From: Conor McNessa :Subject: [PCBUILD] Printer problems


> My printer, an Epson Stylus Color 600, is a couple of years old. I used it
> with my Mac successfully enough, and now I have it connected to the PC,
> though working with Epson Color 800 drivers. But lately it has started to
> print rather faintly, with white lines running through the black print.
>
> I have replaced the black cartridge, but that didn't help. I took out the
> colour cartridge and gave it a shake, and ink splashed lavishly out, so
it's
> presumably still full - and in any case it's not printing in colour with
the
> 800 drivers. I have wiped the track across which the ink cartridge
travels,
> and this sorted it for a few days. Any other ideas, or should I toss the
> thing?
>
> I formerly had the 800 drivers, wherever they went, and even then it was
> printing oddly, with everything a nightmarish red like a view on Mars.
>
> What is the consensus on the best printer at the moment? I had and loved a
> Hewlett Packard Deskjet 340, which was the workhorse of its time; it
lasted
> for years and then drank a cup of tea and expired. Apparently its
> motherboard was drenched, but it's all right otherwise, so I still have
> faint hopes of finding one whose motherboard is alive, since I have a
> million cartridges of ink for it.
>

You can find the appropriate driver for your Epson 600 here:
http://support.epson.com/hardware/printer/inkjet/sc600_/filelibrary.html

The white lines through the black or color printing are an indication that
you have clogged nozzles on your print head.  Once you install the proper
driver for your printer ( there are drivers for Win3.x, Win 9x. Win NT, and
Macs) you can print a test page and use the cleaning utility to clean the
print heads.  The cleaning utility can be found by going to "Start,
Settings, Printers".  Right click on your printer and select "Properties",
then select "Utility", then select "Head Cleaning". After cleaning the heads
you should get an option to print a "Nozzle Check" which will show you if
any print nozzles are still clogged.  If Epson printers aren't used for a
time the print heads tend to become clogged.  I have had to clean the print
heads up to 6 times in a row to get them totally cleaned when the printer
has not been used for some time.  Replacing a cartridge does not fix clogged
print heads on Epson printers because the heads are not in the cartridges
like HPs.  Before you throw the printer away try installing the correct
drivers and then cleaning the print heads, you may still have a working
printer.

Mary Wolden

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