Epson Stylus Color 777 Installation guide

EPSON Stylus Color 777/777i
Printer Basics
Printed on recycled paper.

ii
Copyright Notice
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION. The information contained herein is designed only for
use with this EPSON printer. EPSON is not responsible for any use of this information as applied to other
printers.
Neither SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION nor its affiliates shall be liable to the purchaser of this product or third
parties for damages, losses, costs, or expenses incurred by purchaser or third parties as a result of: accident, misuse,
or abuse of this product or unauthorized modifications, repairs, or alterations to this product, or (excluding the
U.S.) failure to strictly comply with SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION’s operating and maintenance instructions.
SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION shall not be liable for any damages or problems arising from the use of any
options or any consumable products other than those designated as Original EPSON Products or EPSON
Approved Products by SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION.
Trademarks
EPSON, EPSON Stylus, EPSON Photo Stickers, and Micro Weave are registered trademarks of SEIKO EPSON
CORPORATION.
PhotoEnhance, EPSON Software, and EPSON Store are trademarks and Fix-it Flix and Print Lab are service
marks of Epson America, Inc.
General Notice: Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of
their respective owners. EPSON disclaims any and all rights in those marks.
The ENERGY STAR emblem does not represent EPA endorsement of any product or service.
CPD-10839
Copyright © 2000 by Epson America, Inc. 8/00

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Contents
Welcome! 1
About Your Documentation 1
Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips 1
Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual 2
Watching Printer Movies 4
Printing from Start to Finish 5
Printing with Windows 5
Loading Paper 5
Opening the Printer Software 6
Selecting Printer Software Settings 7
Controlling Printing 8
Printing on a Macintosh 9
Loading Paper 9
Opening the Printer Software 10
Selecting Printer Software Settings 11
Controlling Printing 12
Using PhotoEnhance, Custom, and Advanced Settings 13
Enhancing Photos 13
Using Custom Project Types 14
Using Advanced Settings 15
Printing on Envelopes 15
Using Special Papers 16
EPSON Matte Paper - Heavyweight 16
EPSON Photo Paper 16
Selecting the Correct Media Type 17
Maintaining Your Printer 19
Cleaning the Print Head 19
Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern 20
Replacing an Ink Cartridge 21
Ink Cartridge Precautions 21
Determining Which Cartridge to Replace 22
Removing and Installing Ink Cartridges 22

iv
Aligning the Print Head 24
Cleaning the Printer 25
Transporting the Printer 26
Problem Solving 27
Identifying Printer Parts 27
Diagnosing Printer Problems 28
Checking the Control Panel Lights 28
Running a Printer Check 29
Problems and Solutions 30
Setup and Software Installation Problems 30
Printing Problems 31
Print Quality Problems 32
Problems with Paper Feeding 34
Miscellaneous Printout Problems 35
Uninstalling and Reinstalling Printer Software 36
Where To Get Help 37
EPSON Technical Support 37
Creative Software Technical Support 38
Requirements and Notices 39
Windows System Requirements 39
Macintosh System Requirements 40
ENERGY STAR Compliance 40
Important Safety Instructions 41
Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions 42
FCC Compliance Statement 43
Declaration of Conformity 43
Epson America, Inc. Limited Warranty 44
Index 45

1
Welcome!
Your EPSON Stylus®Color 777 or EPSON Stylus Color 777i printer is the ideal
output device for home or home office printing. With resolutions of up to 2880 by
720 dpi, you can print anything from reports and resumes to family photos and
greeting cards with great results.
The EPSON Stylus Color 777i printer is identical to the EPSON Stylus
Color 777 printer, except for the printer lid and color. Therefore, this
guide refers to the printer and its software as EPSON Stylus Color 777.
About Your Documentation
To set up your printer and install its software, see the Start Here sheet. This book
contains instructions on:
■viewing your electronic printer manual and printer movies
■printing with Windows®or on a Macintosh®
■maintaining the printer
■solving basic problems
For system requirements, important safety information, and your printer warranty,
see page 39. For detailed information on using your printer and its software, see your
electronic Reference Guide, as described on page 2.
Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips
Warnings must be followed carefully to avoid bodily injury.
Cautions must be observed to avoid damage to your equipment.
Notes contain important information about your printer.
Tips contain additional hints for better printing.

