Epson Stylus Color IIs User Guide

COLOR INK JET PRINTER

User’s Guide

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, EPSON Stylus, and EPSON ESC/P are registered trademarks and EPSON ESC/P 2 is a trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation.

EPSON Connection is a service mark of Epson America, Inc. Windows Printer driver copyright Software 2000 Ltd Oxford, England. Portions copyright

Seiko Epson Corporation. 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 Energy Star emblem does not represent EPA endorsement of any product or service.

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

FCC Compliance Statement

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.

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.

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.

For United States Users

WARNING

For Canadian Users

Introduction

Getting the Most Out of Your Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Three Resolutions to Choose From . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Special Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Specially Formulated Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Automatic Printer Driver Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

MicroWeave for Superior Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

High Speed Mode for Fast Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Energy Star Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Energy-saving Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

How to Use This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Where to Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Electronic Support Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 1 Paper Handling

Choosing Paper and Other Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

Setting the Paper Thickness and Adjustment Levers . . . . . . 1-3

Paper Thickness Lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Thickness Adjustment Lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Loading Plain Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

Feeding Paper One Sheet at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8

Loading Special Papers and Other Media . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

Loading Special Papers and Transparencies . . . . . . . . 1-10

Loading Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

iii

Chapter 2 Controlling the Printer

Using the Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Accessing the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

Using the Driver Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Changing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

Document Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

Paper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10

Printing Mode/Options Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12

Image Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14

Halftoning Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-16

Managing Print Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17

Using the Printer’s Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19

Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20

Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20

Using the Default Setting Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Chapter 3 Maintenance

Cleaning the Print Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Replacing the Print Head Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

Replacing an Ink Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7

Selecting the Correct Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

Removing and Installing an Ink Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . 3-9

Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-14

Calibrating the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Chapter 4 Troubleshooting

Print Quality Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3

Problems with Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7

Paper Handling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-12

Paper Jam Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-12

Paper Feeding Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-12

Other Paper Handling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-13

Appendix A Technical Specifications

Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2

Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3

Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6

Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7

Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7

Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8

Safety Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8

Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8

Interface Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-9

Pin Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-10

Timing Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-12

Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-12

Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13

Appendix B Commands and Character Tables

Command List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2

Character Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3

International Character Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-7

Characters Available with ESC (^ Command . . . . . . . . B-8

Glossary

Index

Printer Parts

sheet feeder

paper thickness lever

power switch

edge guides

output tray extension

paper support

control panel

printer cover

transparency guide

output tray

parallel interface connector

thickness adjustment lever

print head unit release lever

print head unit

ink cartridge clamp

Introduction

The EPSON® Stylus® COLOR IIs is an affordable, high-qu alit y ink jet printer. It can print up to 16 mi llion colors at high resolution to produce photo-quality color images. The printer also produces realis tic graysc ale images, sh arp text, and line art. The printer’s ink jet technology allows it to operate quietly, keeping your workspace peaceful.

The Stylus COLOR IIs is easy to install and use. You simply set it up, connect it to your computer, and install the printer driver software, as described in the Setup Guide. The printer has a built-in parallel interface so you can connect it to any IBM or compatible computer.

Getting the Most Out of Your Printer

The printer supports a wide variety of settings that let you improve print quality or speed up printing. You customize these settings using the printer driver. Before using your printer, read this section to learn more about the print options available to you.

Also click on the ReadMe icon in the EPSON program group in Microsoft

Windows® for the latest information.

Three Resolutions to Choose From

Resolution is a measure of the amount of detai l that can be represented. The higher the resolution, the more detailed and realistic the image, and the longer it takes to print. For printed images, resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi).

Introduction 1

Your printer has three resolutions: 720 dpi, 360 dpi, and 180 dpi. Use 720 dpi for the best possible images. For high-qual ity images in less time, use 360 dpi. When speed is important and draft quality is good enough, use 180 dpi. For guidelines on selecting the best resolution for your p rint jobs, see Chapter 2.

Special Papers

The type of paper you use is very important. Although you get good results with plain bond paper, you will get better results by using coated papers because they do not absorb as much ink.

To ensure the best possible quality, EPSON offers special coated papers, glossy papers, and transparencies that are formulated specifically for the inks used by the printer. You can order these products from EPSON Access ories at (800) 873-7766 (U.S. sales only). In Canada , call (800) BUY-EPSON for sales locations. For information about special papers and other media, see Chapter 1.

Specially Formulated Ink

EPSON’s black an d color ink cartrid ges are special ly formulated to work with EPSON paper and the driver to deliver the best looking images. Always use genuine EPSON ink cartridges and do not refill them. Other products may cause damage not covered by EPSON ’s warranty.

Automatic Printer Driver Settings

The printer driver includes an Automatic Doc ument Type option that sets various printer driver settings for you. When you select this feature, the driver analyzes the elements on the page to be printed and adjusts the driver settings so your printed results are appropriate for each image type.

2 Introduction

MicroWeave for Superior Output

The printer’s MicroWeave featu re is a special printing mod e you can use to enhance your printed output. When MicroWeave is on, the printer selectively applies ink in an intricate pattern to eliminate the possibility of banding (light, horizontal lines which mar an image) that can sometim es oc cur in normal mode.

High Speed Mode for Fast Printing

High Speed mode increas es the print speed. When it is on, the printer prints bidirectionally; that is, it prints a line from right to left and the next line from left to right. When High Speed mode is off, all lines are printed in the same direction.

Printing is faster with High Speed mode on. However, the vertical alignment may not be as precise. For this reason, turn off High Speed mode when you need to improve print quality.

Energy Star Compliance

As an Energy Star Partner, EPSON has determined that this product meets the Energy Star guidelines

for energy efficiency.

The EPA estimates that if all desk top compu ters , printers, and other peripheral devices met Energy Star standards , energy cost savings would exceed $1 billi on annu all y and carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 20 million tons.

All of EPSON’s ink jet printers conform to En e rgy Star standards.

Introduction 3

Energy-saving Tips

Here are a few 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.

❑ Turn off your computer, printer, and monitor each day

when you are done using them.

❑ Use the print preview option in your software so you can

catch errors before you print somethin g.

❑ If you have an electroni c mai l system avail able to you, send

E-mail rather than memos. Not only is this faster, but you’ll save paper and storage space too.

How to Use This Manual

This manual explains how to use your printer once you have set it up. First follow the instructions in the Setup Guide to install your printer; then refer to this manual as needed for operation and maintenance information.

Chapter 1, “Paper Handling,” explains how to select the right paper or other media for your print job and how to load it in your printer.

Chapter 2, “Controll ing the Prin ter,” provid es in struc tio ns for managing the printer’s operation through the printer driver software and the printer’s control panel. It also tells you how to manage print jobs and access the Defau lt Setting mode.

Chapter 3, “Maintenance,” gives instructions for cleaning the print heads, replacing an ink cartridge, calibrating the printer, cleaning the printer, and tran sporting it.

4 Introduction

Chapter 4, “Troubleshooting,” contains troubleshooting guidelines for any print quality or printer operation problems you may have.

Appendix A, “Technical Specifications,” contains the specifications for the Stylus COLOR IIs printer.

Appendix B, “Command s and Charac ter Tables ,” li sts the ESC/P 2



emulation commands supported by the printer and

shows the printer’s built-in character tables. A Glossary and Index are included at the end of the manual.

Where to Get Help

If you purchased your printer in the United States or Canada and you need technical assistance, you can call an EPSON Color Specialist at (800) 788-0343.

EPSON also provides customer support and service through a network of Authorized EPSO N Customer Care Centers and provides the following services when you dial (800) 922-8911:

❑ EPSON technical information library fax service ❑ Product literature on current and new products ❑ Assistance in locating your nearest Authorized EPSON

Reseller or Customer Care Center

❑ Technical informati on on th e install ation , confi gurati on,

and operation of EPSON products

❑ Customer relations.

You can purchase ink cartridges, paper, parts, printed manuals, and accessories for EPSON produc ts from EPSO N Acces sori es at (800) 873-7766 (U.S. sales only). In Canada, call (800) BUY-EPSON .

Introduction 5

If you purchased your printer outside the United States or Canada, contact your EPSON deal er or the marketing location nearest you for customer support and service.

If you need help wi th any so ftw are progra m you are usin g, see the documentation for that program for technical support informati on .

Electronic Support Services

If you have a modem, the fastest way to access helpful tips, specifica tion s, driv ers, appl icatio n notes, and bulletin s for EPSON products is throu gh the online se rvices below .

World Wide Web

If you are connected to the Internet and have a Web browser, you can access EPSON’s World Wide Web site at http://www.epson.com. EPSON’s home page links users to What’s New, EPSON Prod ucts , EPSO N Connectio n, Info and EPSON Contac ts. Link to the EPSON Connectio n for the latest drivers and FAQs (Frequently Asked Qu esti ons) and the EPSON Chat area. To get in touch with EPSON around the world, EPSON Contacts includes Contact Information for local EPSON subsidiaries.

Corporate

EPSON Bulletin Board Service

You can call the EPSON Bulletin Board Service (BBS) at (310) 782-4531. No membership is required. Make sure your communication s softwa re is set to 8 data bits with 1 stop bit, no parity bit, and a modem speed of 28.8 Kbps or less. See the documentati on that cam e with yo ur com mun ic atio ns softw ar e for more information.

6 Introduction

CompuServe online support

CompuServe® members can call the Epson America Forum on CompuServe. If you are already a member, simply type GO EPSON at the menu prompt to reach the Forum.

If you are not currently a member, you are eligible for a free introducto ry members hip as an owner of an EPSO N produc t. This membership entitles you to:

❑ An introductory credit on CompuServe ❑ Your own user ID and password ❑ A complimentary subscription to Co mp uServe Magazine,

CompuServe’s monthly publication.

To take advantage of this offer, call (80 0) 848- 8199 in the United States and Canada and ask for representative #529. In other countries, call the following U.S. telephone number: (614) 529-1611, or your local CompuServe access number.

Important Safety Instructions

Before using your printer, read the following safety instructions to make sure you use the printer saf ely and effectively.

❑ Turn off and 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 heating vent.

❑ Do not block or cover the openings in the printer’s cabinet

or insert objects through the slots.

❑ Use only the type of power source indicated on the

printer’s label.

Introduction 7

❑ Connect all equipment to properly grounded power

outlets. Avoid using outlets on the same circuit as photocopiers or air control system s that regularly swi tch 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 devic es plug ged into the wall outlet does not exceed 15 amperes .

❑ Except as specif ic al ly explai ned in the User’s Guide, do not

attempt to service the printer yourself.

