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EPSON Stylus Photo 960
8 - EPSON Stylus Photo 960 10/02
Testing the Printer
You can run a printer check to determine whether a problem
comes from the printer itself or some other source.
1. Turn off your printer and computer. Then disconnect the
interface cable from the printer.
2. Load letter-size plain paper in the printer.
3. Hold down the m paper button, then press and release the
P power button. When printing starts, release the m paper
button.
A test page prints showing the printer’s ROM version
number, an ink counter code, and a nozzle check pattern.
(If the pattern has gaps, see “Cleaning the Print Head”
below.)
If the test page prints, the problem probably lies in your
software settings, interface cable, or computer, or your
software may not be installed correctly.
If the check page doesn’t print, you may have a problem
with your printer. Try the solutions in the Printer Basics
book.
4. Turn off the printer, reconnect the interface cable, then
turn on your printer and computer.
Cleaning the Print Head
If your printouts are unexpectedly light or are missing colors,
or dots or lines are missing from the image, you may need to
clean the print head. This unclogs the nozzles so they can
deliver ink properly. Print head cleaning uses ink, so clean it
only if quality declines.
This section explains how to clean the print head using the
Head Cleaning utility. This is the recommended method
when the printer is connected directly to your computer (not
over a network).
You can also clean the print head by holding down the H ink
button on the printer’s control panel for three seconds when
the red H ink light is off.
Note: When you don’t turn on your printer for a long time,
the print quality may decline. It’s a good idea to turn on
your printer at least once a month to maintain good print
quality.
1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing, and the
red H ink light is off. (If the H ink light is flashing or on, you
need to replace an ink cartridge; see page 4 for details.)
2. Load letter-size paper.
3. Windows: Right-click the printer icon on the
Windows taskbar, and then click
Head Cleaning.
Macintosh 8.6 to 9.x: Choose
Print from your application’s
File menu. Then click the Utility button. On the
Utility menu, click the
Head Cleaning button.
Macintosh OS X: Open your
Applications folder and
double-click
EPSON Printer Utility. Select SP 960 in the
printer list and click
OK. Then click Head Cleaning.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen to clean the print
head. Cleaning takes about 45 seconds, during which the
printer makes some noise and the green Ppower light
flashes.
Caution: Never turn off the printer while the Ppower light
is flashing, unless the printer hasn’t moved or made noise
for more than 5 minutes.
5. When the Ppower light stops flashing, do the following:
Windows: Click
Print nozzle check pattern. Then click
Print.
Macintosh: Click
Confirmation, then click Next.
The nozzle check pattern prints:
6. If the nozzle check pattern has no gaps in its lines, 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
three or four times, see the solutions in the Printer Basics
book.
Aligning the Print Head
If your printouts contain misaligned lines, you may need to
align the print head. Your printer must be connected to a local
port, not on a network, to use the Print Head Alignment
utility. Follow these steps:
1. Turn on the printer.
2. Load several sheets of EPSON Photo Quality Ink Jet paper
or letter-size plain paper. (For best results, we recommend
Photo Quality Ink Jet paper.)
3. Windows: Right-click the printer icon on the
Windows taskbar, and then click
Print Head Alignment.