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 Utility tab (Windows) or the Utility icon (Macintosh).4.On the Utility menu, click the Head Cleaning icon.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 Print nozzle check pattern (Windows) or Confirmation

(Macintosh). Then click Next. The nozzle check pattern 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 Clean to clean the print head again. Then try the suggestions in “Problems and Solutions” in the Printer Basics book or “Troubleshooting” in the EPSON Stylus COLOR 900 Manual.

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 Utility tab (Windows) or the Utility icon (Macintosh). You see the Utility menu.

6.Make sure paper is loaded in the printer, click the Nozzle Check icon, and click Next. The nozzle check pattern prints 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 Clean to clean the print 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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