❑ Unplug the printer and refer servicing to qualified servi ce

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.

8 Introduction

Chapter 1

Paper Handling

Choosing Paper and Other Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

Setting the Paper Thickness and Adjustment Levers . . . . . . 1-3

Paper Thickness Lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Thickness Adjustment Lever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Loading Plain Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

Feeding Paper One Sheet at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8

Loading Special Papers and Other Media . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

Loading Special Papers and Transparencies . . . . . . . . 1-10

Loading Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

Paper Ha ndling 1-1

Read this chapter for information about choosing the best paper and other media for your printing needs and for instructions on loading them.

Choosing Paper and Other Media

You can use most plain bond paper with your printer and achieve good results. Coated papers give you better results because they reduce the amount of ink that is absorbed. However, if the coated paper does not absorb enough ink, the ink can smear.

To ensure the best results, EPSON provides spec ial papers and transparencies that are formulated for the inks used in EPSON ink jet printers. These papers include the following:

❑ EPSON special coated paper for 360 dpi. Use this paper for

best results when printing at 360 dpi.

❑ EPSON special coated paper for 720 dpi. Use this paper for

best results when printing at 720 dpi. Five sample sheets are included with the printer.

❑ EPSON high-quality glossy paper. Use this paper with

720 dpi to produce camera-rea dy com posi tes. When printing on glossy paper, use only EPSON high-qual ity glossy paper.

❑ EPSON transparency film. When printing transparencies,

use only EPSON transparencies. For best results, use transparencies within six months of opening the package. Do not select 720 dpi when printin g transpa ren cies .

To order EPSON papers and transparencies, contact your dealer or call EPSON Accessories at (800) 873-7766 (U.S. only). In Canada, call (800) BUY-EPSON for sales locations.

1-2 Paper Handling

Use the following part numbers when ordering:

Paper Size Part Number

Special coated paper for 720 dpi

Special coated paper for 360 dpi

High-quality glossy paper Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) S041072 Transparency film Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) S041064

Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) Legal (8.5 x 14 inches)

Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) S041060

S041062 S041048

Setting the Paper Thickness and Adjustment Levers

Before you start printing, you should check the paper thickness and adjustment levers to make sure they are set correctly for the type of paper or other media you are loading.

Caution:

Before you change the lever settings, make sure there is no

paper in the paper path and that printing is paused. To do this, press the Pause button or turn off the printer.

Paper Thickness Lever

The paper thickness lever on the right side of the sheet feeder has two settings: plain paper and thick paper. Set the lever to the position that best suits the paper or other media you plan to use, as shown in the following table and illustration.

Paper type Paper thickness lever position

Standard paper Plain paper Transparency film Plain paper Envelopes or labels Thick paper Manually fed paper Thick paper

Paper Ha ndling 1-3

plain paper setting

Thickness Adjustment Lever

You need to change the position of the thickness adju stmen t lever when you print on thick paper, such as envelopes, or if your documents smear, as shown in the following table.

thick paper setting

Paper type Thickness adjustment lever position

Standard paper 0

Transparency film 0

Envelopes or labels +

Previously smeared documents +

1-4 Paper Handling

To access the lever, open the printer cover; the lever is in the left back corner, as shown below.

If a document is smeared, set the thickness adjustment lever to the + position (regardless of the paper type) and print it again.

If your document still smears, press the Alt and Load/Eject buttons on the printer’s control panel to enable the non-smear printing mode. See “Using the Printer’s Control Panel” in Chapter 2 for more information.

Paper Ha ndling 1-5

Loading Plain Paper

This section explains how to load plain bond paper in the printer. For instructions on loading coated or glossy paper, envelopes, and transparencies, or on feeding paper one sheet at a time, see page 1-8.

You can load up to 100 sheets of plain paper in the sheet feeder. Be sure to load it with the printable surfac e facing up. The printable surface is marked with an arrow on most plain paper packaging.

Note:

You can use these instructions for printing on labels; however, be sure to set the paper thickness lever to the thick paper posit ion and the thickness adjustment lever to the + position. Also make s ure no labels are curled or peeling away from the backing when you load them.

1. Slide out the output tray located at the bottom of the printer; then pull out the extension.

1-6 Paper Handling

2. Slide the left edge guide on the sheet feeder to the left as far as it will go.

3. Fan a stack of paper; then tap it on a flat surface to even the edges.

4. Load the stack of paper, printab le side up, so that its righ t edge rests agai nst the righ t si de of the sheet f eed er.

Paper Ha ndling 1-7

Do not load paper above the arrow mark inside the left edge guide of the sheet feeder.

5. Slide the left edge guide aga inst the left edge of the paper as shown below.

6. Change the Media Type and other printer driver settings so they are appropriate for the paper or labels you loaded. For instructions see Chapter 2. (For labels, select Plain paper as your Media Type.)

Feeding Paper One Sheet at a Time

You may find instances when you prefer to feed paper into the printer one sheet at a time (when using glossy paper, for example). Foll ow these steps:

1. Make sure that printing is paused. To do this, press the Pause button.

2. Remove any paper from the sheet feeder and the paper path.

1-8 Paper Handling

3. Move the paper thickness lever to the thick paper position.

4. Set the thickness adjustment lever for the type of paper you are loading.

5. Feed the paper one sheet at a time into the sheet feeder.

Loading Special Papers and Other Media

When using spec ial coated paper, glossy paper, envelopes, and transparencies, keep the following in mind:

❑ Do not touch the printable surface of the paper; hold the

sheets by their edges. The moistu re and oil s on your hand s can reduce print quality.

❑ Use special coated paper and glossy papers within one year

of purchase. Use transparencies within six months.

❑ Before printing on EPSON high-quality glossy paper, or

special coated paper for 720 or 360 dpi, make sure the color print head unit is install ed and Color Head Unit is selected in the driver’s Document Type dialog box. If you are loading glossy paper, make sure to set Super - 720 dpi as the printing mode in the driver’s Pri ntin g Mode/ Opti ons dialog box. (See Chapter 2 for instructions on using the driver.)

❑ When printing on high-quality glossy paper or

transparencies, remove each sheet from the output tray immediately afte r it is printed. Make sure each sheet is dry before stacking.

❑ You can print on sheets of labels in your printer; just follow

the instructions for loadi ng plain paper on page 1-6.

❑ Return unused sheets and envelopes to their original package

as soon as possible aft er you finish printing. Unf avorabl e storage conditi o ns—es pec ial ly hi gh tem peratu re, hu mid ity, and direct sunlight—can damage the media.

Paper Ha ndling 1-9

❑ Follow any other special loading procedures included in

the rest of this section.

Loading Special Papers and Transparencies

The following procedure explains how to load coated papers, glossy paper, and transparencies. You can load up to the followin g numb er of sheets in the sheet feeder:

❑ 70 sheets of special coated paper. If you load legal-size

special coated paper for 720 dpi, do not load it more than halfway to the arrow mark on the left edge guide of the sheet feeder.

❑ 30 sheets of EPSON high-quality glossy paper with a sheet

of plain paper beneath the last sheet in the stack; to avoid printing on the plain paper, print your document one page at a time. If you load a single sheet of glossy paper, place a sheet of plain paper beneath it and print one page at a time.

Note:

If you load multiple sheets of glossy paper, the minimum top margin is 1.2 inches (30 mm). To print with a smaller top margin, load and print glossy paper one sheet at a time.

❑ 50 sheets of transparency film, printed one at a time, with

one sheet of plain paper beneath the last transparency in the stack.

1-10 Paper Handling

Follow these steps to load special paper or tran sparency film:

1. Slide out the output tray located at the bottom of the printer; then pull out the extension .

2. If you are loading transparencies, raise the transparency guide on the output tray, as shown.

Paper Hand ling 1-11

3. Slide the left edge guide on the sheet feeder to the left as far as it will go.

4. Fan a stack of paper or transparencies; then tap it on a flat surface to even the edges.

5. Load the paper or transparencies with the printable surface face up. For coated papers, the printable side is whiter than the other side.

1-12 Paper Handling

For glossy paper and transparencies, the printable side is face up when the cut corne r is position ed as show n in the illustration below.

6. Change the Media Ty pe and other printer driver settings so they are appropriate for the paper or transparency film you loaded. (See Chapter 2 for instructions.)

Loading Envelopes

For detailed specifications on the thickness and weight of the envelopes you can load, see A ppendi x A. Do not use envelo pes that are curled or folded, or ones that are too thin; they may curl during printi ng. Als o, do not choose 720 dpi res ol uti on for envelope printing.

Paper Hand ling 1-13

Follow these steps to load envelopes:

1. Make sure you set the paper thickness and thickness adjustment levers to the correct positions for envelope printing, as described on page 1 -3.

2. You can load up to 10 envelopes in the sheet feeder with the printable side facing up (forward) as shown.

Torrance, CA 90509

20010 Madrona Avenue

LJO

Torrance, CA 90509

20770 Madrona Avenue

EPSON AMERICA, INC.

3. Adjust the left edge guide so the envelopes feed straight into the paper path.

4. Change the Media Type and other printer driver settings so they are appropriate for the envelopes you loaded. (See Chapter 2 for instructions.)

1-14 Paper Handling

Chapter 2

Controlling the Printer

Using the Printer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

Accessing the Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

Using the Driver Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

Changing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

Document Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

Paper Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10

Printing Mode/Options Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12

Image Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14

Halftoning Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-16

Managing Print Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17

Using the Printer’s Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19

Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20

Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20

Using the Default Setting Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23

Controlling the Printer 2-1

This chapter explains how to control the printer. It is divided into four sections:

❑ “Using the Printer Driver” describes how to use the printer

driver to control settings such as paper type, documen t type, printing mode, and halftoning.

❑ “Managing Print Jobs ” expl ai ns how you can use the

EPSON Spool Manager to monitor, cancel, or change the order of p rint jobs.

❑ “Using the Printer’s Control Panel” covers the printer

function s availa ble th rough the cont rol panel on the top front of the printer.

❑ “Using the Default Setting Mode” describes how to access

the printer’s Default setting mode. In rare cases, you may need to specify the print direction, use a different character table, or adjust the paper loading position. To make these and other changes, see this section for instructions.

Using the Printer Driver

The printer driver contains settings that allow you to control your print job. The printer comes with default values for all the settings, as listed in the table on page 2-6. Change the printer driver settings only if you want to use values different from the defaul t ones .

The driver includes an Automatic setting (default) when you set the Document Type option. This setting lets the printer driver analyze each page of the document you will print and then select the appropriate printing mode (resolution), color matching, and halftoning settings automatically.

