Cleaning The Print Head; Using The Head Cleaning Utility; Using The Control Panel - Epson Stylus Color 900 Product Information Manual

EPSON Stylus COLOR 900

Cleaning the Print Head

If your printed image is unexpectedly light or faint, or dots are
missing from the image, you may need to clean the print head.
This unclogs the nozzles so they can deliver ink properly.
Cleaning the print head uses ink, so clean it only if print
quality declines. You can clean the print head in either of the
following ways:
Using the Head Cleaning utility in your printer software
(when the printer is connected to a local port, not over a
network)
Using the printer's control panel buttons
Always wait until your document has finished printing before
cleaning the print head.
If you use special paper that comes with a cleaning
sheet, don't use the cleaning sheet with your printer; it
may jam inside the printer.

Using the Head Cleaning Utility

Follow these steps to run the Head Cleaning utility:
1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing, and
both the B black and A color ink out lights are off.
2. Access the printer settings dialog box.
3. Click the tab (Windows) or the
Utility
(Macintosh).
4. On the Utility menu, click the
5. Follow the instructions on the screen to clean the print
head. Cleaning takes a little over a minute, during which
the printer makes some noise and the P power light flashes.
Never turn off the printer while the P power light is
flashing, unless the printer hasn't moved or made noise
for more than 5 minutes.
6. When the P power light stops flashing, run a nozzle check
to test the results and reset the cleaning cycle.
Make sure paper is loaded in the printer and click
(Windows) or
nozzle check pattern
(Macintosh). Then click
prints; see "Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern" on
page 11 for details.
7. If the nozzle check pattern is filled in completely, click
.
Finish
If the pattern is missing dots, click
head again. Then try the suggestions in "Problems and
Solutions" in the Printer Basics book or "Troubleshooting"
in the EPSON Stylus COLOR 900 Manual.
10 - EPSON Stylus COLOR 900
Utility icon
icon.
Head Cleaning
Print
Confirmation
. The nozzle check pattern
Next
to clean the print
Clean

Using the Control Panel

Follow these steps to clean the print head:
1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing, and
both the B black and A color ink out lights are off.
2. Press the R cleaning button and hold it down for three
seconds. Cleaning takes a little over a minute, during which
the printer makes some noise and the P power light flashes.
Never turn off the printer while the P power light is
flashing, unless the printer hasn't moved or made noise
for more than 5 minutes.
3. After the P power light stops flashing, print a page to test
the print quality and reset the cleaning cycle.
If you're connected directly to the printer, run a nozzle
check. Go to step 4.
If you're using DOS or printing over a network, open an
application and print a document containing black and
color data. Then go to step 8.
4. Start an application, open a document, and access the
printer settings dialog box.
5. Click the tab (Windows) or the
Utility
(Macintosh). You see the Utility menu.
6. Make sure paper is loaded in the printer, click the
icon, and click
Check
on the printer; see "Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern"
on page 11 for details.
7. If the nozzle check pattern is filled in completely, click
.
Finish
If the pattern is missing dots, click
head again.
8. If you don't see any improvement after cleaning two or
three times, then try the suggestions in "Problems and
Solutions" in the Printer Basics book or "Troubleshooting"
in the EPSON Stylus COLOR 900 Manual.
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Utility icon
. The nozzle check pattern prints
Next
to clean the print
Clean
Nozzle