EPSON Stylus COLOR 980
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 button.
5.Follow the instructions on the screen to clean the print
head. Cleaning takes about 30 seconds, 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 has any gaps, click Clean to clean the print head again. If you don’t see any improvement after cleaning two or three times, try the suggestions in “Problems and Solutions” in the Printer Basics book or “Troubleshooting” in the electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 980 Reference Guide.
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 about 30 seconds, 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 button (Macintosh). You see the Utility menu.
6.Make sure paper is loaded in the printer, click the Nozzle Check button, 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 has any gaps, click Clean to clean the print head again.
8.If you don’t see any improvement after cleaning two or three times, try the suggestions in “Problems and Solutions” in the Printer Basics book or “Troubleshooting” in the electronic EPSON Stylus COLOR 980 Reference Guide.
Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern
Examine the nozzle check pattern you print. It should look something like this:
Each staggered horizontal and straight vertical line should be complete, with no gaps in the dot pattern. If your printout looks okay, you’re done. If there are gaps in the lines, as shown below, clean the print head again; see page 10 for instructions.
gaps in pattern
gaps in pattern
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