2-2 Controlling the Printer

Accessing the Driver

You can access the driver in different ways, depending on how you want to use the settings you select:

❑ If you want the settings to apply to all your Windows

applications, access the driver as described below for either Windows 3.1 or Wind ows 95.

❑ If you want the changes to apply only to the document(s)

you will print in a particular Windows application, follow the steps on page 2-4.

Accessing the driver from Windows 3.1

Follow these steps to access the driver and change settings for all Windows 3.1 applications:

1. Double-click the Control Panel icon in the Main program

group.

2. Double-click the Printers icon.

3. Choose the EPSON Stylus COLOR IIs driver in the list of

Installed Printers.

4. Choose Setup. You see the printer driver dialog box shown

on page 2-5.

Accessing the driver from Windows 95

Follow these steps to access the driver and change its settings for all Windows 95 applicatio ns :

1. Open the My Computer icon.

2. Double-click the Printers icon.

3. Double-click the EPSON Stylus COLOR IIs icon.

Controlling the Printer 2-3

4. Pull down the Printe r menu and selec t Pro pertie s.

5. Click the Details tab.

6. Click the Setup button. You see the printer driver dialog

box, shown on page 2-5.

Accessing the driver from Windows applications

If you want to change the settings only for the application you are currently using, access the driver by choosing Print or Print Setup from the File menu of your software program. If you choose Print Setup, yo u access the printer driver directly and see the dialog box shown on page 2-5.

If you choose Print, you see a Print dialog box similar to the one shown below (depending on your software program).

The Print dialo g box contai ns the settings you change most often, including the number of copies and the print range. To access the printer driver settings, choose the Setup, Options, or Printer button. (You may need to select ano ther option, depending on your software program.)

2-4 Controlling the Printer

Note:

The printer driver settings you select through your Windows application apply only for the duration of your session with that application. Once you exit the application, the driver settings return to the default values you have selected through the Windo ws 3.1 Control Panel or Windows 95.

Using the Driver Dialog Box

However you accessed the printer driver, you see the following dialog box:

(If you do not see this dialog box, the driver has not been installed correctly. See the Setup Guide for installation instruc tion s.)

Controlling the Printer 2-5

At the top of the screen are tabs that open various dialog boxes. The table below summarizes the settings in each dialog box. (Factory defaults are in bold type.) Detailed descriptions of each setting follow the table.

Driver setti ngs

Dialog box Setting Options

Document Type

Paper Paper Size A4 210 × 297 mm

Printing Mode/ Options

Document Types Automatic

Print Head Unit Monochrome

(Orientation) Portrait or Landscape Paper Source Auto Sheet Feeder/Manual Copies Number (1-99)

Printing Mode (resolution)

Media Type Plain paper

Print Options High Speed (on, off)

Presentation Photograph Drawing Text

Color

A4 (Centered) 210 × 297 mm

Letter 8

Letter (Centered) 8 Legal 8 Legal (Centered) 8 Envelope #10 4 Envelope DL 110 × 220 mm Statement 5 Executive 7 A6 Index card (not used) User Defined

Collate (on, off) Reverse page order (on, off)

Super - 720 dpi

Best - 360 dpi

Draft - 180 dpi

Special coated paper for 360 dpi Special coated paper for 720 dpi High-quality glossy paper Transparency

MicroWeave (on, off)

⁄2 × 11 in

⁄2 × 14 in

⁄2 ×10 in

⁄8 × 91⁄2 in

⁄2 × 81⁄2 in

⁄2 × 11 in

⁄2 × 14 in

2-6 Controlling the Printer

Dialog box Setting Options

Image Settings

Halftoning Halftone* No halftoning

About — Contains version information about

* These options have no default setting; the setting is determined

automatically by the Document Types setting.

Brightness –50% - 0% - 50% Contrast –50% - 0% - 50% Color Matching* Off

Vivid Photo-realistic Standard

Error diffusion Dithering A Dithering B

the driver

Changing Settings

To change a printer setting, open the appropriate dialog box by choosing the tab. Change one or more settings and then move to the next tab you want to change. When you have made all changes in one or more dialog boxes, ch oos e the OK button to save all the settings. This closes the printer driver and returns you to your application program or Windows.

Note:

The availability of some settings or options in a dialog box may depend on the setting selected in another dialog box; so not all option s or settings may be listed, or some may be displayed in backgroun d type.

If you want to return all printer driver settings to their factory defaults, choose Defaults. To exit the printer driver without saving your settings, choose Cancel.

For more information about the settings, see this chapter, choose the Help button in the driver dialo g box, or select the EPSON Stylus ReadMe icon in the EPSON program group.

Controlling the Printer 2-7

Document Type

These settings tell the printer what type of document you are printing and which print head unit is installed.

Document Types

Select the document type that most closely matches the type of document you are printing or let the printer driver select it automatically.

Automatic is the default setting and produces the best printed results. This setting lets the printer driver analyze the data on each page of your document and adjust the Printing Mode (resol ution), Color Matching, and Halft on e settin gs automatically. The driver selects the resolution and halftone settings based on data contained on each entire page, but selects the colo r matchi ng set ting based on each objec t on a page, such as each graphic or block of text.

You achieve the best results using the Automatic setting. However, if you prefer to set the document type manually, choose one of the follow ing option s:

❑ Select Presentation when you are prin ting documents

containing many graphi c elements, such as charts in presentations.

❑ Select Photograph when you are printing photographs. ❑ Select Drawing when you are printing computer-generated

illlustrations.

❑ Select Text when you are printing documents that contain

text only.

2-8 Controlling the Printer

Each of the manually set document types select predefined settings for Color Matching and Halftone, as listed in the following table.

Document Type Color Matching Halftone

Presentation Vivid Error diffusion Photograph Photo-realistic Error diffusion Drawing Standard Error diffusion Text Standard Error diffusion

If you change a predefined Colo r Matching or Halftone setting, the driver erases the currently selec ted docu men t type and uses your settings instead.

Print Head Unit

Specifies Color Head Unit for printing in CMY color. CMY refers to the printer’s colored inks: cyan (blue-green), magenta, and yellow. (A blend of all three produces compos ite bl ack. ) When you select Monochrome Head Unit, the printer prints using only black ink. If you are printing a color image and Monochrome Head Unit is selected, the printer converts color data to grayscale values. If yo u are printing a black and white image and Color Head Unit is selected, the printing time increases significantly.

Note:

If the Print Head Unit setti ng does not match the i nstalled print head unit, the quality of your printed output may decline.

Controlling the Printer 2-9

Paper Settings

The Paper settings determine the size of the document, its orientation, and copyin g inform ation .

Paper Size

By default, the printer expects letter-size (8.5 × 11 inches) paper. To select a different paper or envelope size, choose from the following predefined si zes:

⁄

× 8

⁄

× 10 in

⁄

× 9

A4 210 × 297 mm A4 (Centered) 210 × 297 mm Letter 8 Letter (Centered) 8 Legal 8 Legal (Centered) 8

⁄

× 11 in

⁄

× 14 in

⁄

× 11 in

⁄

× 14 in

Envelope #10 4 Envelope DL 110 × 220 mm Statement 5 Executive 7 User Defined

Note:

If you selected a country other than the United States in the Windows Control Panel International utility, the default paper size may be different. In addition, the measurement units display ed in the printable area example (beneath the Paper Size box) may be metric.

⁄

Use one of the Centered paper sizes only if you want the image to be centered on the page and your software program does not have a setting that lets you do this. Centered images have a slightly smaller printable area.

If you select User Defined, you can create a custom paper size in the pop-up box that appears beneath the Paper Size box. Change the current Paper Width and Paper Height sett ings to the values you want. You can select a width from 3.93 to

9.5 inches (100 to 241.3 mm) and a height from 3.93 to 44 inches (100 to 1117.6 mm).

2-10 Controlling the Printer

Portrait or Lan dscape

Select either the Portrait or Landscape button to specify the orientation of the image on the page. In portrait orientation, the top of the page is parallel to the short ed ge of the paper. In landscape orientation, the top of the page is parallel to the long edge of the paper.

Normally you should select the page orientation in your software application, not with the driver.

Paper source

For your printer, the paper source is always Auto Sheet Feeder/Manual.

Copies

Allows you to specify the number of copies to be printed, whether to collate them (print them in sets), and whether you want to print the pages in reverse order (from last page to first page).

Normally you should sel ect these three settin gs from the Print dialog box in your software program, not with the driver. Be sure you do not choose multiple copies in both the Print dialog box and the driver.

Note: The Copies

options may require additional system memory. If you see an error message or are unable to print using these options, try closing any unnecessary applications, reducing the size of your print job, turning off the Copies

options, or increasing system memory.

Controlling th e Printer 2-11

Printing Mode/Options Settings

The Printing Mod e/O pti ons setti ngs l et you defi ne the resolutio n, med ia type, and prin ti ng optio ns for you r do cu men t. The followi ng tabl e sho w s how the se settings are rela ted to each other and which options are available in the different modes.

Printing Mode setting Media Type setting Default Print Options*

Super - 720 dpi Special coated

paper for 720 dpi High-quality glossy

paper Plain paper MicroWeave On

Best - 360 dpi Special coated

paper for 360 dpi Special coated

paper for 720 dpi Plain paper MicroWeave Off

Transparency MicroWeave On

Draft - 180 dpi Plain paper MicroWeave Off

MicroWeave On High Speed Off

High Speed Off MicroWeave On

High Speed Off

High Speed On

High Speed Off

High Speed On

* You may not be able to change these options to a setting other than the

default setting.

Be sure to select the Prin ting Mode before the Media Type.

Printing Mode

Specifies a resolution of 720 dpi, 360 dpi, or 180 dpi. Resolution is the amount of detail used to create an image. The higher the resolution, the sharper and finer the image.

2-12 Controlling the Printer

For the best possible resolution, choose Super - 720 dpi. When you select this resolution , Mi croW eave is automati ca ll y turned on and High Speed mode is turned off. For the best possibl e results at 720 dpi, load EPSON special coated paper for 720 dpi, or EPSON high-quality gloss y paper.

For most color printing, select Best - 360 dpi. This resolution produces good-quality, full-color images using less memory and in less time than 720 dpi. For the best results at 360 dpi, use EPSON special coated paper for 360 dpi.

When speed is important and draft quality is good enough, use Draft - 180 dpi resoluti on.

Note:

Printing at lower resolutions also conserves i nk.

