® 24-Pin Dot Matrix Printer 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 the 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. EPSON and EPSON ESC/P are registered trademarks of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. 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. Copyright © 2000 by SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION, Nagano, Japan. User's Guide Contents Getting to Know Your Printer Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Print Head Caution Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ENERGY STAR Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Warnings, Cautions, and Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Chapter 1 Setting Up the Printer Unpacking the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 Choosing a Place for the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 Assembling the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 Attaching the paper guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 Plugging in the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 Connecting the Printer to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6 Installing or Replacing the Ribbon Cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8 Installing the Printer Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12 Installing the printer software in Windows Me, 98, 95, 2000, or NT 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13 Installing the printer software in Windows 3.1 or NT 3.5x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14 For DOS programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-17 Chapter 2 Paper Handling Selecting a Paper Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Paper source and paper types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 Setting the paper release lever (LQ-680) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 Setting the Paper Source button (LQ-680Pro) . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 Adjusting the Paper Thickness Lever. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6 Using Continuous Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8 Positioning your continuous paper supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8 Loading continuous paper with the tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9 Contents i Using the tear-off function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removing continuous paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Continuous Multipart Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Overlapping Multipart Forms (LQ-680Pro). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Single Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Single-Sheet Multipart Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Postcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switching Between Continuous Paper and Single Sheets . . . . . Switching to single sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switching to continuous paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Micro Adjust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjusting the loading position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjusting the tear-off position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjusting the printing position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14 2-17 2-17 2-18 2-19 2-20 2-23 2-24 2-25 2-26 2-26 2-28 2-28 2-28 2-31 2-32 Chapter 3 Using the Printer Software About Your Printer Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows Me, 98 or 95 . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver from Windows applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver from the Start menu . . . . . . . Changing the printer driver settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows 3.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver from Windows applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver from the Control Panel. . . . . Changing the Printer driver settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 . . . . Accessing the printer driver from Windows applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver from the Start menu . . . . . . . Changing the printer driver settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows NT 3.5x . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver 3-2 3-3 3-3 3-5 3-6 3-7 3-7 3-9 3-9 3-10 3-10 3-12 3-13 3-14 ii Contents from Windows applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-14 Accessing the printer driver from the Control Panel . . . . . 3-16 Changing the Printer driver settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-17 Printer Driver Settings Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-18 Using the EPSON Remote! Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20 Installing EPSON Remote! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20 Accessing EPSON Remote! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20 Using the EPSON Status Monitor 3 Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21 Setting up EPSON Status Monitor 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21 Accessing EPSON Status Monitor 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-23 Chapter 4 Changing Printer Settings From the Printer's Control Panel Selecting a Built-In Font and Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 About Your Printer's Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3 Changing default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9 Chapter 5 Troubleshooting Using the Error Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2 Problems and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4 Power supply problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5 Single-sheet paper loading or feeding problems . . . . . . . . . 5-6 Continuous paper loading or feeding problems . . . . . . . . . 5-8 Printing position problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9 Printing or printout quality problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11 Clearing Paper Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16 Aligning Vertical Lines in Your Printout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-17 Printing a Self Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-18 Printing a Hex Dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-19 Contents iii Appendix A Enhancing Your Printer With Options Cut-Sheet Feeders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing the cut-sheet feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loading paper from the cut-sheet feeder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switching between the tractor and the cut-sheet feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loading paper manually from the paper guide . . . . . . . . . Roll Paper Holder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing the roll paper holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loading a roll of paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removing roll paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Optional interface cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing an interface card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2 A-3 A-6 A-13 A-15 A-17 A-17 A-18 A-20 A-21 A-22 Appendix B Cleaning and Transporting the Printer Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2 Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3 Appendix C Specifications Printer Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printable area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Safety approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CE marking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Command Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EPSON ESC/P2 control codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBM 2390 Plus emulation control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-2 C-2 C-4 C-6 C-6 C-6 C-11 C-14 C-14 C-15 C-15 C-16 Contacting Customer Support iv Contents Glossary Index Contents v Printer Parts control panel printer cover ribbon cartridge print head edge guide knob paper guide paper thickness lever power switch paper release lever (LQ-680 only) paper support sprocket units parallel interface Control Panel Buttons and Lights Font button Selects the font. Condensed button Turns on and off the condensed mode. Reset When you press both the Font and Condensed buttons simultaneously, the printer clears its buffer and return to its default settings. Tear Off/Bin button (LQ-680) q Advances continuous paper to the tear-off position. q Feeds continuous paper backward from the tear-off position to the top-of-form position. q Selects a cut-sheet feeder bin. q Turns on the card mode to print on postcards and envelopes. Tear Off/Bin lights (LQ-680) q f f when continuous paper is in the tear-off position. q o n when bin 1 of the optional cut-sheet feeder is selected. q n o when bin 2 of the optional cut-sheet feeder is selected. q n n when the printer is in the card mode. Pause button Stops printing temporarily, and resumes printing when pressed again. When pressed for three seconds, turns on the *micro adjust mode. To turn off, press again. Pause light On when the printer is paused. q Flashes when the printer is in the *micro adjust mode. q Flashes when the print head has overheated. q Paper Out light On when no paper is loaded in the selected paper source or paper is not loaded correctly. q Flashes when paper has not been fully ejected or a paper jam has occurred. q LQ-680 LQ-680Pro Paper Source button & lights (LQ-680Pro) Select a paper source. See Chapter 2. Tear Off/Special Paper button (LQ-680Pro) q Advances continuous paper to the tear-off position. q Feeds continuous paper backward from the tear-off position to the top-of-form position. q Turns on the card mode ...