® 9-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 Control Panel Buttons and Lights Tear Off lights** q f f when continuous paper is in the tear-off position, otherwise the lamps indicate the selected font. LF/FF button q Feeds paper line by line when pressed and released. q Ejects a single sheet or advances continuous paper to the next top-of-form position when held down. Paper Out light q 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. Load/Eject button Tear Off button** q Loads a single sheet of q Advances continuous paper to the paper. tear-off position. q Feeds continuous paper backward q Ejects a single sheet of paper if a sheet is from the tear-off position to the toploaded. of-form position. q Loads continuous paper from the standby position. q Feeds continuous paper backwards to the standby position. 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 *Micro Adjust mode When you hold down the Pause button for three seconds, the printer enters the micro adjust mode. In this mode, you can press the LF/FFD and Load/EjectU buttons to adjust the topof-form or tear-off position. See Chapter 2, "Using the Printer." **Font select In Micro Adjust mode, you can select the font to use for printing by pressing the Tear Off button. The Tear Off lights turn on, off or flash to indicate the selected font. 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. u Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna u Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver u Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected u Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. WARNING 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 Canadian ICES-003. Cet appareil numérique de la classe B est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada. ii Contents Getting to Know Your Printer Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Print Head Caution Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ENERGY STAR Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 For United Kingdom Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Use of options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Safety information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Warnings, Cautions, and Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chapter 1 Setting Up the Printer Unpacking the Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 Choosing a place for the printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 Assembling the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 Installing the paper-feed knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5 Attaching the paper supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6 Installing the ribbon cartridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7 Plugging in the printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10 Running the Self Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11 Connecting the Printer to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14 Using the parallel interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14 Using the serial interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16 Installing the Printer Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-17 Installing the software in Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0 . . . . . 1-18 Installing the software in Windows 3.1 or NT 3.5x . . . . . . . 1-19 For DOS programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-20 Chapter 2 Using the Printer Using the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Lights and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 iii Selecting fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing on Continuous Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing with the push tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removing a printed document from the push tractor. . . . Switching back to single sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing with the pull tractor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjusting the top-of-form position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advancing the paper to the tear-off edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing on Single Sheets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Loading single sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printing on Special Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjusting the paper-thickness lever. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multipart forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About Your Printer's Default Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing and Using Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cut-sheet feeder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pull tractor unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roll paper holder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Color upgrade kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 2-5 2-5 2-8 2-10 2-10 2-15 2-17 2-20 2-20 2-21 2-21 2-22 2-23 2-24 2-25 2-30 2-32 2-32 2-35 2-37 2-39 Chapter 3 Using the Printer Software Using the Printer Driver With Windows 95 and 98 . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer driver settings overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows 3.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer driver settings overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows NT 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer driver settings overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Printer Driver With Windows NT 3.5x . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessing the printer driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer driver settings overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About the EPSON Status Monitor 3 Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2 3-2 3-3 3-9 3-9 3-10 3-12 3-12 3-13 3-18 3-18 3-19 3-21 iv Accessing EPSON Status Monitor 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21 Chapter 4 Troubleshooting Problems and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 Power is not being supplied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3 The printer does not print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3 The print is faint or uneven. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4 Dots are missing in printed characters or graphics . . . . . . . 4-5 Printed characters are not what you expected . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 The print position is not what you expected . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6 Paper Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6 Single sheets do not feed properly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6 Continuous paper does not feed properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8 When you use the cut-sheet feeder, the paper does not feed properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8 Switching between the cut-sheet feeder and the push tractor does not work properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9 Using the pull tractor with the push tractor, continuous paper does not feed properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10 With color upgrade kit installed, printer does not operate properly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10 Appendix Cleaning the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2 Transporting the Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3 Printer Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4 Mechanical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4 Electrical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6 Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6 Paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7 Printable area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...