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 a print head cleaning cycle, so do not perform cleaning cycles unless necessary.

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

In Windows 95, the Status Monitor box does not appear with the Despooler.

The Windows Print Manager may be interfering with the Status Monitor. Double-click Spool Manager in the EPSON folder. Open the Queue menu and select Setup. Make sure the Use Print Manager for this port checkbox is not checked.

Then check your bidirectional spool settings. Click Start, open Settings, and select Printers. Double-click the EPSON Stylus COLOR 500 icon, open the Printer menu, and select Properties. Click the Details tab, select Spool Settings, and make sure the Enable bi-directional support for this printer option is turned on. Click OK. The Status Monitor should now appear when you send your next print job.

The printer does not seem to receive print jobs.

On a PC, 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 Document menu and select Delete. To verify that the print queue is not held, open the Queue menu and click Hold if there is a check mark beside the option.

7-12Troubleshooting