Epson Stylus Color 980 Basic User Guide

EPSON Stylus Color 980

EPSON Stylus Color 980

Printer Basics

Printer Basics

CPD-10632

EPSON Stylus®Color 980

EPSON Stylus

®

Color 980

EPSON Ink Jet Papers

Use EPSON paper and inks to get the same photo quality results that earn EPSON printers all of their
awards! EPSON 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 your EPSON ink cartridges and just a few of EPSON’s papers:

EPSON Ink Cartridges

For best results, always use
genuine EPSON ink cartridges.

Black: T003011 • Color: T005011

Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper

Bright white, with a smooth matte finish to create your best impression.
Perfect for presentations, newsletters, and all your photo and craft projects.

Photo Paper and Panoramic Photo Paper

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

For more information on other Epson products and
fun project ideas, look for the EPSON Print Lab Series at

www.epson.com

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

Printed on recycled paper

Printer Basics

Copyright Notice

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.

Fix-it Flix and Print Lab are service marks, and Epson Software, EPSON Store, 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.

vi

The E

NERGY STAR

Copyright © 2000 by Epson America, Inc. 7/00

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

CPD-10632

Contents

WELCOME! 1

About Your Software

About Your Documentation

Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips

Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual

Watching Your Printer Movies

PRINTING FROM START TO FINISH 7

Printing with Windows

Loading Paper

Opening the Printer Software

Selecting Printer Software Settings

Controlling Printing

Printing on a Macintosh

Loading Paper

Opening the Printer Software

Selecting Printer Software Settings

Controlling Printing

11
12
12
13
14
15

1
2
2
3
5

7
7
8
9

Printing on Envelopes

Printing on Both Sides of the Paper

Selecting the Correct Media Type

16
17
19

vii

MAINTAINING YOUR PRINTER 21

Cleaning the Print Head 21

Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern 23

Replacing an Ink Cartridge 24

Removing and Installing Ink Cartridges 25

Replacing an Outdated Ink Cartridge 27
Aligning the Print Head 29
Cleaning the Printer 30
Transporting the Printer 31

PROBLEM SOLVING 33

Diagnosing Printer Problems 33

Checking the Control Panel Lights 33

Running a Printer Check 35
Identifying Printer Parts 36
Problems and Solutions 37

Problems Setting Up the Printer or Installing Software 37

viii

Problems with Printing 38

Problems Getting Good Print Quality 39

Problems with Paper Feeding 42

Solving Miscellaneous Printout Problems 43
Uninstalling Printer Software 44

Uninstalling Windows Software 44

Uninstalling Macintosh Software 44

Reinstalling Printer Software 45
Where To Get Help 45

EPSON Technical Support 46

Creative Software Technical Support 47

NOTICES 49

Windows System Requirements 49
Macintosh System Requirements 50
ENERGY STAR Compliance 51
Important Safety Instructions 51

Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions 52
FCC Compliance Statement 53
Declaration of Conformity 53
Limited Warranty 54

INDEX 55

ix

Welcome!

Your EPSON Stylus® COLOR 980 printer is the ideal output device for text,
business graphics, digital photographs, and more. You can print anything from
reports and resumes to photos and greeting cards with amazing results.

EPSON® offers a variety of networking and IEEE 1394 (FireWire®) options for your
printer. Visit EPSON’s web site at www.epson.com for complete information.

About Your Software

The printer software CD-ROM that came with your printer
includes all the software you need for printing. (You must
have a CD-ROM or DVD drive installed on your computer.)

■ Your printer driver runs your printer and lets you control

how your documents look. You can’t use your printer

without it.

Visit EPSON’s support web site (http://support.epson.com)
periodically and check the section for your printer to see if there is a
new driver available, free of charge, for downloading to your
computer. Download instructions are posted for your convenience.

■ Your creative software includes these titles:

■ ArcSoft

™

PhotoImpression™ 2000, an easy-to-use photo editing program for

enhancing and retouching your photos

■ ArcSoft PhotoMontage

™

2000, an imaging entertainment program that lets

you create composite “montages” from a large collection of micro-images

■ EPSON Software

™

Film Factory,™ photo management software for

organizing, enhancing, and printing your photos

■ Trellix Web,

™

for quickly building a multi-page web site for your family,

organization, or small business (Windows only)

1

About Your Documentation

To set up your printer and install its software, see the Start Here poster. This book
contains system requirements, important safety information, and instructions on:

■ viewing your electronic Reference Guide and Fix-it Flix printer movies

SM

■ printing with Windows

■ maintaining the printer

■ solving basic problems

®

or on a Macintosh®

For more details about printing with, maintaining, or troubleshooting your printer,
see your electronic Reference Guide, as described on page 3. To view movies showing
you how to change your ink cartridges, clean the print head, load paper, and print on
both sides of the paper, see the Fix-it Flix printer movies, as described on page 5.

Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips

Please follow these guidelines:

Warnings must be followed carefully to avoid bodily injury.

Cautions must be observed to avoid damage to your equipment.

2

Notes contain important information about your printer.

Tips contain additional hints for better printing.

Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual

Your printer software CD-ROM includes an electronic Reference Guide for your
printer. The manual is in HTML format, so you need a browser—such as Microsoft®
Internet Explorer 3.0 or later or Netscape Navigator® 3.0 or later—to view it. If you
are using a different browser, the pages may not display correctly. (A browser is not
included on the printer software CD-ROM.)

You can view your electronic Reference Guide from the CD-ROM or copy it to your
hard drive and view it from there. Follow these steps:

1. Insert your printer software CD-ROM.

2. Windows: Double-click My Computer, double-click your CD-ROM or

DVD drive icon, then double-click the EPSON icon.

Macintosh: Double-click the EPSON icon in the CD-ROM window. (If the

window doesn’t open, double-click your EPSON CD-ROM icon.

The Main Menu appears:

3. Click

View EPSON

Documentation

screen:

. You see this

3

4. Click View Reference Guide. The

main screen for your printer

Reference Guide appears:

5. You can either view the manual

from the CD-ROM (View

Reference Guide

) or copy the

manual to your hard drive (Install

Reference Guide

) and view it from
there. For details on viewing the
manual, see the next section.

If you copied the manual to your hard
drive, you can access it at any time, as follows:

Windows: Select Start, Programs, EPSON, and click ESC980 Guide.

Macintosh: Open the EPSON Stylus COLOR 980 folder and double-click View

Reference Guide

.

When you first open the Reference Guide, you see this screen:

Click here to
expand the
table of
contents

4

Click a topic on the left to expand the table of contents. After expanding the table of
contents, you can click on the topic you want to view.

If there’s a right arrow , click it to view subtopics, then click on a topic to go to it.

Click the down arrow to close a subtopic list.

Closed list,
click to
expand

Click to go
to topic

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

Watching Your Printer Movies

Need help loading paper, replacing ink cartridges, cleaning the print head, or printing
on both sides of the paper? Your printer software CD-ROM includes helpful movies
that show you how to perform these common tasks.

Follow these steps to watch your printer movies:

1. Insert your printer software CD-ROM.

2. Windows: Double-click

drive icon, then double-click the

Macintosh: Double-click the
window doesn’t open automatically, double-click the

My Computer

EPSON

EPSON

icon in the CD-ROM window. (If the

, double-click your CD-ROM

icon.

EPSON

CD-ROM icon.)

5

The Main Menu appears:

3. Click View EPSON

Documentation

screen:

. You see this

4. Click Watch Printer Movies. The main screen for the printer movies appears:

5. Click the poster for the movie you want to see. If necessary, select an option on
the next screen. The movie starts playing.

6

Printing from Start to Finish

Here’s what to do to print a basic document—such as a memo, newsletter, or
photo—from loading the paper to selecting print settings to controlling the print job.
Follow the instructions in these sections:

■ “Printing with Windows” below

■ “Printing on a Macintosh” on page 12

If you’re already familiar with EPSON ink jet printing, you can skip ahead to these
sections:

■ “Printing on Envelopes” on page 16

■ “Printing on Both Sides of the Paper” on page 17

■ “Selecting the Correct Media Type” on page 19

Printing with Windows

This section describes the basic steps for printing with Windows. (To print on a
Macintosh, see page 12.)

Loading Paper

Make sure your printer and

Don’t load paper
above this arrow

Slide paper against the
right edge guide

computer are turned on.

Place your paper against the right
edge guide and slide the left edge
guide against the paper.

7

Keep the following in mind when loading paper:

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

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

■ Don’t load paper above the arrow on the left edge guide.

See your electronic Reference Guide for instructions on loading
special media.