Media Type

Sets up the printer for the type of paper loaded. Depending on the Printing Mode setting, Media Type can be one of the following:

Plain paper Special coated paper for 360 dpi Special coated paper for 720 dpi High-qual ity glossy paper Transparency

For specific information on when to use each paper type, see Chapter 1.

Print Options

Allows you to turn the MicroWeave and High Speed mode settings on or off.

Controlling th e Printer 2-13

MicroWeave reduces the possibility of banding, the light horizontal lines that can mar an image. When you turn on MicroWeave, the printer produces sup erior output because graphics data is reordered and printed in fine increm ents. It slows the print speed but is recommended for printing color and grayscale images. Because it does not improve the print quality for text and line art, turn it off to print these kinds of images faster.

When you turn on High Speed mode, the printer uses bidirectional printing, reducing the time it takes to print an image. Bidirectio nal printing is fast, but for highest qu ali t y always turn off High Speed mode.

Note:

If the vertical lines appear misaligned when you print with High Speed mode on, calibrate the printer as described in Chapter 3.

Image Settings

The Image Settings options allow you to adjust a document’s brightness, contrast, and color correction settings. Whenever possible, use your software program to make these adjustments.

If you use the printer driver, it is best to let its Automatic Document Type setting select the appropriate image settings for you. If your original image is of poor quality, however, you can adjust the image settings to improve the printed output.

To help you decide on the best settings, a preview of a sample image appears in the Image Settings dialog box. As you change settings, the preview image is updated accordingly.

2-14 Controlling the Printer

If you want to change the sample image to another bitmap (.BMP) image file, doubl e-clic k the preview image area. Then, in the dialog box that appears, select any other bitmap file you may have. The image must be a 1-, 4-, or 8-bit per pixel bitma p format. If the image size is different from the original, it may appear small or not display completely in the preview image area.

Image

Adjusts the brightness and contrast of your color or grayscale printed images.

Brightness

Controls the lightness or darkness of an image. Increase brightness to lighten an image; decrease it to darken an image.

Contrast

Controls the degree of difference be tween the light and dar k areas of an image. When you increase contrast, the light areas become very light and the dark areas become very dark. When you decrease contrast, the difference in intensity is more subtle, making the whites and bright colors appear more muted and the blacks appear very dark gray.

Color Matchin g

Controls the printer’s color correction features based on the selected Document Type. Color Matching is automati call y set to the most appropriate setting when you select a particular document type or use the Automatic setting. It is best to leave Color Matchin g set to the driver’s selection.

To use color matching, make sure the Color Print Head is selected in the Document Type tab. If Monochrome Print Head is selected, Color Matching is not available.

Controlling th e Printer 2-15

The settings perform the followin g functio ns:

❑ Off turns off color matching so you can use your

application program’s color correction features.

❑ Vivid intensifies the colors and lightens the midtones of

images such as presentation graphics and charts.

❑ Photo-realistic increases the contrast in images such as

color photographs.

❑ Standard adjusts co lors so they closel y match the origi na l

screen colors in images such as illustrations.

Halftoning Settings

You achieve the best halftoning results when you let the printer driver’s Document Type setting select the appropriate halftone method. If you selected the Automatic Document Type option, the driver selects halftone settings appropriate to each page it prints.

If you selected one of the other docu men t types, the driver selects a predefined halftone setting. If you change a predefined halfton e setting, the driver erases the currentl y selected Document Type option and uses the halftone setting you selected.

Note:

It is recommended that you set halftoning in the driver rather than the halftone or dithering settings available in your software.

2-16 Controlling the Printer

If you prefer to set the halftoning method manually, follow these guidelines:

❑ Use No halftoning to speed printing for text or

monochrome line art. Do not use it when printing in color.

❑ Error diffusion is best for photographic images. It creates

color by randomly distributi ng the dots, makin g edges and colors softer. It takes longer to print, but it produces the best print quality for photographic images.

❑ Dithering A and Dithering B arrange dots in ord erly

patterns. The dithering method is relatively fast and is best suited for printin g charts, graphs, and other images that require precise, solid areas of bright colors. Use Dithering A for images with limited detail and shading. Use Dithering B for images with significant detail but limited shading.

Managing Print Jobs

The EPSON Spool Manager was automatically copied to your hard disk drive when you installed the printer software. When you print a document, the printer uses the EPSON Spool Manager to send data to the printer. This allows you to continue working in your software program while printin g.

Whenever you send a print job to the printer, the Despooler status box appears in the bottom right corner of your screen and an icon for the EPSON Spool Manager appears in the bottom portion of your screen. The Spool Manager icon is also included in the EPSON group so you can manage print queues or perform other operations when you are not sending a print job.

Controlling th e Printer 2-17

Note:

You may not see the EPSON Spool Manager icon i n the bottom portion of your screen if the Windows Program Manager window or an application window is maximized. Reduce the window size to reveal the icon.

The Despooler status box, which is similar to the one shown below, allows you to monitor the progress of the print job and cancel ( ), pause ( ), or restart ( ) the print job.

If you do not want the Despooler status box to appear eac h time you print, double-click the EPSON Spool Manager icon to open it. Then open the View men u and selec t Show Despool Popup to turn it off; the check mark next to the option disappears.

Other options in the EPSON Spool Manager allow you to hold and cancel print jobs, choose what information to display in the Spool Manager Window, and manage print queues and print jobs on a network. Click Help for more information.

2-18 Controlling the Printer

You can also access the EPSON Spool Manager when you are not printing. Double-c l ick the Spool Manager icon in the EPSON Program group.

Note:

If you get an error message while trying to print, the problem may be caused by conflicts with other temporary files or directories. See Chapter 4 for more information.

Using the Printer’s Control Panel

The printer’s control panel contains lights for displa ying the printer status and buttons for controlling certain functions, as described in this section.

Since most printer settings can be controlled from your software, you do not often need to use the control panel. Normally you need to use it only to do the following:

❑ Clean the black or color print heads ❑ Replace an ink cartridge or print head ❑ Turn on economy or condensed mode ❑ Pause the printer temporarily or reset it.

Controlling th e Printer 2-19

Lights

Power On when the printer is on.

Error On or flashes in combination with other lights to

indicate printing problems or errors. For help with printing errors, see Chapter 4.

Condensed On when condens ed mod e is selected. In this mod e,

the printer prints selected fonts at 60% of their width so that more characters can fit on a page.

Economy On when eco nom y printi ng mode is selected . In

economy mode the printer uses less ink by printing fewer dots per character. It also makes black printing appear gray. Use this mode for rough drafts of text only that are printed from DOS applications.

Pause On when printin g is paused and fl ash es wh en you

clean the print heads or replace a print head unit or ink cartridge. Never turn off the printer when the Pause light is flashing.

The Pause light also flashes when an error occurs.

Buttons

This section describes the control panel button functions as well as certain button combinations and power-on sequences.

Alt Used alone or in combina tion with other but tons to

clean the print heads, replace the print head unit or ink cartridge, and other functions.

2-20 Controlling the Printer

Load/Eject Loads or ejects a sheet of paper. The printer

normally loads and ejects paper automatically.

Pause Stops printing temporarily. Press it again to resume

printing. To reset the printer, hold down this button for about five seconds until all the lights turn on. This clears the printer’s buffer and restores the factory defau lt settings.

Button combinations and power-on functions

The button combination s below let you perform add iti ona l functions to control your printer.

Alt + POWER

switch

Load/Eject + POWER

switch

Alt + Pause Starts the print head cleaning cycle; see “Cleaning

Pause + POWER

switch

Prints a demonstration page of the printer’s fonts and colors. (Paper must be loaded in the printer.) Hold down Alt until the printer feeds a page. To exit demonstration mode, wait until the Pause light comes on; then turn off the printer.

Checks the paper length and performs a printer self test at 360 dpi. Hold down Load/Eject until the printer feeds a page. To stop the self test, press the Pause button and then turn off the printer. See “Testing the Printer” in the Setup Guide for more information.

the Print Head” in Chapter 3.

Enters the printer’s Defaul t settin g mode and pri nts an instruction pa ge; see “Usin g the Default Setting Mode” on page 2-23 for more information. Hold down Pause until the printer feeds a page. To exit the Default setting mod e, press the Pause button and turn off the printer.

Controlling th e Printer 2-21

Alt + Load/Eject

Selects a combination of economy printing and condensed printing m odes, as shown below. Hold down the buttons together to enter Economy/Condensed mode. Then hold them down again until the Economy and Con densed lights indicate the appropriate selection.

Alt + Load/Eject + POWER

switch

Load/Eject + Pause + POWER

switch

Economy

Status

Economy and Condensed printing off

Condensed printing on Off On Economy printing on On Off Economy and Condensed

printing on

light

Off Off

On On

Condensed light

Enables the non-sm ear printing featu re, which reduces the chance of smeared pages by decreasing the per-line printing speed. This mode is helpfu l when printing on coated paper because it allows more time for the ink to dry. To exit the non-smear mode, press the Pause button and turn off the printer.

Prints a page contai ni ng a hexadec i mal representation (hex dump) of the data received by the printer for troubleshooting purposes. See Chapter 4 for more information. Hold down Load/Eject and Pa use until the printer feeds a page. To exit the hex dump mode, press the Pause button and turn off the printer.

2-22 Controlling the Printer

Using the Default Setting Mode

Additional printer functions are available through the Default setting mode. Because the printer’s factory defau lt settin gs are designed to meet the needs of almost all users, you rarely need to change the additional print er functions listed below. If necessary, however, you can turn on the Default setting mode and change the settings using the control panel buttons.

❑ Character table. Selects the set of characters and symbols

that can be printed. The default is the U.S.A. characte r table. If you commonl y use a language containing accents , symbols, or other characters not availa ble in the U.S.A. character table, change to a different character table. For a list of characte r tables, see Appendix B.

❑ Network interface mode. If you’re having trouble printing

when the printer is connected to multiple computers, turn on network interface mode. By default, network interface mode is off.

❑ Print direction. Specifies how the print head moves across

the page. The options are Uni-D, Bi-D, and Auto (defau lt) . When Uni-D is on, the print head prints in only one direction to provide the most precise alignment for graphics and text. In Bi-D printing, the print head prints in both directions. Bi-D is faster, but the vertical alignment may not be as precise as Uni-D. When Auto is selected, the printer switches automatically between Uni-D and Bi-D as necessary when it receives data.

❑ Auto line feed. Specifies that a carriage return character

encountered in the print file be accompanied by a line feed command. By default, auto line feed is off. If text lines print on top of one another, turn on auto line feed.

