Lexmark Optra E310 User Guide

OPTRA E310

First Edition (January 1999) The following paragraph does not apply to any country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law:

LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL, INC. PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you.

This publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in later editions. Improvements or changes in the products or the programs described may be made at any time.

A form for reader’s comments is provided at the back of this publication. If the form has been removed, comments may be addressed to Lexmark International, Inc., Department F95/035-3, 740 New Circle Road N.W., Lexington, Kentucky 40550, U.S.A. In the United Kingdom and Eire, send to Lexmark International Ltd., Marketing and Services Department, Westhorpe House, Westhorpe, Marlow Bucks SL7 3RQ. Lexmark may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any w ay it believ es a ppr opriate without incurri ng a ny ob lig at ion to you. You can purchase additional copies of public ations related to this product by calling 1-800-553-9727. In the United Kingdom and Eire, call 0628-48150 0. In other countries, contact your point of purchase.

Lexmark, MarkVision and Optra are trad emar ks of Lexm ark In terna ti onal, In c., r eg ister e d in the Uni ted State s and/or other countri es. FontVision is a registered trademark of Lexmark International, Inc. Operation ReSource is a service mark of Lexmark International, Inc.

Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in th e U.S . and o the r count rie s. TrueType is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

is a registered trademark of the Hewlett-Packard Company. PCL 5 and PCL 6 are Hewlett-Packard Company’s

PCL

designations of a set of printer commands (language) and functions included in its printer products. This printer is intended by Lexmark International, Inc. to be compatib le w it h the PCL 5 and PCL 6 languages. This means the printer recognizes PCL 5 and PCL 6 commands used in various application programs, and that the printer emulates the functions correspon ding to the commands.

Details relating to compatibility are included in the Technical Reference. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS

This software and documentation are provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, duplication or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and in applicable FAR provisions: Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, KY 4055 0.

Table of

contents

1 About your printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Print quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Ease of use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Other information sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

2 The basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

What’s in the box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Installing the print cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Connecting the printer to your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Loading paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Printing a test page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Attaching a new operator panel overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Installing memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3 Printer drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Printer drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

MarkVision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4 Paper handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Paper types and sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Loading paper, other media in the automatic feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Loading paper, other media in the manual feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Table of contents

iii

Clearing paper jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Indicator lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

6 Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Print cartridge maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Appendix A: Printer specif i cati o ns . . . . . . . . . . 59

Printer features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Printer dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Appendix B: Advanced troubleshooting . . . . . . 61

Appendix C: Safety information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Appendix D: Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X-1

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X-5

Table of contents

About y our

printer

The Optra E310 printer combines the quality of a laser printer with a conveniently small footprint for a perfect fit.

With its easy setup, you’ll be printing in no time. Use this book for information on:

• installi ng printer memory options

• installing printer drivers

• loading paper

• solving printing problems

• understanding the operator panel light sequences

• maintaining your printer

We’d like to keep you informed of upgrades for your printer and new products as they become available, so be sure to fill out the printer registration card and mail it in.

If you have any comments about the printer documentation, use the Reader’s Comment Form in the back of this book. We’d like to hear your suggestions.

Performance The Optra E310 printer prints up to 8 pages per minute

for quick job turnaround. It comes with 2MB of memory, expandable to 66MB to print complex jobs quickly. You can also install an optional flash memory card to store forms, macros and downloaded fonts. PostScript Level 2 and PCL 6 emulation datastreams give you application flexibility.

Print quality Selectable print resolution to optimize printer/job

performance: true 600 x 600 dpi resolution for crisp images and graphics; 1200 Image Quality to print sharper scanned or bitmapped print images; 300 dpi with the Toner Saver setting selected from your printer driver to conserve toner when printing drafts.

Ease of use A variety of fonts for printing flexibility: 45 Laser-Jet

compatible scalable fonts, 39 Optra- compatib le scalab le

fonts, 36 PostScript scalable fonts a nd FontV ision manager utility with 110 fonts and world-class font support, including the new Euro currency symbol.

font

The MarkVision printer utility that ships with your printer lets you:

• view and change your printer settings

• view your operator panel status

• view printer error messages

• use on-line Help

Printer Features

Front View

1 Automatic paper feeder

3 Paper guides

5 Paper support

7 Indicator l ights

8 Paper output bin 9 Front output door

2 Paper

support

4 Manual sheet feeder

6 Paper guides

Use the: When you want to: 1 Automatic paper feeder Load paper/other media (up to 150 sheets of paper or 10 sheets of other media). 2 Paper support Stack media in the automatic paper feeder. 3 Paper guides Adjust the width of the paper in the automatic paper feeder. 4 Manual sheet feeder Load a single sheet of pap er/o ther media. Use for tr ansparencies, labels, env e lo pes

and card stock.