Opening the Printer Software

After you open your application program and create your document, you’re ready to
select your printer software settings.

From the File menu, click

Print

. You see your application’s Print dialog box (your

dialog box may look slightly different):

Make the following selections on the Print dialog box:

■ Make sure your

■ Click the

Properties

it. Then click

EPSON Stylus COLOR 980

printer is selected.

button. (If you see a Setup, Printer, or Options button, click

Properties

If you click the print icon on your application’s tool bar instead of
selecting Print from the File menu, you may not get the option to
change the printer software settings before printing.

on the next screen.)

Select your printer here

Click here to open
your printer software

8

Selecting Printer Software Settings

Once you click Properties, you see your printer software Properties dialog box:

Select the type of paper you loaded

Select the Ink color

Select Automatic mode

Select higher-quality or faster
printing

Click OK

Make the following settings:

■ Choose the Media Type for your paper (click the

arrow to display the Media Type list). This is very
important because your printer automatically adjusts
ink coverage according to your Media Type setting.
If you’re not sure which setting to select, see page 19.

■ Set the Ink option to Color to print a color

document, or Black to print a black text document.

■ Set the Mode to

Automatic

to let the printer software determine the best settings

for your print job. This is the easiest way to get good results on all types of paper.

■ Set the slider in the Mode box to

Quality

or

Speed

to select higher resolution or

faster printing. (The slider may not be available for your media type.)

■ If you want to change paper size and orientation, click the Paper tab and make

your settings there.

■ Click

OK

to return to your application’s Print dialog box.

For more information about printer settings, see your electronic

Reference Guide

item on the screen and then click What’s This?.

, or click the Help button. Or you can right-click any

9

Selecting Windows Default Settings

The printer settings you make apply only to the application you’re currently using. If
you usually print one type of document in different applications—for example, black
ink on legal size paper—you can change the default printer settings for all your
programs. You do this using the Windows Printer utility:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then select Printers.

2. Right-click your EPSON Stylus COLOR 980 printer icon.

3. Select one of the following:

■ Properties (if you’re running Windows 95 or 98)

■ Printing Preferences (if you’re running Windows 2000)

■ Document Defaults (if you’re running Windows NT).

4. Click the Main tab.

5. Select the default settings you want to use for all your applications. Click OK
when you’re finished.

Remember, you can always change the default settings in your application when you
want to print different types of documents.

Another way to select your most frequently used settings quickly is to save them as a
group; see your electronic Reference Guide for details.

10

Controlling Printing

At the Print dialog box, click OK (or Print, depending on your application) to start
printing.

Click OK to start
printing

After a moment, the Progress Meter appears and shows the progress of your print job.
You can use the buttons to cancel, pause, or restart printing. You can also see how
much ink you have left.

Click to cancel printing

Click to pause or resume

Does not appear if
you are printing
over a network

printing

Shows ink levels. The
color of ink with the
least amount left
determines the level for
all the colors shown

For more information on printing—for example, using advanced printer settings,
previewing your printout, or adding a watermark—see your electronic Reference Guide
(described on page 3) or your printer software online help.

11

Printing on a Macintosh

This section describes the basic steps for printing on a Macintosh. (To print with
Windows, see page 7.)

Loading Paper

Make sure your printer and

Don’t load paper
above this arrow

Slide paper against the
right edge guide

computer are turned on.

Place your paper against the right
edge guide and slide the left edge
guide against the paper.

Follow these guidelines when loading paper:

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

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

■ Don’t load paper above the arrow on the left edge guide.

See your electronic Reference Guide for instructions on loading
special media.

12

Opening the Printer Software

After you open your application program and create your document, you’re ready to
select your page setup and other printer software settings.

From the File menu, click Page Setup. You see your printer software’s page setup
dialog box (your dialog box may look slightly different):

Verify your printer model here

Select your Paper Size, Orientation,
and Printable Area settings

Click OK

Make the following selections on the page setup dialog box:

■ Make sure your EPSON Stylus COLOR 980 printer (SC 980) is selected. (If the

printer model is incorrect, you need to select your printer in the Chooser; see the
Start Here poster for instructions.)

■ Select the correct Paper Size, Orientation, and Printable Area settings for your

document. See your electronic Reference Guide for details.

■ Click

window.

OK

to close the page setup dialog box and return to your application

13