Controlling th e Printer 2-23

❑ Loading position . Determines the top margin by defining

how close to the paper edge the first line can print. The loading position can be 3 mm or 8.5 mm (default). Normally you should use your software to adjus t your top margin.

❑ Font and Pitch. Select the built- in printer font and charac te r

pitch used as the default setting. The factory default pitch is 10 cpi; the defaul t font is Courier. Generally you use your software to select the font and pitch.

❑ Thick paper. Select Envelope (default) if you print on thick

paper or envelopes.

To turn on the Default setting mod e and pri nt instru cti on s, turn off the printer. Then hold down the Pause button while you turn the printer back on. Follow the instructions the printer prints to change the default settings by pressing the buttons on the control panel. When you are finished, press Pause and turn off the printer to exit Default setting mode. (If a partial page feeds before you press Pause, press Load/Eject to clear the paper path.)

2-24 Controlling the Printer

Chapter 3

Maintenance

Cleaning the Print Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Replacing the Print Head Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3

Replacing an Ink Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7

Selecting the Correct Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

Removing and Installing an Ink Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . 3-9

Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-14

Calibrating the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Maintenance 3-1

The instructions in this chapter tell you how to do the followin g to maintain an d care for your printer:

❑ Clean the print head ❑ Replace the print head unit ❑ Replace an ink cartridge ❑ Clean the printer ❑ Transport the printer ❑ Calibrate the printer.

Cleaning the Print Head

The printer periodically cleans the print head automatically, so normally you should not need to manual ly run a cleanin g cycle. However, if print quali t y dimini shes, run the print head cleaning cycl e to unclog the print head so the nozzl es del iver ink properly.

The cleaning cycle takes about one minute, during which the carriage moves and you hear the printer recharging the print head. The Pause light flashes throughout the cleaning cycle and then stays on when the cycle is finis hed .

Follow these steps to clean either print head:

1. Make sure the printer is turned on and press the Pause

button.

2. Hold down the Alt button and press Pause. The cleaning

cycle begins.

3. When the cleaning cycle is done, press the Pause button to

resume p rinting.

3-2 Maintenance

After you clean the print head, turn off the printer; then hold down the Alt button as you turn the printer back on. This prints a demonstration page so you can see if your print quality has improved. (After the page prints, the Pause light comes on; turn off the printer to exit demonstration mode.)

It can sometimes take up to five cleaning cycles to improve print quality. If the print quality does not improve after you clean the print heads five times (printin g a demo nstration pa ge to check after each cycle), contact your dealer or authorized EPSON servicer.

To clean the other print head, replace the one currently installed (as described below). Th en repeat the steps in this section.

Replacing the Print Head Unit

When you need to switch between color and monochrome printing, follow the instructions in this section to remove one print head unit and replace it with the other.

Caution:

When you switch between print heads, always leave the i nk

cartridges installed in the print head unit. Once you remove an ink cartridge from its print head unit, it becomes unusable.

1. Make sure the printer is turned on and press the Pause button. The Pause light comes on.

Maintenance 3-3

2. Open the printer cover by lifting the edges on both sides.

Warning:

Never insert your hand in the paper path behind the center of the cover; you may damage the printer or injure your hand.

3. Hold down the Alt button for about five seconds until the

print head moves slightly left, to the ink cartridge install position. The Pau se light begins flashing.

Caution:

3-4 Maintenance

Never move the print head unit by hand; always use the Alt button to move it.

4. Raise the blue print head uni t release lever as far as it will go.

Caution:

5. Grasp both sides of the print head unit and carefull y lift it out of the printer. Place the unit on a flat, clean surface.

Do not lift up the ink cartridge clamp; the ink cartridge and print head become unusable.

release lever

Caution:

Do not touch the electrical contacts on the back and bottom of the print head unit or inside the printer; you may damage them.

Maintenance 3-5

6. Remove the other print head unit from its storage box by pressing the notch as shown.

notch

7. Carefully insert the print head unit into the printer with the electrical contacts and the print head facing the back of the printer, as shown.

3-6 Maintenance

8. When the print head unit is fully seated, press the blue lever down until it clicks into place.

Caution:

9. Press the Alt button to return the print head to its home position. (Ev en if you do not press Alt, the printer moves the print head back to its home position about 60 seconds after you close the clamp.)

10. Place the print head unit you removed in the storage box. Always store the unused print head unit in this box to protect its delicate components.

11. When the Pause light stops flashing, press the Pause button.

12. Close the printer cover.

If the Error and Pause lights start flashing, remove the print head unit (beginning with step 4) and reinsert it.

Replacing an Ink Cartridge

The printer’s Error light tells you when an ink cartridge is low on ink and when you need to replace the cartridge. If the Error light flashes, the cartridge is low on ink. If the printer stops, the Pause light comes on, and the Error light flashes rapidl y, the cartridge is empty.

Before replacing a cartridge, try cleaning the print head as described on page 3-2.

Maintenance 3-7

Caution:

Selecting the Correct Ink Cartridges

Use only these EPSON ink cartridges:

Do not replace an ink cartridge unless the Error light tells you to. If you replace a cartridge before the light flashes, the sensor that tells you when ink is out will not work with the new cartridge.

Leave the old cartridge installed in the printer until you are ready to replace it with a new one. Attempting to print without a cartridge installed c an damag e the printer.

When you discard your used ink cartridge, always remove it from the print head unit first. Do not discard the print head unit.

Once you install an ink cartridge, do not open the clamp or remove the cartridge except to replace it with a new one. Once you remove a cartridge, you cannot reuse it.

Black ink cartridge S020047 Color ink cartridge S020049

When you need new ink cartridges, con tac t your deal er or call EPSON Accessories at (800) 873-7766 (U.S. only). In Canada, call (800) BUY-EPSON for sales locations.

Caution:

3-8 Maintenance

Use only genuine EPSON cartridges and do not refill them. Other products may cause damage not covered by EPSON’s warranty.

Removing and Installing an Ink Cartridge

Follow these steps to replace an ink cartridge:

1. Make sure the printer is on and the Error light is flashing.

2. Press the Pause button; the Pause light comes on.

3. Open the printer cover by lifting the edges on both sides.

4. Hold down the Alt button for about five second s until the print head moves slightl y lef t, to the ink cartridge install position. The Pause light begins flashing.

The carriage returns to the home position after 60 seconds if the ink cartridge is not removed.

Caution:

5. Raise the ink cartridge clamp to open it. The cartridge rises partially out of the printer.

Never move the print head by hand; always use the Alt button to move it.

ink cartridge clamp

Maintenance 3-9

6. Lift the cartridge out of the printer and dispose of it carefully so any excess ink does not spill ou t. Do not take the used cartridge apart or try to refill it.

Warning:

7. Open the package containing the ink cartridge and remove the cartridge from its foil wrapper. Remove the tape seal from the top of the cartridge.

If ink gets on your hands, wash them thoroughly with soap and water. If ink gets into your eyes, flush them immedia tely wit h water.

color cartridge

Caution:

3-10 Maintenance

You must remove the tape seal from the top of the cartridge; leaving the tape on will permanently damage it. Do not remove the clear tape seal from the bottom of the cartridge; ink will leak out.

black cartridge

8. Lower the ink cartridge into the print head unit with the label facing up and the arrow on the top of the cartridge pointing toward the back of the printer.

9. Press down the ink cartridge clamp until it locks in place. You will feel some resistance.

Caution:

Once you install an ink cartridge, do not open the ink cartridge clamp aga in or remove the cart ridge except to replace it with a new one. Once you remove a cartridge, do not reuse it. Reusing a cartridge that has been remo ved may damage the print head.

Maintenance 3-11

10. Press the Alt button again to return the print head to its home position. (Even if you do not press Alt, the printer moves the print head back to its home position about 60 seconds after you close the clamp.)

The Pause ligh t flashes as th e printer char ges the ink delivery system.

11. Close the printer cover. When the charging cycle fini shes, the Pause light stops flashing and stays on. Press the Pause button to turn off the light and resume printing.

Caution:

In order to maintain optimum print quality, the printer periodically performs a cleani ng operation. You may notice the cleaning cycle being performed when the printer has been on for a while without being used or when yo u turn on the printer after it has been off for a while.

Never turn off the printer while the Pause light is flashing.

When you discard an ink cartridge, always remove it from the print head unit first. Do not discard the print head unit.

Use only genuine EPSON ink cartridges and do not refill them. Other products may cause damage not covered by EPSON’s warranty.

You may also need to manually activate a cleaning cycle if you notice a decline in print quality. See page 3-2 for more information.

3-12 Maintenance

Cleaning the Printer

If you want to clean the printer, follow these steps:

1. Turn off the printer and disconnect any cables connected to it. Be sure to keep the printer cover closed as you clean it.

2. Remove any paper or other media from the sheet feeder.

3. Carefully clean away loose dust and dirt with a soft brush.

4. Clean the exterior of the printer with a soft cloth dampened with mild detergent.

5. To clean ink out of the printer’s interior, wipe it gently with a damp cloth.

Caution:

Never use alcohol or thinner to clean the printer; these

chemicals can damage the components and the printer case.

Do not use a hard or abrasive brush; these can scratch the printer surfaces.

Do not allow water to get on the printer mechanism or any electronic compon ents.

Do not touch the gears inside the printer.

Do not spray inside the printer with lubricants or oils; they can damage the printer mechanisms.

Maintenance 3-13

Transporting the Printer

If you need to transport your printer, carefully repack it in the original box and packing material s as follows:

1. Turn off the printer, if you have not already done so.

2. Open the printer cover and make sure that the print head is locked in the far right position. If it isn’t, turn on the printer, wait about 10 seconds, and turn it off.

Caution:

3. Use a strong adhesive tape to secure the print head to the side of the printer.

4. Unplug the power cord from the electrical outlet.

5. Disconnect the interface cable from the printer.

6. Remove any paper from the sheet feeder and remove the paper support.

Do not remove the ink cartridges when transporting the printer. Transporting the printer without the cartridges installed can damage the printer.

7. Push in the output tray extension and rotate the output tray until it is beneath the printer.

8. Attach the protective materials to the printer. See the Notice Sheet that was packed with the printer.

9. Repack the printer and attachments in the original box.

Be sure to keep the printer flat as you transport it. If you notice problems with the printed image after transporting the printer, clean the print head as described on page 3-2. If the printed image is misaligned, cali b rate the printer as described in the next section.

3-14 Maintenance

Calibrating the Printer

Your printer has been calibrated at the factory so that vertical lines in your text a nd graphics are properly aligned. If you notice misaligned im ages in printou ts, however, yo u can calibrate the printer with the Bi-D Calibration Utility. You may need to do this after moving the printer to a new location, for example.