5 Paper support Stack media in the paper output bin. 6 Paper guides Adjust the width of the paper in the manual sheet feeder. 7 Indicator lights Check the status of your printer. For information, see ”Printer status information” on

page 38.

8 Paper output bin Stack printed documents, face down. 9 Front output door For single sheet output. Use the front exit when printing on card stock. To minimize

curl, use when printing labels, envelopes and transparencies.

vii

Rear view

13 Power switch

10 Printer cable

connector

11 USB connector

12 Power cord connector

Use the: When you want to: 10 Printer cable connector Connect your computer to the printer’s parallel port with a parallel interface cable. 11 USB connector Connect your computer to the printer’s USB port with a Universal Serial Bus cable. 12 Power cord connector Connect your printer to a properly grounded wall outlet with a power cord. 13 Power switch Turn your printer on or off.

viii

Operator panel lights

The operator panel has 6 lights and 1 button. Different light sequences provide status, attendance and service information.

Depending on the light sequence, briefly (approximately one second) pushing the Op erator Panel button activates different printer functions, such as restarting the printer, printing data or displaying an error code.

Press and hold the Operator Panel button for 3 seconds

only when you want to reset the printer to the user defaults. When resetting the printer to the user defaults, all print job data is lost.

The different light sequences are explained in the Troubleshooting chapter beginning on page 35. Use MarkVision, your software application driver or the Printer Toolkit provided with your setup diskette to change printer settings such as paper source, paper size and orientation.

To set up your printer, turn to the next chapter.

Other information

sources

In addition to this User’s Guide, Lexmark offers other sources of information about your printer or about Lexmark products and services.

On-line documents The CD that was shipped with your printer contains

several on-line documents. Refer to the booklet that came with the CD for launching instructions. Once you have launched the CD, click the View On-line Documentation icon to display a list of the available documents. All on-line documents are in English only. The CD includes:

• Getting Started with MarkVision, which provides

step-by-step instructions for installing MarkVision for Wi ndows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. It also describes some of the most popular MarkVision features.

• Card Stock & Label Guide, which provides detail ed

information about selecting media appropriate for your printer .

Technical Reference For more information about printer languages and

commands, you can purchase a Lexmark Technica l Reference. Just fill out the order form included with the printer registration card and drop it in the mail.

Diskettes

Po wer cord

The basics

What’s in the box 1 Remove the printer and all accessories from the

packaging carton.

Save the carton and packing materials in case you need to repack the printer for service or storage.

2 Make sure you have the items listed below:

– User’s Guide and printer registration card – printer – print cartridge – power cord – CD – Windows 3.1 diskettes (not shipped to all

countries)

If you need help during setup, or if any items are missing or damaged, refer to the registration card for the designated Lexmark phone number for your country.

3 Place the printer on a flat, stable surface in a

well-ventilated area near your workstation.

User’s Guide

Print cartridge

Do not place the printer:

– in direct sunlight – near heat sources or air conditioners – in dusty or dirty environments

What’s in the box

Installing the print

cartridge

1 Use the finger tab to pull down the printer

cover.

2 Unpack the print cartridge. 3 Holding the cartridge level, pull out the sealing

tape.

Chapter 1: T he basics

4 Gently shake the cartridge to distribute the

toner evenly.

5 Insert the print cartridge:

a Slide the print cartridge down between the

print cartridge slots.

b Gently push down on the cartridge until it

drops into place.

Installing the print cartridge

6 Close the printer cover.

Troubles ho otin g Tip s

Problem: What to do:

Characters appear light or b lu rred. • Make sure you removed the sealing tape from the print cartridge.

• Replace the print cartridge.

Printer seems to be printing, but pages are blank.

Printer is on, but nothing prints. Jobs are not printing and the Error

light is on solid.

Connecting the

printer to your

computer

Using a parallel

interface cable

• The print car tridge may be out of toner. Replace the cartridge.

• The print car tridge may be defective. Replace the cartridge.

• Make sure you removed the sealing tape from the print cartridge.

• Make sure the print cartridge is installed.

To print from software loaded on your computer, your printer needs to be connected to your computer with either a parallel interface cable or a USB cable.

