Epson C42 plus printer

[Deleted User]

Hi I am a total blank when it comes to anything mechanical. I wonder if anyone can help me. I have the above printer and have used it sucessfully for about two years. It has now started to misbehave. When ever I want to print something it makes all the right noises, but when the paper comes through it is very hard to read the words and it is printing is almost invisible. I know that there is ink in the machine as the black cartridge I replaced about a week ago, and the coloured one is almost three quarters full. I looked at the epson help site and it looks as though I have a problem with clogged up print head. Now all of my instructions on my computer are for some reason in Spanish and apart from good morning and good night that is the sum total of my spanish. Now I would like to know how to change the instructions over to english as then maybe I would be able to figure out how to clean the print heads
Sorry if this sound obvious to you techies, and I am probably being a daft old woman but it's driving me nuts trying to work it all out
Cheers everyone in advance

Cubeguy3

Not sure if this will help but if you follow the link it will take you to the Epson website and you can have a look at the manuals on line:

http://esupport.epson-europe.com/ManualListing.aspx?lng=en-GB&data=2B099AE7A6BDD2DCCA35436B28E353E1B5A3447E374794486F49121F69618FDF

windym_2

Although you changed the ink, it may be that the heads need cleaning. Try doing a nozzle check and clean.

If XP, click start, control panel, double click printers and faxes, right mouse click your printer, then select properties. In the General tab, click printing preferences (at bottom end) then on Maintenance tab, click Nozzle check. Follow the prompts until your page is exactly how it should be.

BTW I get my Epson ink from https://www.northdevoncomputers.com as its only £1 a cartridge.

ABH_3

After you have finnished playing around with the printers dirty nozzles etc it maybe something more is required. In which case, you may find the following two links useful.

http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml
http://www.ssclg.com/cgi-bin/netboard/netboard.cgi?fid=268&cid=267&fct=gotoforum

HTH

Fraserca

AIR - The clue to the problem is that you ran out of ink and air got into the print head. Normally when you insert a new cartridge it gives a spurt of fresh ink into the jets and blows the air out.

Try a new cartridge - don't use an Epson original unless you have money to blow - Snap in the cartridge smartly and keep putting it through the cleaning cycle and test print until it works. Whatever you do don't take the cartridge out as it will only introduce more air as there is no resevoir of ink in a punctured cartridge to give the purging ' spurt'.
If that doesn't work - say after 6 tries then leave it overnight in the hope that the air will dissapate or the dry ink will get soft again.

Failing that buy a new printer - the C42's are a pain and deadly slow compared to printers only £20 more

Fraserca

Oh re the Spanish issue - you can download Engish drivers from the https://www.epson.co.uk web site.

Unistall the Spanish ones. Restart the computer ( without the printer plugged into the computer USB port ) run the install program and plug in the usb when told to do so - lo and behold its in English - well American...

tigermatt

windym wrote:

Although you changed the ink, it may be that the heads need cleaning. Try doing a nozzle check and clean.

If XP, click start, control panel, double click printers and faxes, right mouse click your printer, then select properties. In the General tab, click printing preferences (at bottom end) then on Maintenance tab, click Nozzle check. Follow the prompts until your page is exactly how it should be.

BTW I get my Epson ink from https://www.northdevoncomputers.com as its only £1 a cartridge.

I think for Epsons there is also a utility in the task tray (near the clock) which you can right click and a whole load of options appear showing Print Head Cleaning, Nozzle Checks and Head Alignment etc.

tigermatt

tigermatt

Fraserca wrote:

...Failing that buy a new printer...

Epson C46UX Inkjet Printer: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=63081 £33.49 inc. VAT

Or, a 3-in-1 printer (Scanner, Copier and Printer) - also Epson (Dx3800): http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=96323 £53.04 inc. VAT

Ink available for both models from http://www.choicestationery.com/ or from http://www.northdevoncomputers.com/ for the C46UX model.

tigermatt

charlieheard

I've got exactly the same printer. When I had a problem a while ago, I used their site to contact their online support. No software to install, but it allows you to chat online to one of their support people who can talk you through a range of possible solutions. Sorted mine out in a couple of minutes...