You can copy the Bi-D Calibration Utility from the Windows printer driver diskette to you r hard disk, or run it from the diskette when needed. You calibrate the printer twice—once with the monochrome pri nt head instal led and once with the color print head instal led. Follow these ste ps:

1. If you did not install the Bi-D Cali bration Utili ty on your hard disk, insert the driver diskette in your computer’s diskette drive.

2. Make sure Windows is running.

3. To start the Bi-D Calibration Utility using Windows 3.1 Program Manager, choose Run from the File menu. The Run dialog box appears.

To start it using Windows 95, click Start; then choose Run.

4. In the Command Line box (Windows 3.1) or the Open field (Windows 95) type the drive and directory name where the utility is located. For example, type A:CALIBRAT (or

C:\

Print Quality Problems

To help you determine the nature of the problem, you may want to print a demonstration page and analyze the elements on it. See Chapter 2 for instruction s.

Print quality problems can often be solved b y cleaning the print head as described earlie r in this chapter. Note that it may take as many as five cleaning cycles to solve a print quality problem. If c leaning the p rint head does not improve the print quality, try the following:

❑ Check the status of the Error and Pause lights to see

whether the ink cartridge is low on ink or is empty. If so, replace the cartridge as described in Chapter 3.

❑ For color or complex grayscale images, turn on

MicroWeave and turn off High Speed mode.

❑ Use a higher quality paper. For best print quality, use

EPSON special coated papers for 360 and 720 dpi or EPSON high-quality glossy paper (720 dpi only).

Note:

Do not use high-quality glossy paper when you print at 360 dpi.

❑ Make sure the Media Type setting matches the type of

paper or other media loaded in the printer.

❑ If you’re printing a scanned image and the colors are not

right, first try to fix the problem using your scanning software program.

If print quality does not improve, see the following spec ific problems.

Troubleshooting 4-3

Printed output is not what you expect or is faint or blurred.

You may not be printing on the correct side of the paper. On coated paper, print only on the white coated side; on glossy paper or transparencies, print only with the cut corner facing the right side of the sheet feeder. If you’re not sure which side is the printable surface, test both sides to determine which side gives you the best print quality. Also remove each sheet as it is printed to prevent smearing by the next sheet.

Check that the paper thickness and thickness adjustment levers are set correctly for the media type. (See “Setting the Paper Thickness and Adjustment Levers” in Chapter 1 for more information.) Faint or blurred printouts can result if you print on plain paper or labels with these levers in incorrect positions.

Use a higher quality paper. Also, check that the Media Type setting in the driver is set for the type of paper or other media you loaded. If you are using 720 dpi resolution, you get better results if you use EPSON specia l coa ted paper for 720 dpi or EPSON high-quality glossy paper.

Check whether economy printing mode is on. To turn off this mode, press the Alt and Load/Eject buttons as described in Chapter 2 until the Economy mod e is turned off.

Turn on non-smear printin g mo de, if neces sary, as described in Chapter 2.

Check whether your paper is moist or damp. Ink jet printers are sensitive to moisture absorbed by paper. Do not store paper in damp or humid places.

If you are printing color graphic s at 360 or 720 dpi, make sure MicroWeave is on and High Speed mode is off. Check that the Brightness and Contrast settings are appropriate for the image.

4-4 Troubleshooting

Make sure the correct print head is selected in the printer driver. Select Color Head Unit for the color print head and Monochrome Head Unit for monochrome.

Try using the pri nter driver’s Automatic feature to let the driver determine the appropriate image settings.

Your Windows video driver might not be compatible with the printer. Use the standard Windows VGA driver or contact the manufacturer of your video card for an updated driver. For information on changing the video driver, see your Windows documentation.

Clean the print head as described earlier in this chapter.

Replace the ink cartridge.

Vertical lines do not align.

Calibrate your printer as described in Chapter 3.

You see white banding in your printed output.

Turn on MicroWeave in the printer driver. If you still see white banding, clean the print head as described earlier in this chapter. You may need to run two or three cleaning cycles.

The printout contains incorrect or garbled characters.

Make sure EPSON Stylus COLO R IIs is selec ted as the defau lt Windows printer driver.

If you are running Windows, make sure the Print Manager is turned off in the Control Panel Printers utility; see your Windows documentation or online help for instructions.

Print jobs may be held in the EPSON Spool Manager. Select any print jobs marked pending, waiting, or held; then select Delete or Cancel Printing.

Troubleshooting 4-5

If you still see incorrect or garbled characters, try printing a demonstration page to see if the problem is with your printer; see Chapter 2 for instructions. If the demonstration page prints, you may have a problem with your application software or your printer cable. Make sure your cable is connected securely and see your program’s documentation for troubleshooting information. If no demonstration page prints, you may have a problem with your printer; contact your EPSON dealer or authorized EPSON servicer.

You see incorrect colors in your printout.

Make sure EPSON Stylus COLOR IIs is selected as the default Windows printer driver.

Check that the printer driver’s Brightness and Contrast settings are appropriate for the image.

If you scanned the image, the different color interpretation technologies us ed b y your scanner, moni tor, and pri nter can never produce an exact color match with the original image. However, check your scanner documentation for utilities you can use to calibrate your scanner to your monitor and prin ter to more closely match colors.

If you are printing from a DOS application using economy mode, black text or graphics will appear gray on your printout; turn off economy mode to achieve de eper blacks.

Printing starts too high or too low on the page, or the page length or margins are not what you expect.

Make sure you selected the correct Pape r Size option in the printer driver; see Chapter 2 for instructions.

Use your software program to adjust the margins, or change the number of lines per page, or change the page length setting to match the paper you are using.

4-6 Troubleshooting

If necessary, chan ge the loadin g posi tion of the paper using the Default setting mode as descri bed in Chapter 2.

Problems with Printing

If you cannot get the printer to print, first check that paper is loaded in the printer. Then check that the printer is plugged into a worki ng electrical outlet that is not controlled by a switch or timer. Verify that the i nterface cable is securely connected to the printer and computer.

After you have done all this, see the following speci fi c problems.

Printing stops and the

No paper is loaded in the printer. Load paper in the sheet feeder; then press the Pause button to turn the Pause light off and resume printing.

Printing stops and the

Error

and

Economy

Pause

lights are on.

light is flashing, but the

light is off.

Paper may have jammed in the printer. Turn off the printer and gently pull out the paper. If it tears and remains inside the printer, open the printer cover and remove the paper. See “Paper Handling Problems” later in this chapter for information on preventing paper jams.

The

Error

light is flashing.

The ink cartridge is low on ink; replace the ink cartridge as described in Chapter 3.

Error

Troubleshooting 4-7

Printing stops and the

Error, Condensed

, and

Pause

are flashing.

There is a carriage error. Turn off the printer; then, after a few seconds, turn it on and try printing again. If the same lights flash again, contac t your deal e r or an authorized EPSO N servicer.

lights

Printing stops and all lights are flashing (except the

Power

light).

There is a fatal error; contact your dealer or an authorized EPSON servicer.

The

Error

and

Pause

You may have pressed the Alt button when the ink cartridge or the print head unit was not installed or not install ed correc tly. Check the installation steps in Chapter 3 to reinstall the ink cartridge or print head unit.

lights flash.

The printer sounds like it is printing, but nothing prints.

The print head may need cleaning. See Chapter 3 for instructions.

The ink cartridge may be too old. A cartridge is too old if it has been used longer than six months or beyond the date on its packaging. First clean the print head as described earlier in this chapter. If this does not solve the problem, replace the ink cartridge.

The cable between the printer and computer may not meet the specifications for the printer or computer. See “System Requirements” in the Setup Guide for cable guidelines.

Turn off the printer and perform a self test as described in Chapter 1 of the Setup Guide. If the self test does not print, the problem is with the printer. If the self test prints correctly, the problem is probably caused by your software.

4-8 Troubleshooting

The printer driver installed with Windows 3.1 does not work correctly after you upgrade to Windows 95.

You need to reinstall the printer driver after upgrading to Windows 95 so the driver is set up correctly for Windows 95. See the Setup Guide for instructions.

You see error messages because of printing conflicts.

Before sending print jobs to the printer, the EPSON Spool Manager stores them in a temporary directory. If you see conflict error messages or printing is very slow, the problem may be caused by other temporary files in this directory. To change the EPSON Spool Manager default directory, follow these steps:

1. Make a dire ctory on you r hard d isk w here you woul d like the Spool Manager to pl ace the fil es, fo r exam ple, C:\ SPL T EMP.

2. Open the EPSON program group and double-click the Spool Manager icon.

3. Make sure Stylus COLOR IIs is selected, and then open the Queue menu.

4. Select Setup. In the Qu eue Setu p di a log box , ch an ge the spool directory to the one you created in step 1.

5. Also make sure the Use Print Manager for this port checkbox is checked. Then selec t OK.

6. Open the Options menu and select Default Spool Directory.

7. In the dialog box, change the spool directory to the one you created in step 1. Then select OK.

8. Close the Spool Manager.

Troubleshooting 4-9

The printer prints blank pages.

Make sure EPSON Stylus COLOR IIs is selected as the default Windows printer driver.

Make sure you selected the correct Pape r Size option in the printer driver; see your Setup Guide for instructions. Also make sure the margins you selected in your application software fit the paper size you’re using.

Text printing is slow.

You may be using printer driver settings that are more suitable for graphics printing and unnecessarily slowing down text printing. First make sure Monochrome print head is installed in your printer and selected in the printer driver.

To speed up text printing only, turn off MicroWeave mode and turn on High Speed mode. Some combinations of Printing Mode (resolution) and Media Type do not allow you to select these settings; if this is the case for your settings, select a lower resolution, possi bly usin g 180 dpi for drafts and 360 dpi for your final output. However, do not turn off MicroWeave when printing final copies of high-quality graphics or photographs.

Ink cartridges do not last as long as expected.

The ink cartridge life depends on the amount of ink used in printing. If you often print pages with large graphics and dense text with little white space, you will use up cartridges faster than if you print pages with lots of white space.

The printer also uses ink during print head cleaning operations, so do not perform them unless necessary.

If you replace an ink cartridge before the Error light flashes, the sensor that tells you when ink is out will not work with the new cartridge.

4-10 Troubleshooting

The printer does not seem to receive print jobs sent by the computer.

