Epson Stylus Pro 5500 User manual

PRINTER GUIDE
EPSON Stylus® Pro 5500

1
ink cartridge
clamps
ink cartridge
compartment
door
paper size
levers
printer cover control panel
edge
guide
media
type
levers
rear manual
feed slot
edge guide
parallel interface
paper path
cover
lower paper
cassette
(optional)
USB
interface
optional
interface card
slot
power cable

EPSON Stylus®Pro 5500
PRINTER GUIDE

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Printed on recycled paper.
Copyright © 2001 by Epson America, Inc.
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 these EPSON printers. EPSON is not responsible for any use of this information as applied to other
printers.
Tr a d e m a r k s
EPSON, EPSON Stylus, ESC/P, and Micro Piezo are registered trademarks of SEIKO EPSON
CORPORATION.
DX3, PhotoEnhance, and EPSON Archival are trademarks and EPSON Preferred is a service mark of Epson
America, Inc.
EFI and Fiery are U.S. registered trademarks of Electronics for Imaging, 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.
Legal Notices
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.
2/01 CPD-11338

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Declaration of Conformity
According to 47CFR, Part 2 and 15 for Class B Personal Computers and Peripherals; and/or CPU Boards and
Power Supplies used with Class B Personal Computers:
We: EPSON AMERICA, INC.
Located at: MS: 6-43
3840 Kilroy Airport Way
Long Beach, CA 90806-2469
Tel: [phone]
Declare under sole responsibility that the product identified herein, complies with 47CFR Part 2 and 15 of the
FCC rules as a Class B digital device. Each product marketed, is identical to the representative unit tested and
found to be compliant with the standards. Records maintained continue to reflect the equipment being produced
can be expected to be within the variation accepted, due to quantity production and testing on a statistical basis as
required by 47CFR §2.909. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause
harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may
cause undesired operation.
Trade Name: EPSON
Type of Product: Ink Jet Printer
Model: P991A

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FCC Compliance Statement
For United States Users
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to
Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference
in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not
installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or television
reception. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this
equipment does cause interference to radio and television reception, which can be determined by turning the
equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following
measures.
•Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
•Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
•Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
•Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
WAR NI NG
The connection of a non-shielded equipment interface cable to this equipment will invalidate the FCC
Certification of this device and may cause interference levels which exceed the limits established by the FCC for
this equipment. It is the responsibility of the user to obtain and use a shielded equipment interface cable with this
device. If this equipment has more than one interface connector, do not leave cables connected to unused
interfaces. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the manufacturer could void the user’s authority to
operate the equipment.
For Canadian Users
This Class B digital apparatus complies with ICES-003.
Cet appareil numérique de la classe B est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.

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Introduction
Optional Equipment and Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Using This Printer Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Warnings and Cautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Macintosh System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Windows System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Where To Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ENERGY STAR Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1 Setting Up the Printer
Unpacking the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Installing the Optional Lower Paper Cassette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
Installing the Paper Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
Installing the Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Loading Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
Running a Printer Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Connecting the Printer to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13
Connecting to the USB Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14
Connecting to a Parallel Port (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15
Connecting to an Optional Interface Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Installing Printer Software for Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-18
Installing Printer Software for Macintosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-19
Setting Up Your Printer on a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-21
Setting Up on a Windows 95, 98, or Me Network . . . . . . . . . . . 1-21
Setting Up on a Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 Network . 1-23
Setting Up on a Macintosh Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-24
Aligning the Print Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-26
Running the Print Head Alignment Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-26
Contents

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2 Printing on Various Papers
Selecting a Paper Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
Using the Standard and Optional Paper Trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Paper Tray Loading Capacities and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Setting the Paper Tray Levers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4
Loading Paper in the Optional Lower Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6
Using the Front Manual Feed Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6
Using the Rear Manual Feed Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7
Selecting EPSON Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
Clearing Paper Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10
3 Printing with EPSON Drivers for Macintosh
Choosing Page Setup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Choosing Basic Print Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Selecting the Correct Media Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
Choosing Advanced Print Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Color Management Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7
Managing Print Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Setting Up Background Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8
Using Monitor3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9
Cancelling Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10
4 Printing with EPSON Drivers for Windows
Choosing Basic Print Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Selecting the Correct Media Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
Choosing Paper and Layout Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4
Choosing Advanced Print Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Managing Print Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9
Using the Progress Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9
Using the Spool Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10
5 Monitoring the Printer
Responding to the Control Panel Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
Checking Printer Status from a Macintosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
Configuring Printer Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4
Checking Printer Status from Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
Setting Monitoring Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7

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6 Maintaining and Transporting the Printer
Running a Cleaning Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Using the Head Cleaning Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Cleaning the Print Head Using the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Running a Printer Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4
Replacing an Ink Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Aligning the Print Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Running the Print Head Alignment Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Aligning the Print Head from the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9
Running the Speed & Progress Utility for Improved
Windows Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-11
Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-12
Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-13
7 Troubleshooting
Diagnosing Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Improving Print Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Solving General Printing Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
Solving Paper Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6
Uninstalling and Reinstalling the Printer Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-7
A Specifications
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1
Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1
Printable Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2
Ink Cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2
Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3
Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4
Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4
Safety Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4
Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-5
Parallel Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-5
USB Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-5
Index

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The EPSON Stylus®Pro 5500 color ink jet printer is the key component in
a revolutionary new digital color printing system. The printer provides
resolutions up to 2880 ×720 dpi using EPSON’s variable size droplet,
MicroPiezo®DX3™print head for unsurpassed image quality. Proprietary
ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) ensure consistent printing
and color accuracy from job to job.
Six-color EPSON Archival™Ink technology gives you photographic images
that will last up to 200 years.* Individual, high-capacity ink cartridges with
auto ink-level detection provide increased productivity, ease of use, and low
per-copy printing costs.
The EPSON Stylus Pro 5500’s media handling flexibility lets you print on a
variety of substrates, from plain papers to professional grade media, from
4×6 inches up to 13 ×19 inches, including 200 lb card stock. With a
standard 250-sheet paper tray and optional 250-sheet cassette, you get
uninterrupted performance. With the two manual feed slots you can print
on sheets up to 44 inches long. Fast print speeds let you produce an
8.5 ×11-inch, photo quality print in about 2 minutes, or a 13 ×19-inch
print in about 5 minutes.
Flexible, high-performance driver and RIP choices include:
•EPSON’s award-winning photographic drivers for Microsoft®
Windows®95, 98, Me, Windows NT®4.0, and 2000, and Apple®
Macintosh®
•Optional EFI®Fiery®Spark Professional RIP software for the most
demanding PostScript®printing on Macintosh or Windows
* Lightfastness rating is based on accelerated testing of prints on special media,
displayed indoors, under glass. Actual print stability will vary according to
image, display conditions, light intensity, humidity, and atmospheric
conditions. EPSON does not guarantee the longevity of prints. For maximum
print life, display all prints under glass or lamination or properly store them.
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