2
Viewing Your Electronic Printer Manual
Your printer software CD-ROM includes an electronic Reference Guide for your
printer. The manual is in HTML format, so you need a browser—such as Microsoft®
Internet Explorer 3.0 or later or Netscape Navigator®3.0 or later—to view it. If you
are using a different browser, the pages may not display correctly.
A browser is not included on the printer software CD-ROM.
You can view your electronic Reference Guide from the CD-ROM or copy it to your
hard drive and view it from there. Follow these steps:
1. Insert your printer software CD-ROM.
2. Windows: Double-click My Computer, double-click your CD-ROM
drive icon, then double-click the EPSON icon.
Macintosh: Double-click the EPSON CD-ROM icon, then double-click the
EPSON icon.
The Main Menu appears:
3. Click View EPSON
Documentation. A submenu
appears:
4. Click View Reference
Guide. You see another
submenu. You can view the
manual from the CD-ROM
or copy the manual to your
hard drive and view it from
there. For details on viewing
it, see the next section.
Click here
Click here

3
If you copied the manual to your hard drive, you can access it at any time, as follows:
Windows: Select Start, Programs, EPSON, and double-click ESC777 Guide.
Macintosh: Open the EPSON Stylus Color 777 folder and double-click View
Reference Guide.
When you first open the Reference Guide, you see this screen:
Click a topic on the left to expand the table of contents.
After expanding the table of contents, you can click on the topic you want to view.
If there’s a right arrow , click it to view subtopics, then click on a topic to go to it.
Click the down arrow to close a subtopic list.
If you see an icon in place of a graphic when viewing your Reference
Guide in Netscape Navigator, click the Reload button to load the
graphic.
Click here to
expand the
table of
contents
Closed list,
click to
expand
Click to go
to topic

4
Watching Printer Movies
Need help loading plain or special paper, replacing ink cartridges, or cleaning the
print head? Your printer software CD-ROM includes helpful Fix-it Flix movies that
explain these common tasks.
Follow these steps to watch your printer movies:
1. Insert your printer software CD-ROM.
2. Windows: Double-click My Computer, double-click your CD-ROM
drive icon, then double-click the EPSON icon.
Macintosh: Double-click the EPSON CD-ROM icon, then double-click the
EPSON icon.
The Main Menu appears:
3. Click View EPSON
Documentation, then click
Watch Printer Movies.
The main Fix-it Flix screen
appears:
4. Click the poster for the movie you want to see. If necessary, select an option on
the next screen. The movie starts playing.
SM
Click here

5
Printing from Start to Finish
Here’s what to do to print a basic document—such as a newsletter or photograph—
from loading the paper to selecting print settings to controlling the print job. Follow
the instructions in these sections:
■“Printing with Windows” below
■“Printing on a Macintosh” on page 9
If you’re already familiar with EPSON ink jet printing, you can skip ahead
to these sections:
■“Using PhotoEnhance, Custom, and Advanced Settings” on page 13
■“Printing on Envelopes” on page 15
■“Using Special Papers” on page 16
■“Selecting the Correct Media Type” on page 17
Printing with Windows
This section describes the basic steps for printing with Windows.
(To print on a Macintosh, see page 9.)
Loading Paper
Make sure your printer and computer
are turned on.
Place your paper against the right edge
of the sheet feeder and slide the left
edge guide against the paper. (Don’t
push the paper deeper into the feeder.)
Follow these guidelines when loading
paper:
■Load the printable side face up. It’s usually whiter or brighter than the other side.
■Load letterhead or preprinted paper into the printer top edge first.
■Don’t load paper above the arrow on the left edge guide.
Load paper only
up to this arrow Slide paper
against the
right edge

6
If you’re printing on envelopes, see page 15 for loading instructions.
Opening the Printer Software
After you open your application program and create your document, you’re ready to
select your printer software settings.
From the File menu, click Print. You see your application’s Print dialog box (your
dialog box may look slightly different):
Make the following selections on the Print dialog box:
■Make sure EPSON Stylus Color 777 is selected.
■Click the Properties button. (If you see a Setup, Printer, or Options button, click
it. Then click Properties on the next screen.)
If you click the print icon on your application’s tool bar instead of
selecting Print from the File menu, you may not get the option to change
the printer software settings before printing.
Click here to
open your printer
software
Select your printer here

7
Selecting Printer Software Settings
Once you click Properties, you see your printer software Properties dialog box.
The most important thing to remember is to set the correct Media Type for the paper
you’re using. If necessary, click the Main tab to display the settings shown below:
Make the following settings on the Properties dialog box:
■Choose the paper you’re printing on (click the
arrow to scroll through the Media Type list).
If you’re not sure which setting to select, see
page 17.
■Set the Ink option to Color to print a color
document. To print a black text document,
click Black.
■Set the Mode option to Automatic. It’s the easiest way to get good printing results
on all types of paper.
■Set the slider in the Mode box to Quality or Speed to select high-quality printing,
faster printing, or an in-between setting. (The slider may not be available for your
paper type.)
■Click OK to return to your application’s Print dialog box.
Select higher-quality or faster
printing, or in-between
Select the type of paper you loaded
Select Automatic mode
Select the Ink color
Click OK