Your printer requires an IEEE-1284 compliant parallel cable. We recommend Lexmark part number 1329605 (10 ft) or 1427498 (20 ft). If you use something other than an IEEE-compliant cable, you may not be able to use all of your printer’s functions.

Chapter 1: T he basics

1 Make sure your printer is turned off. 2 Plug the parallel interface cable into the

connector on the back of the printer.

3 Push the metal clips toward the plug until they

snap in the notches on the plug.

4 Attach the other end of the parallel cable to your

computer.

5 Turn on the printer.

Connecting the printer to your computer

Using a USB cable If you are connecting your printer to a PC with a USB

(Universal Serial Bus) cable, follow the instructions below.

1 Make sure your computer and printer are turne d

off.

2 Connect the USB cable to t he port on the back of

your computer.

3 Connect the other end of the cable to the USB

port on the back of your printer.

4 Turn on your computer and your printer. 5 When the Add New Hardware Wizard screen

appears:

a Select Next to begin searching for new drivers. b Select Next to search for best driver. c At the next screen, deselect the floppy disk

drives box and Microsoft Windows update box and select the Specify Location box.

d Insert the CD that came with your printer, then

select Browse.

e Select the letter of your CD drive and highlight

the Win98USB folder.

f Select OK, Next, Next. g When the hardware is loaded, click Finish.

The CD is autom atically launched.

6 Follow the installation instructions on the

printer drivers screen.

7 Select the LPT1 port as your default printer port. 8 When you are finished, exit the CD. 9 Restart your computer.

Chapter 1: T he basics

10 To select the USB port, choose Settings, then

choose Printers from the Start menu.

11 From the Printers folde r, highlight the Optra

E310 icon.

12 Open the File menu and click Properties. 13 Select the Details tab. 14 In the Print to the following port bo x, select

USB port USB001 (Lexmark USB port).

15 Click OK.

Connecting the printer to your computer

If you are connecting your printer to a Macintosh with a USB cable, follow the instructions below.

1 Connect the USB cable to t he port on the back of

your computer.

2 Connect the other end of the cable to the USB

port on the back of your printer.

3 Launch the CD to install the printer drivers and

utilities (instructions to launch the CD are in the CD booklet).

4 Restart your computer. 5 Open the Apples Extras folder. 6 Open the Apple LaserWriter Software folder. 7 Start the Desktop Printer Utility application. 8 Select Printer (USB) from the list, then click OK. 9 When the next dialog appears:

a Click the Change button in the PPD File box. b Scroll through the list of printer descriptions,

select the Optra E310 PPD, and click Select.

c Click the Change button in t he USB Printer

Selection box.

d Scroll through the list of printer models, select

the Optra E310 and click OK.

e Open the File menu and click Save.

10 When the Save dialog appears, you can give the

printer another name or keep the same name, then click the Save button.

After a short delay, the new desktop printer icon appears.

Chapter 1: T he basics

Troubles ho otin g Tip s

Problem: What to do:

11 Quit the Desktop Printer Utility application. 12 Select the new desktop printer icon. A Printing

menu appears.

13 If you want to use this pr inter as your d efault

printer, select Set Default Pri nter from the Printing menu.

Unexpected characters print or characters are missing.

You are connected to the USB port, but the printer will not print.

Loading paper

Automatic paper feeder

Manual paper feeder

• Make sure the parallel cable or USB cable is firmly plugged in at the back of the printer.

• If you are connected to a PC, make sure you are using Windows 98.

You can load paper in the automatic paper feeder, which holds up to 150 sheets, or the manual feeder, which holds 1 sheet at a time.

1 To print from the automatic paper fe eder , extend

the paper support.

2 Before loading paper, flex the sheets back and

forth to loosen them, then fan them.

Loading paper

3 If the paper has a preferred print si de, insert the

paper with the print side facing you .

If you are loading letterhead paper, insert letterhead with the top of the page pointing down.

4 Slide the paper guides against the edges of the

paper.

5 Extend the paper support on the paper output

bin.

6 Select the paper size from your software

application.

7 Start your print job.

Chapter 1: T he basics

Troubles ho otin g Tip s

Problem: What to do:

T oner s mudges appear on th e front or back of the page.

Paper sticks together/printer feeds multiple sheets of paper.

Paper f ails to feed from the automatic paper feeder.

Paper skews or buckles. • Make sure there isn’t too much paper in the pa per f eeder. The automatic

Printing a test

• Make sure the paper is straight and unwrinkled.