Release any print jobs that may be held in the EPSON Spool Manager. Start Spool Manager and click any job marked pending or held. Then open the Docu men t men u and selec t Dele te. Verify that the EPSON Stylus COLOR IIs print queue is not held, open the Queue menu and cli ck Hol d if there is a check mark beside the option.

Make sure EPSON Stylus COLO R IIs is selec ted as the defau lt Windows printer driver.

If you still get no output, try printing a demonstration page to see if the problem is with your printer; see Chapter 2 for instructions. If no demonstration page prints, you may have a problem with your printer; contact your EPSON dealer or authorized EPSON servi cer.

If the demonstration page prints, you may have a problem with your application softwa re or your printer cable. Make sure your cable is connected securely and see your program’s documentation for troubleshooting information. You can use the printer’s hex dump mode to pinpoint communication problems between the printer and a software program. To turn on hex dump mode, first turn off the printer. Then hold down the Load/Eject and Pause buttons, turn on the printer, and send a print job. The printer prints the exact codes it receives from the computer in hexadeci mal format. Report the codes to your support technic ian.

Troubleshooti ng 4-11

Paper Handling Problems

This section descri bes how to prevent paper jams inside your printer and ensure that paper feeds properly.

Paper Jam Problems

If paper jams inside the printer frequently, try the following:

❑ Use a higher quality paper that is suitable for ink jet

printers and is not too thin, too thick, or rough. For best quality, use EPSON special coated and high-quality glossy papers. See Chapter 1 for more information about loading paper and Appendix A for paper specifications.

❑ Fan the stack of paper before you load it. ❑ Do not load too many sheets in the sheet feeder. You can

load up to 100 sheets of plain paper, 70 sheets of special coated paper, 10 envelopes, 50 sheets of transparency film (with one sheet of plain paper beneath the stack), or 30 sheets of high-quality glossy paper (with one sheet of plain paper beneath the stack).

❑ If you loaded plain paper, try turning the stack over. The

printable side may have been facing down.

Paper Feeding Problems

If paper is not feeding properly, the most likely causes are the following:

❑ Paper is curled or folded. Use flat, undamaged paper. ❑ The paper is of poor qu ality; use a better quality paper. ❑ The paper is too thin or thick; see Appendix A for paper

size and type specifications.

4-12 Troubleshooting

❑ The paper was exposed to excess humidity, over 60%. See

Appendix A for specific ation s on required envi ronm ental conditions.

❑ The edge guides are too tight or too loose. Adjust the left

edge guide for the size of the paper.

❑ Too many sheets are loaded in the sheet feeder. You can

load up to 100 sheets of plain paper, 70 sheets of special coated paper, 10 envelopes, 50 sheets of transparency film (with one sheet of plain paper beneath the stack), or 30 sheets of high-qualit y glossy paper (with one sheet of plain paper beneath the stack).

Printing

Printing method: On-dem and in k jet Nozzle conf igu ratio n: 64 monochr ome (b lac k) nozzl es

(16 × 4 staggered)

60 color nozzles

(20 × 3, cyan, magenta, yellow)

Printable colum n s and printin g speed (colo r, letter-siz e paper)* :

Printing speed Character pitch (characters per inch)

10 80 125 170 12 96 150 204 15 120 188 255 17 (10 condensed) 136 214 290 20 (12 condensed) 160 250 340

* Print speeds vary depending on system configuration, software

application, resolution, and amount of page covered.

Resolution:

Printable columns

Maximum 360 dpi on a 720 × 720 dpi matrix. Dots are printed in an alternating pattern in which horizo ntal and vertical dots are non-c on tiguo us . Contiguous printing of dots is available only on the diagonal, whic h yields an effective resolution greater than 360 dpi .

Paper feed speed:

102 milliseco nds per

(characters per second)

Monochrome Color

⁄6-inch line

Input buffer: 0.5KB to 15KB depending o n

monochrom e/c olor head unit selec tion

Print direction: Bidirectional with log ic seek ing for text and

graphics ; unidirectio nal and au todir ectio nal

modes available in Defau lt settin g mode Control code: ESC/P 2 and expanded ra ster grap hic s co de Paper feeding: Auto sheet feeder

A-2 Technical Specifications

Line spacing:

⁄6-inch, 1⁄8-inch, programmable in 1⁄

increments Character tables: 1 Italic and 8 graphics charac ter ta bles Character sets: 14 International and 1 legal character se ts

Paper

Note:

Since the qualit y of any particul ar brand or type of pape r ma y be chang ed by the manufactu re r at any tim e, EPSO N can not gua ra ntee the us e of any pa rticul a r brand or type of paper . Alwa ys tes t sampl es of paper stock b efor e purcha sing l ar ge quan titi e s or pri nt i ng l ar ge j ob s.

Paper path: Sheet feeder, top entry Paper suppor t/ sheet feeder : 100 sheets of plain paper at 17 lb (64 g/m

10 envelopes

50 transparency films with one sheet of

plain paper ben eath the stack an d pri nted

one page at a time 70 sheets of EPSON spec ial c oated paper 30 sheets of EPSON high-quality glo ssy

paper with one sh ee t of plain paper

beneath the stack or single sheet loaded

and printed one page at a time

360

-inch

)

Paper size:

Letter (8.5 × 11 inches) A4 (210 × 297 mm) Legal (8.5 × 14 inches) Statement (8.5 × 5.5 inches) Executive (7.5 × 10 inches)

Paper types: Plain paper and specia l pap ers di stribu t ed

by EPSON (hig h-qu ali ty glos sy pa per, special coated paper, and transpa renc ies)

Paper thicknes s: 0.003 to 0.004 inch (0.08 to 0.11 mm) Paper weigh t: 17 to 24 lb (64 to 90 g/m

Use 24 lb (90 g/ m

)

) paper und er nor ma l

temperature and humid ity co nditions.

Technical Spec if ica tions A-3

Envelopes:

Size

No. 10 9.5 × 4.1 inches (240 × 104 mm) DL 8.7 × 4.3 inches (220 × 110 m m)

Paper types Plain , bond, or air mail pap er Paper thickn ess 0.006 to 0.02 inch (0.16 mm to 0.52 mm) Paper weigh t 12 to 24 lb (45 to 90 g/m

)

Transparencies:

Size

A4 (210 × 297 mm) Letter (8.5 × 11 inches)

Thicknes s 0.003 to 0.0033 inch (0.075 to 0.085 mm )

Note:

Poor qual ity pa pe r may red uce pr in t qual i ty and ca u se pape r jam s and oth er problems. If you encounter problems , switch to a higher grade of paper.

Print on speci a l co at ed paper, hi gh-qual i ty gloss y pa p er , e nv e lo pes, and transpar encies only un der these norm al conditions:

Tempera ture : 59 to 77°F (15 to 25°C) Humidity: 40 to 60% RH

(High-quality glossy paper can be stored at 20 to 60% relative humidity.)

Do not load cur le d or fo lded pape r, envel o pes , or transp ar enci es .

The following EPSON genuine papers are available:

Special coa ted pap er for 720 dpi print in g (Lett er) S041062 Special coa ted pap er for 720 dpi print in g (Lega l) S041048 Special coa ted pap er for 360 dpi print in g (Lett er) S041060 High-qua li ty glos sy pa per (L ette r) S041072 Transp arency f i lm (Let ter) S041064

A-4 Technical Specifications

Printable area:

Single sheets

Envelopes

A The minimum top margin is 0.12 inch (3.0 mm). BL The minimum left margin is 0.12 inch (3.0 mm).

Note: When printing multiple sheets of glossy paper, the minimum top

margin is 1.2 inches (30 mm).

BR The minimum right margi n is:

0.12 inch (3.0 mm) for Statement and Exec utive pa per, and Transparencies

0.38 inch (9.7 mm) for Letter and Legal paper, and transp aren cies

0.15 inch (3.8 mm) for A4 paper

0.54 inch (13.8 mm) for DL envelopes

1.38 inches (35 .1 mm) for #10 envelo pes

C The minimum bot tom margi n is 0.54 inches (14.0 mm).

Note:

Always load paper int o the shee t feeder short edge first exce pt enve lope s. Loa d envelopes long e dg e firs t.

Technical Spec if ica tions A-5

Ink Cartridges

Black ink cartridge (S020047):

Color Black Print capacity* 540 pages (A4 paper; text) Cartridge life 2 years from production date and up to 6

Temperature Storage: –4 to 104°F (–20 to 40°C)

months after open ing the pa cka ge at 77°F (25°C) .

1 month at 104°F (40°C)

Transit: –22 to 140°F (–30 to 60°C)

1 month at 104°F (40°C) 120 hours at 140°F (60°C)

Freezing:** 24.8°F (–4°C)

Dimensions

Color ink cartridge (S0200 49):

Colors Cyan, magen ta, and yellow Print capacity* 320 pages (A4 paper; 360 dpi; 5% each

Cartridge life 2 years from production date and up to

Temperature

Dimensions

* The print capacity may vary depending on how often you use the print

head cleaning function. Also, if you print large graphics and dense text with little white space, you use ink faster.

** The ink thaws and is usable after approximately 3 hours at 77°F (25°C).

1.8 inches (W) × 2.3 inches (D) × 1.5 inches (H)

color)

6 months after opening the pa cka ge at 77°F (25°C) .

Storage: –4 to 104° F (−20 to 40°C)

1 month at 104°F (40°C)

Transit: –22 to 140°F (−30 to 60°C)

1 month at 104°F (40°C) 120 hours at 140°F (60°C)

Freezing:** 24.8°F (−4°C)

1.7 inches (W) × 2.2 inches (D) × 1.5 inches (H)

A-6 Technical Specifications

Caution:

Use only genuine EPSO N car tri dge s and do not refi ll them. Other

products m a y caus e da mage not covere d by EPSO N ’s wa rr ant y.

Do not use a n in k ca r tr id ge a ft er the exp iration da te on the pa c ka g e.