8
For more information about printer settings, click the Help button. Or you
can right-click any item on the screen and then click What’s This?.
Selecting the Settings You Use Most Often
The printer settings you make apply only to the application you’re currently using. If
you usually print one type of document in different applications—for example,
legal-sized documents with black ink—you can change the default printer settings for
all your programs. You do this using the Windows Printers utility.
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then select Printers.
2. Right-click the EPSON Stylus Color 777 icon.
3. Select Properties (Windows 95 or 98), Document Defaults (Windows NT), or
Printing Preferences (Windows 2000). Then click the Main tab.
4. Select the default settings you want to use for all your applications. Click OK
when you’re finished.
Remember that you can always change the settings in your application when you want
to print different types of documents.
Controlling Printing
At the Print dialog box, click OK (or maybe Print) to start printing.
Click OK to start
printing

9
After a moment, the Progress Meter appears and shows the progress of your print job.
You can use the buttons to cancel, pause, or restart printing. You can also see how
much ink you have left.
For more advanced printer settings, see page 13. For more information on printing—
for example, previewing your printout, changing the paper size, or adding a
watermark—see your electronic Reference Guide (described on page 2).
Printing on a Macintosh
This section describes the basic steps for printing on a Macintosh.
(To print with Windows, see page 5.)
Loading Paper
Make sure your printer and computer
are turned on.
Place your paper against the right edge
of the sheet feeder and slide the left
edge guide against the paper. (Don’t
push the paper deeper into the feeder.)
Click to cancel printing
Does not appear if
you are printing
over a network
Click to pause or resume
printing
Load paper only
up to this arrow Slide paper
against the
right edge

10
Follow these guidelines when loading paper:
■Load the printable side face up. It’s usually whiter or brighter than the other side.
■Load letterhead or preprinted paper into the printer top edge first.
■Don’t load paper above the arrow on the left edge guide.
If you’re printing on envelopes, see page 15 for loading instructions.
Opening the Printer Software
After you open your application program and create your document, you’re ready to
select your page setup and other printer software settings.
From the File menu, click Page Setup. You see your application’s page setup dialog
box (your dialog box may look slightly different):
Make the following selections on the page setup dialog box:
■Make sure SC 777 is selected. (If the model is incorrect, you need to select your
printer in the Chooser; see the Start Here sheet for instructions.)
■Select the correct Paper Size, Orientation, and Printable Area settings for your
document. See your electronic Reference Guide for details.
■Click OK to close the page setup dialog box and return to your application
window.
Verify your printer model here Select your Paper Size, Orientation,
and Printable Area settings
Click OK

11
Selecting Printer Software Settings
Now open the File menu and click Print. You see the main printer settings dialog box
for your application (your dialog box may look slightly different):
The most important thing to remember is to set the correct Media Type for the paper
you’re using.
Make the following settings on the dialog box:
■Choose the paper you’re printing on (click the
arrow to scroll through the Media Type list).
If you’re not sure which setting to select, see
page 17.
■Set the Ink option to Color to print a color
document. To print a black text document,
click Black.
■Set the Mode option to Automatic. It’s the easiest way to get good printing results
on all types of paper.
■Set the slider in the Mode box to Quality or Speed to select high-quality printing,
faster printing, or an in-between setting. (The slider may not be available for your
paper type.)
■Click Print to print your document.
Select faster or higher-quality printing, or in-between
Select the type
of paper you
loaded
Select Automatic mode
Select the
Ink color

12
Controlling Printing
Once you’ve clicked Print, your document begins printing.
If you turned on background printing, you can select EPSON Monitor3 from the
Application menu at the right side of the menu bar to check the progress of your print
job. You see the EPSON Monitor3 dialog box:
If you’re not using background printing, but you need to cancel the
current print job, hold down the
Jkey and press the .(period) key.
For more advanced printer settings, see page 13. For more information on printing—
for example, previewing your printout, changing the paper size, or adding a
watermark—see your electronic Reference Guide (described on page 2).
Click to cancel printing
Click to pause printing
Click to restart your print job
Click on the current
print job. . .
or
a waiting print
job . . .
Then click here to
view the details
below and control
print job priorities

