group so you can reuse them later, click the Help or button. If you want to use the Advanced screen each time you access your printer settings, select the Show this screen first checkbox.

4. Select the following page layout settings as necessary:

1 Select image or

document position options here

2 Select image or

document resizing options here; these affect only your printed image

3 Add a watermark to

your printed page here

4 Select multi-page

document options here and here

To print a large image on several sheets to make a poster, select settings here

Note: For more information on page layout settings, click the Help or button.

5. Click OK to save your settings, return to the Print dialog box, and print.

Printing From Start to Finish

Customizing Macintosh Print Settings

1. On the printer settings window, click list to open it.

Macintosh OS X

Macintosh OS 8.6 to 9.x

Custom

Click Custom, then choose: Economy (to save ink on plain paper) or ColorSync (to match printed colors with

compatible device colors) from the Custom Settings list

, then click the

Click Custom, then choose: Economy (to save ink on plain paper) or ColorSync (to match printed colors with

compatible device colors) from the Custom Settings list

Custom Settings

Note: For more information on custom settings, click Help (OS X) or

(OS 8.6 to 9.x).

2. If you’re finished selecting custom settings, click

to print your document.

To select more custom settings, go to step 3.

3. To access advanced settings, click or click

Advanced Settings

(OS X).

Custom

, then click

Advanced

Printing From Start to Finish

(OS 8.6 to 9.x)

4. Select these advanced settings as necessary:

1 Click here to select

Photo RPM

print quality on certain paper types

2 Select various print

options here

3 Select color management

settings here

for the best

Macintosh OS 8.6 through 9.x

1 Click here to select

for the best print quality on photo and glossy paper types

2 Select various print options here

3 To select color management

settings, select Color Management from the Print Settings pull-down menu

Note: For more information on advanced settings, or instructions on saving them as a group so you can reuse them later, click Help (OS X) or (OS 8.6 to 9.x).

5. OS 8.6 to 9.x: Click OK to save your settings, then click

OS X: Click

Printing From Start to Finish

Photo RPM

Macintosh OS X

+ 56 hidden pages

Epson B163A User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Welcome!

PRINT Image Matching and Exif Print

About PRINT Image Matching

About Exif Print

About Your Software

About Your Documentation

Using the EPSON Printer Information Center

Launching the Movies

Launching the Manual

Printing From Start to Finish

Loading Paper

Loading Envelopes

Basic Printing in Windows

Selecting the Settings You Use Most Often

Basic Printing on a Macintosh

Printing with OS 8.6 to 9.x

Printing with OS X

Customizing Your Print Settings

Customizing Windows Print Settings

Customizing Macintosh Print Settings