Mechanical

Paper feed me thod: Fri ctio n with auto/m anu al sheet feeder, top

entry Total print volume: 25,000 pages Dimension s: Without paper support and ou tput tray

Width 15.6 inches (396. 7 m m)

Depth 8.1 inches (2 05.6 mm)

Height 5.7 inches (144.0 mm)

With paper suppo rt and o utpu t tray

Width 15.6 inches (396. 7 m m)

Depth 20.8 inches ( 528. 5 mm)

Height 10.5 inches (267.3 mm) Weight: 8.6 lb (3.9 kg) witho ut the ink cartrid ge and

print head unit

Electrical

Input voltage range: 103 .5 to 132 V Rated frequency range: 50 to 60 Hz Input frequency range: 49.5 to 60.5 Hz Rated current: 0.5A Power consu mptio n: A ppro x. 13 W (du ring self test printing a t

10 cpi)

Technical Spec if ica tions A-7

Environmental

Temperatur e: Operation 50 to 95°F (10 to 35°C)

Storage* –4 to 140°F (−20 to 60°C)

1 month at 104°F (40°C) 120 hours at 140°F (60°C)

Humidity: Operation 20 to 80% RH

Storage* 5 to 85% RH

(without condensation)

* Stored in shipping container

Safety Approvals

Safety standards : UL 19 50 with D3, CSA 22.2 950 with D3 R.F.I.: FCC part 15 su bpa rt B class B

CSA C108. 8

Fonts

The printer comes with an installed set of fonts as described and shown in the tables below. Howe ver, the printer alw ay s uses the fonts yo u select with your softw are p rog ram. The only tim e you need to selec t the printer’s installed fonts is when you r softw are pr ogr am does not allow you to select fonts.

You can select other font and pitch com bin ation s using ESC /P 2 commands, as describ ed in Appendi x B.

Scalable fonts

Fonts

EPSON Roman 8 32 2 EPSON Sans Serif 8 32 2 EPSON Roman T 8 32 2 EPSON Sans Serif H 8 32 2

Minimum point size

A-8 Technical Specifications

Maximum point size Increments

Bitmap fo nts

Fonts 10 cpi 12 cpi 15 cpi Proportional

EPSON Roman √ √ √ √ EPSON Sans Serif √ √ √ √ EPSON Courier √ √ √ N/A

Font samples

Interface Specifications

Your printer is equipp ed w ith an 8-bit par allel interfa ce. Data format: 8-bit parallel, IEEE P1284 compatibl e mod e Synchroni zatio n: Handshake timin g: BUSY and Signal level: TTL co mpa tible Connector: 36-pin Centronic s connec tor or equival ent

STROBE pulse

ACKNLG signals

Technical Spec if ica tions A-9

Pin Assignments

Signal pin

19-30 - GND - Twisted-pair return signal

Return pin Signal Direction Description

119 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 28

11 29 BUSY OUT A HIGH signal indicates the

12 28 PE OUT A HIGH signal indicates the

13 28 SLCT OUT Pulled up to +5 V through

14 30 15 - NC - Not used 16 - GND - Logic ground level 17 - CHASSIS

18 - Logic H OUT Not used

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

STROBE IN STROBE pulse to read data. DATA 1

DATA 2 DATA 3 DATA 4 DATA 5 DATA 6 DATA 7 DATA 8

ACKNLG OUT About a 5-µs pulse. LOW

AFXT IN Not used

GND

IN IN IN IN IN IN IN IN

- Printer’s chassis ground,

These signals represent information in bits 0 to 7 of parallel data respectively. Each signal is at HIGH level when data is logical 1 and LOW when it is logical 0.

indicates data has been received and the printer is ready to accept more data.

printer cannot receive data. The signal goes HIGH in the following cases:

1) During data entry (for each character)

2) During initialization

3) During self test, demonstration, and default setting printing

4) During a printer-error state

printer is in a paper-out state or in an error state.

1 kΩ resistance

which is connected to the logic ground

ground level

A-10 Technical Specifications

Signal pin

Return pin Signal Direction Description

31 30

32 29

33 - GND - Same as for Pins 19-30 34 - NC - Not used 35 - +5 V OUT Pulled up to +5 V through

36 30 SLIN IN Not used

INIT IN When this signal goes LOW,

the printer controller is reset to its default state when the power is first turned on and the print buffer is cleare d. This level is normally HIGH; its pulse width must be more than 50 µs at the receiving terminal.

ERROR OUT This signal level goes LOW

when the printer:

1) Is out of paper

2) Is in an error state

3) Has no ink cartridge installed

1 KΩ resistance

Notes:

The column heading “Direction” refers to the direction of signal flow as viewed from th e printe r.

“Return pin” de no tes the twis te d-p air ret urn pin to be connect ed a t signal gro und le vel. For th e i n terface wirin g, be sure to u se a twi sted - p air ca ble for ea c h signal and to complete the connection on the return side.

All interface conditions are based on TTL lev el. Both the rise and fall times of each signal must be less than 0.2 micr oseconds.

Data transfer must be carried out by observing the Data tra nsfer to thi s printer can be carr i ed o ut o nly after r ecei pt of the

ACKNLG or BUSY signal.

ACKNLG

signal or wh en the l evel of the BUS Y signal is LOW.

Technical Specifica tions A-11

Timing Chart

BUSY

ACKNLG

DATA

STROBE

0.5 µs (Min.)

0 µs (Min.)

Transition time (both the rise and the fall) of every signal must be less than 0.2 µs.

5 µs (Typ.)

Initialization

The printer can be initializ ed (retu rned to a fixed set of cond ition s) in these ways:

Hardware initialization ∗ The printer is turned on

∗ The printer receives an

the parallel interface: pin 31 goes LOW

Software initialization ∗ Software sends the ESC @ (initialize the

printer) command; the last panel settings are kept

Control panel initialization ∗ Ho ld down th e Alt button an d press

the Pause button (buffer clear); the last panel settings are kept

All three initializatio n method s reset the font accordi ng to the default settings selected using the control panel. However, ESC @ does not initialize the prin ter mechan ism , clear the inpu t data buf fer , or clear the user-defi ned ch arac ter set. The contro l pa nel ini tializ ation does no t initialize the printer mechan ism or clear the user- defi ned ch arac ter set.

INIT signal from

0 µs (Min.)

A-12 Technical Specifications

Default Settings

The table below shows the defau lt se ttin gs that take effect wh en th e printer is initiali zed.

Item Default setting

Top-of-form position Current paper position Page length Single sheets:

61 lines for letter-size paper

65 lines for A4-size paper Left and right margins Cancelled Line spacing Character pitch Last font selected using default setting Vertical tab position Cleared Horizontal tab positions Every eight characters Font selection Last font selected using default setting Special printing effects Cancelled (except condensed and

User-defined character set Hardw ar e /cont ro l p an e l i niti alizatio n : clea r ed

Graphic mode assignment ESC K = ESC ∗ 0, ESC L = ESC ∗ 1,

In addition, hardwa re and contro l panel ini ti aliz ation erases any text in the data buffer.

⁄6-inch line spacing

economy printing)

Software initialization: deselected only

ESC Y = ESC ∗ 2, ESC Z = ESC ∗ 3

Technical Specifica tions A-13

A-14 Technical Specifications

Appendix B

Commands and Character Tables

Command List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2

Character Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3

International Character Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-7

Characters Available with ESC (^ Command . . . . . . . . B-8

Commands and Ch ara cter Ta bles B-1

Command List

This printer works with the following ESC/ P 2 commands . If you need more information about using printer commands, you can purchase the ESC/P 2 Reference Manual (ESCP2REF) from EPSON Accessories by calling (800) 873-7766 (in the U.S. only). In Canada, call (800) BUY-EPSON for sales locations.

General operation:

ESC @, ESC U, ESC EM

Paper feeding

CR, FF, LF, ESC 0, ESC 2, ESC 3 , ESC +

Page format

ESC ( C, ESC C, ESC C 0, ESC Q, EXC 1, ESC (c, ESC N, ESC O

Print position motion

ESC $, ESC \, ESC ( V, ESC ( v, ESC D, HT, ESC B, ESC J, VT

Font selection

ESC k, ESC x, ESC X, ESC P, ESC g, ESC p, ESC 4, ESC 5, ESC E, ESC F, ESC !, ESC M

Font enhancement

ESC W, DC4, SO, DC2, SI, ESC w, ESC G, ESC H, ESC T, ESC S, ESC -, ESC q

Spacing

ESC SP, ESC c, ESC ( U

Character handling

ESC t , ESC (t, ESC R, ESC %, ESC &, ESC :, ESC 6, ESC 7, ESC ( ^

Bit image

ESC *

Graphics

ESC ( G, ESC ., ESC (e

Color

ESC r

MicroWeave

ESC (i

B-2 Commands and Charact er Tabl es

Character Tables

The printer comes with an installed set of character tables. However, when printing from Windows and most DOS software programs, the printer prints the characters you see on screen and does not use its built-in cha racter tables. Unl ess you’re printing from a DOS program, and cannot print the character you need, you should never have to change the character table.

These character tables are selected using the printer’s Default setting mode or by using software comm ands .

All tables except the italic are the same as the PC437 table for hex codes 00 through 7F, so only the PC437 table is shown completely. The rest of the tables show only the characters for hex codes 80 through FF.

PC437 (U.S., Standard Europe)

Commands and Ch ara cter Ta bles B-3

PC850 (Multilingual) PC860 (Portuguese)

PC861 (Icelandic) PC863 (Canadian-French)

B-4 Commands and Charact er Tabl es

Epson Stylus Color IIs User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Printer Parts

Introduction

Getting the Most Out of Your Printer

Three Resolutions to Choose From

Special Papers

Specially Formulated Ink

Automatic Printer Driver Settings

MicroWeave for Superior Output

High Speed Mode for Fast Printing

Energy Star Compliance

Energy-saving Tips

How to Use This Manual

Where to Get Help

Electronic Support Services

Important Safety Instructions

Choosing Paper and Other Media

Setting the Paper Thickness and Adjustment Levers

Paper Thickness Lever

Thickness Adjustment Lever

Loading Plain Paper

Feeding Paper One Sheet at a Time

Loading Special Papers and Other Media

Loading Special Papers and Transparencies

Loading Envelopes

Using the Printer Driver

Accessing the Driver

Using the Driver Dialog Box

Changing Settings

Document Type

Paper Settings

Printing Mode/Options Settings

Image Settings

Halftoning Settings

Managing Print Jobs

Using the Printer’s Control Panel

Lights

Buttons

Using the Default Setting Mode

Cleaning the Print Head

Replacing the Print Head Unit

Replacing an Ink Cartridge

Selecting the Correct Ink Cartridges

Removing and Installing an Ink Cartridge

Cleaning the Printer

Transporting the Printer

Calibrating the Printer

Print Quality Problems

Problems with Printing

Paper Handling Problems

Paper Jam Problems

Paper Feeding Problems

Other Paper Handling Problems

Printing

Paper

Ink Cartridges

Mechanical

Electrical

Environmental

Safety Approvals

Fonts

Interface Specifications

Pin Assignments

Timing Chart

Initialization

Default Settings

Command List

Character Tables