13
Using PhotoEnhance, Custom, and
Advanced Settings
When you’re printing special projects, you can customize your printer software
settings, as described in these sections:
■“Enhancing Photos” below
■“Using Custom Project Types” on page 14
■“Using Advanced Settings” on page 15
For additional information on these settings, see the electronic Reference Guide, as
described on page 2.
Enhancing Photos
The printer software includes PhotoEnhance™options that adjust image brightness
and contrast to improve the appearance of low-resolution and improperly exposed
photos. You can also use PhotoEnhance to add special effects.
If you’re printing high-resolution images, you may want to use the
Automatic setting instead, as described on page 7 (Windows) or page 11
(Macintosh).
PhotoEnhance does not affect your original image; it only affects your
printout. Printing with PhotoEnhance may take longer on some systems.
To use PhotoEnhance, you must select Color ink; you cannot turn on
PhotoEnhance with Black ink selected.
To use PhotoEnhance, set the Mode option to
PhotoEnhance in your printer settings dialog
box.
If your photograph was taken with a digital
camera, you can select Digital Camera
Correction to give your printed images the
appearance of photographs taken with a film
camera.
For more fine-tuning, you can select from a list of specialized settings for
photographs, such as People or Nature, or select special filters, such as Soft Focus or
a Sepia tint.

14
Using Custom Project Types
Your printer software includes custom project types with preset printing options. This
lets you quickly select the best settings for your type of document, or select a
color-matching method for your project.
To access the project types, click Custom, then
click the Custom Settings list to open it. Then
select one of these settings:
■Text/Graph: For printing graphics-intensive
documents like presentations with charts
and graphs.
■Economy: For printing rough drafts of text
on plain paper. Saves ink.
■ICM (Image Color Matching; Windows 95, 98, and 2000 only):
For printing documents created in an ICM compatible application.
■sRGB (standard Red Green Blue; recommended only with Windows 98 or
Windows 2000): For printing documents created in an sRGB compatible
application using sRGB colors, such as those designed for the World Wide Web.
See your Windows 98 or Windows 2000 online help for details.
■ColorSync (Macintosh only): For printing documents in conjunction with
ColorSync®compatible devices and applications.
You can also fine-tune these settings on the Advanced dialog box to fit
your individual needs, as described below.

15
Using Advanced Settings
For maximum control over your
project, you can customize your print
settings—such as Print Quality and
Gamma—and use special effects.
To access these settings in your
printer software, click Custom and
then click the Advanced button.
You see the Advanced dialog box.
For details on all the settings, click
Help on screen or see your electronic
Reference Guide (as described on
page 2).
After you customize your print
settings on the Advanced dialog box, you can save them as a group so you can reuse
them whenever you print a similar project. See your electronic Reference Guide for
details.
The default Gamma setting of 1.8 provides the optimum contrast quality
for your photos. However, you can change it to either 1.5 (for decreased
contrast) or 2.2 (for increased contrast; recommended for matching
colors with sRGB devices).
Printing on Envelopes
You can load up to 10 envelopes at a time, flap edge
first and printable side up. Place them against the
right edge of the sheet feeder and slide the left edge
guide against them.
(For best results, press each envelope flat before
loading it, or load one envelope at a time.)
Select Plain paper as the Media Type setting and
choose the correct envelope size as the Paper Size
setting.
If your printout has smears or banding (light lines), try turning off High Speed in the
Advanced dialog box. (See the instructions above to access the dialog box.)
load with the
printable side
up

16
Using Special Papers
How can you get the best-looking photos, most vivid colors, and sharpest text? Always
use EPSON’s special ink jet papers. We’ve included some free samples in the EPSON
Photo Quality Media Pack. Instructions for printing on them are given below.
For instructions on using other EPSON special papers, see the electronic
Reference Guide, as described on page 2. For a list of EPSON special ink
jet papers and ordering information, see the inside back cover.
EPSON Matte Paper - Heavyweight
EPSON Matte Paper - Heavyweight has a professional-looking, flat matte finish for
printing photos and graphics on a non-glossy surface. Load up to 20 sheets as
described on page 5, including a support sheet beneath the stack. Before printing,
select Matte Paper - Heavyweight as the Media Type setting.
EPSON Photo Paper
EPSON Photo Paper lets you print photographs that look almost as good as the ones
you get from film processing. When using EPSON Photo Paper:
■Always load the paper with the whiter (glossier) side facing up.
■Load up to 20 sheets of 4 ×6-inch, letter-size, or A4-size Photo Paper, or 1 sheet
of Panoramic paper. Use a support sheet if it is included in the paper package.
■Select Photo Paper as the Media Type setting.
■Store prints in a resealable plastic bag or other airtight covering and protect them
from heat, humidity, and direct sunlight. Return unused paper to the original
package as soon as you finish printing.