• Remove the paper from the paper feeder and fan the paper.

• Make sure there isn’t too much paper in the pa per f eeder. The automatic

paper feeder holds up to 150 sheets, depending on the thickness of the paper.

• Remove the paper from the paper feeder and fan the paper.

paper feeder holds up to 150 sheets, depending on the thickness of the paper.

• Make sure the paper guides are properly positioned against the edges of the paper.

To check that your printer is working correctly, print a

page

test page.

To print a test page, the print cartridge must be installed (see page 2).

Printing a test page

Troubles ho otin g Tip s

1 Turn the printer off. 2 Plug one end of the power cord into the power

cord connector on the back of the printer and the other end into a properly grounded wall outlet.

3 Turn on the printer.

As the printer powers up, each operator panel light turns on and off, starting with Press Button and ending with the Ready light. If this does not happen, see “Printing problems” on page 36.

4 When the Data light stops blinking and Ready

is the only light on, briefly press the operator panel button.

A test page listing your printer model and default settings should print out. If it doesn’t, ch eck “Printing problems” on page 36.

Problem: What to do:

The operator panel lights do not come on when the printer is turned on.

Attaching a new

operator panel

overlay

Chapter 1: T he basics

• Make sure the power cord is firmly plugged in at the back of the printer and at the wall outlet.

If you have a non-English overlay sheet in your printer box and wish to use it, peel it off and place it over the overlay currently on your printer.

Installing memory To install a memory card or a flash memory card, go on

to the next section. Otherwise, you are ready to set up your application software and install the appropriate printer driver. Refer to the booklet that came with the CD for installation instructions. Turn to Chapter 2 for more information about the printer utilit ies and dri vers.

Your printer comes with 2MB of printer memory. You can buy and install a 4MB, 8MB, 16MB, 32MB or 64MB optional memory card for a total of 66MB of printer memory.

You can also install a 1MB, 2MB or 4MB optional flash memory card for storing downloaded fonts or macros.

Removing the

system board shield

Before installing any of these option cards, you will

need a small Phillips screwdriver to

shield covering the printer system board.

remove the metal

1 Turn off the printer and unplug the power cord

from the printer.

2 Disconnect the printer cable (if attached) from

the printer.

3 Remove the print cartridge and cover it.

Installing memory

Note: Exposing the

photoconductor to light may damage the print cartridge. After you remove the cartridge from the printer , co ve r it or stor e it in a clean, dark place.

4 With the printer fa cing you, place it on its left

side.

5 Turn the printer around so the bottom of the

printer is facing you.

6 Locate and remove the 3 screws on the metal

shield.

Chapter 1: T he basics

7 Grasp the corner of the shield and gently pull it

out, then do wn.

8 Pull the shield away from th e printer.

Installing memory

Notch

Installing a printer

memory card

Connection points

To install an optional printer memory card, follow the instructions below.

1 Remove the printer memory card from its

packaging.

Avoid touching the connection points along the edge of the card.

2 Locate the printer memory connector.

Printer memory connector

3 Hold the option card with the connection points

facing toward the system board, with the notch pointing down and to the left.

4 Insert the c ard into the printer memory

connector at a 45 degree angle.

Chapter 1: T he basics

5 Gently push the card all the way in. 6 Push the card back with your thumbs until it

snaps into place.

Notch

Installing a flash

memory card

Connection points

To install an optional flash memory card:

1 Remove the printer memory card from its

packaging.

Avoid touching the connection points along the edge of the card.

2 Locate the option card connector.

Option card connector

Installing memory

3 Hold the option card with the connection points

facing toward the system board and the notch pointing down and to the left.

4 Insert the card into the option card connector at

a 45 degree angle.

5 Gently push the card all the way in. 6 Push the card back with your thumbs until it

snaps into place.

Chapter 1: T he basics

When you have finished installing the option card(s):

1 Fit the metal shield into the slots and reattach

the screws.

2 Put the printer back to its original upright

position.

3 Re-install the print cartridge. 4 Reconnect the computer cable and latch the

metal clips.

5 Plug the power cord into the printer. 6 Turn the printer on.

As the printer powers up and the operator panel lights begin cycling on and off, there is a pause while the new memory is tested, then the lights continue cycling.

7 When the Ready light comes on, press the

operator panel button briefly and print a test page to verify that printer memory or addi tional flash mem ory is installed.

If the Ready light does not come on, see “Printing problems” on page 36.

Installing memory

Chapter 1: T he basics

+ 80 hidden pages