
EPSON Stylus COLOR 850Ne
10/98 EPSON Stylus COLOR 850Ne - 11
2. Lower the output tray and raise the printer cover. Then
locate the
Yblack and
Xcolor cleaning buttons next to the
control panel under the printer’s cover.
Caution:
To avoid damaging the printer, never move the print heads by hand.
3. Press both the
Yblack and
Xcolor cleaning buttons and
hold them down for a few seconds until the black print head
moves to the left.
❏To replace the black ink cartridge, follow the
instructions beginning with step 3 of “Removing an
Empty Ink Cartridge” on page 9.
❏To replace the color ink cartridge, press the
Xcolor
cleaning button and hold it down for a few seconds.
After the color ink cartridge moves to the left, follow the
instructions beginning with step 3 of “Removing an
Empty Ink Cartridge” on page 9.
Cleaning the Print Heads
If your printed image is unexpectedly light or faint, or dots are
missing from the image, you may need to clean the print
heads. This unclogs the nozzles so they can deliver ink
properly.
Cleaning the print heads uses ink, so clean them only if print
quality declines. You can clean the print heads in either of the
following ways:
❏With the Head Cleaning utility in your printer software
(when you have installed Status Monitor 2)
❏Using the printer’s control panel buttons
Using the Head Cleaning Utility
Follow these steps to run the utility from a Windows
computer or a Macintosh:
1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing, and the
Bblack and
Acolor ink out lights are off.
2. Access the printer settings dialog box.
3. Click the Utility tab (Windows) or the Utility button
(Macintosh). You see the Utility menu.
4. Click the Head Cleaning button.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen to clean one or
both print heads. Cleaning each head takes about two
minutes, during which the printer makes some noise and
the
Ppower light flashes.
When the power light stops flashing, you need to run a
nozzle check to test the print quality and reset the cleaning
cycle.
Caution:
Never turn off the printer when the
Ppower light is flashing,
unless the printer hasn’t moved or made any noise for more than
10 minutes.
6. Make sure paper is loaded in the printer and click Print
nozzle check pattern (Windows) or Confirmation
(Macintosh). Then click Next. See “Examining the Nozzle
Check Pattern” on page 12 for instructions.
If your print quality has not improved, repeat the steps above.
If you don’t notice any improvement after doing this two or
three times, check the print quality solutions in the User’s
Guide.
Using the Control Panel
Follow these steps to clean the print heads:
1. Make sure the printer is turned on and not printing, and
that the
Bblack and
Acolor ink out lights are off.
2. Open the printer cover, then press the
Yblack or
Xcolor
cleaning button and hold it for three seconds. Cleaning
takes about two minutes, during which the printer makes
some noise and the
Ppower light flashes.
3. When the
Ppower light stops flashing, repeat step 2 for the
other print head if necessary.
Caution:
Never turn off the printer when the
Ppower light is flashing,
unless the printer hasn’t moved or made any noise for more than
10 minutes.
4. After you’re finished cleaning and the
Ppower light stops
flashing, you need to 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 5.
If you’re using DOS or you didn’t install Status Monitor 2,
open an application and print a document containing black
and color data. Then go to step 7.
5. Access the printer settings dialog box. Then click the
Utility tab (Windows) or the Utility button (Macintosh).
You see the Utility menu.
6. Click the Nozzle Check icon, then click Next. See the
next section for instructions on examining the nozzle check
pattern.
7. If your print quality has not improved, repeat the steps
above. If you don’t notice any improvement after doing this
two or three times, check the print quality solutions in the
User’s Guide.