Epson Stylus Photo 780 Installation guide

EPSON Stylus Photo 780
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 MicroWeave are registered trademarks of SEIKO EPSON
CORPORATION.
PhotoEnhance, BorderFree, 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-11723R1
Copyright © 2001 by Epson America, Inc. 4/01

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Contents
Welcome! 1
About Your Software 1
About Your Documentation 2
Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Tips 2
Viewing Your Electronic Reference Guide 3
Watching Printer Movies 5
Printing from Start to Finish 7
Printing with Windows 7
Loading Paper 7
Opening the Printer Software 8
Selecting Printer Software Settings 9
Controlling Printing 10
Printing on a Macintosh 12
Loading Paper 12
Opening the Printer Software 13
Selecting Printer Software Settings 14
Controlling Printing 15
Using PhotoEnhance, Custom, and Advanced Settings 16
Enhancing Photos 16
Enhancing Blue and Green in Photos 17
Using Custom Project Types 18
Using Advanced Settings 19
BorderFree Printing 20
Printing a BorderFree Photo in Film Factory 20
Printing a BorderFree Photo in PhotoImpression 27
Printing on Envelopes 32
Using Special Papers 33
EPSON Matte Paper - Heavyweight 33
EPSON Photo Paper 33
Selecting the Correct Media Type 34

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Maintaining Your Printer 35
Cleaning the Print Head 35
Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern 37
Replacing an Ink Cartridge 37
Ink Cartridge Precautions 38
Determining Which Cartridge to Replace 38
Removing and Installing Ink Cartridges 39
Aligning the Print Head 41
Cleaning the Printer 42
Transporting the Printer 42
Problem Solving 45
Identifying Printer Parts 45
Diagnosing Printer Problems 46
Checking the Control Panel Lights 46
Running a Printer Check 47
Problems and Solutions 48
Setup and Software Installation Problems 48
Printing Problems 49
Print Quality Problems 50
Problems with Paper Feeding 52
Miscellaneous Printout Problems 53
Uninstalling and Reinstalling Printer Software 54
Where To Get Help 55
EPSON Technical Support 55
Photo Software Technical Support 56

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Requirements and Notices 57
Windows System Requirements 57
Macintosh System Requirements 58
ENERGY STAR Compliance 58
Important Safety Instructions 59
Ink Cartridge Safety Instructions 60
FCC Compliance Statement 61
Declaration of Conformity 61
Epson America, Inc. Limited Warranty 62
Index 63

1
Welcome!
Your EPSON Stylus®Photo 780 printer is the smart choice for your home or home
office. Print beautiful, borderless, 6-color photo-quality prints with resolutions of up
to 2880 by 720 dpi. Your printer outputs perfect photos for framing, albums,
scrapbooks, school reports, and more.
About Your Software
Your printer includes the following useful photo software applications:
EPSON SoftwareTM Film FactoryTM
Organize, beautify, and print your photos in a flash. With Film
Factory, you collect, arrange, store, edit, and print thousands of
photos from any source: digital camera, picture CDs, photo files,
web sites, or favorite scanned images.
ArcSoftTM PhotoImpressionTM
Arcsoft PhotoImpression is an easy-to-use photo editing program
that lets users edit, enhance, retouch, or add special effects to any
image with just a couple clicks.
QBeoTM PhotoGeneticsTM (Trial Version)
Powered by ImageOpTM technology, QBeo PhotoGenetics lets
casual computer users easily enhance underexposed, low-contrast,
color-biased, or faded photos. Users may also take advantage of
basic editing tools such as zooming, rotating, cropping, and
red-eye removal. To register your trial version, just follow the
instructions when you start PhotoGenetics.

2
About Your Documentation
To set up your printer and install its software, see the Start Here poster. This Printer
Basics book contains instructions on:
■Viewing your electronic Reference Guide 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 57. For detailed information on using your printer and its software, see your
electronic Reference Guide, as described on page 3.
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.

3
Viewing Your Electronic Reference Guide
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 Reference Guide.
You see a 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.
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 ESP 780 Guide.
Macintosh: Open the EPSON Stylus Photo 780 folder and double-click View
Reference Guide.
Click here

4
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

5
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 FlixSM 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 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.
Click here

6

7
Printing from Start to Finish
Here’s what to do to print a basic document—such as a photograph or
newsletter —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 12
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 16
■“BorderFree Printing” on page 20
■“Printing on Envelopes” on page 32
■“Using Special Papers” on page 33
■“Selecting the Correct Media Type” on page 34
Printing with Windows
This section describes the basic steps for printing with Windows.
(To print on a Macintosh, see page 12.)
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.)
Load paper only
up to this arrow Place paper
against the
right edge
Slide left
edge guide
against paper

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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.
■Always load paper short edge first, even when printing in landscape mode.
If you’re printing on envelopes, see page 32 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 Photo 780 is selected.
■Click the Properties button. (If you see a Setup, Printer, or Options button, click
it. Then click Properties on the next screen.)
Click here to
open your printer
software
Select your printer here

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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.
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 34.
■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
or faster printing. (The slider may not be available for the paper type you choose.)
Select higher-quality or faster
printing
Select the type of paper you loaded
Select Automatic mode
Select the Ink color
Click OK

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■Click OK to return to your application’s Print dialog box.
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 Photo 780 icon.
3. Select Properties (Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millenium
Edition [Me]), 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

11
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 16. 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 3).
Click to cancel printing
Does not appear if
you are printing
over a network
Click to pause or resume
printing

12
Printing on a Macintosh
This section describes the basic steps for printing on a Macintosh.
(To print with Windows, see page 7.)
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.
■Always load paper short edge first, even when printing in landscape mode.
If you’re printing on envelopes, see page 32 for loading instructions.
Load paper only
up to this arrow Place paper
against the
right edge
Slide left
edge guide
against paper

13
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 SP 780 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

14
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 34.
■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
or faster printing. (The slider may not be available for the paper type you choose.)
■Click Print to print your document.
Select the type
of paper you
loaded
Select Automatic mode
Select the
Ink color

15
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 16. 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 3).
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