Epson Stylus COLOR 480/480SX Product Information Guide - Page 7

EPSON Stylus COLOR 480SX Ink Cartridge Precautions Before you replace an ink cartridge, follow these precautions: Keep ink cartridges out of the reach of children and do not drink the ink. If ink gets on your hands, wash them thoroughly with soap and water. If ink gets into your eyes, flush them immediately with water. To avoid damaging the printer, never move the print head by hand. Don't open the clamp or remove a cartridge except to replace it with a new one. Once you remove a cartridge, you can't reuse it, even if it contains ink. You must remove the yellow tape from the top of the cartridge or you will permanently damage it. Don't pull off the blue portion or try to remove the clear seal underneath the cartridge. Replacing a Low or Empty Ink Cartridge When Status Monitor 3 indicates that ink levels are low or you're out of ink, you see one of these windows: Ink low Replacing an Outdated Ink Cartridge If you need to replace an ink cartridge before you see a Status Monitor 3 message, follow the steps here to use the Ink Cartridge Replacement utility. Before you begin, make sure you've read the ink cartridge precautions to the left. You can only access the Ink Cartridge Replacement utility from the Windows Printers utility, as described in the steps below. You can't run the utility from within a Windows application. 1. Make sure the printer is plugged in but not printing. 2. Click Start, point to Settings, then select Printers. 3. Right-click the EPSON Stylus COLOR 480 icon and click Properties from the menu that appears. 4. Click the Utility tab, then click the Ink Cartridge Replacement button. 5. Follow the instructions on the screen to replace the ink cartridge. 6. After you've installed the cartridge, the printer begins charging ink for a few minutes. Wait until you see a message telling you that charging is complete before resuming printing. Never unplug the printer while it's charging ink. Ink out Before you begin, make sure you have a new ink cartridge and have read the ink cartridge precautions above. Once you start the ink cartridge replacement procedure, you must complete all the steps in one session. 1. Click the How to button. 2. Follow the instructions on the screen to replace the ink cartridge. 3. After you've installed the cartridge, the printer begins charging ink for a few minutes. Wait until you see a message telling you that charging is complete before resuming printing. Never unplug the printer while it's charging ink. Cleaning the Print Head If your printed image is unexpectedly light or faint, 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. You can check to see if any nozzles are clogged by running the Nozzle Check utility. Then, if you need to clean the print heads, you can do so from the utility. See the next section for instructions. If you don't want to check the nozzles first, you can run the Head Cleaning utility to clean the print head, as described page 8. Cleaning the print head uses ink, so clean it only if print quality declines. When you don't turn on your printer for a long time, the print quality can decline. It's a good idea to plug in your printer at least once a month to maintain good print quality. If any paper you buy comes with a cleaning sheet, don't use the cleaning sheet with your printer; it may jam inside the printer. 6/00 EPSON Stylus COLOR 480SX - 7