Hi Becky. It sounds like you have a clogged print head. This might be a long answer. Depending on the epson drivers you've installed, (I presume you're using Windows) if you click Start, Settings, Printers, then right-click your printer, choose Printing Preferences. (You can also get to this when you’re about to print something, choose properties or print preferences) Hopefully you will have a Utility tab. If you do, you can do a nozzle check and a Head Cleaning there.
If you don’t have the utilities, then I had to follow this procedure just last weekend to print some photos for my parents after I hadn’t used my printer for several months: http://home.att.net/~arwomack01/#ClogCleanning
Caution warning: This could get messy, and could make things worse. That said, it worked great for me. (Wear disposable gloves: I got quite messy)
Basically, you take half a paper towel and fan-fold it 3 or 4 times so you have a long skinny (about three quarters of an inch wide) thicker paper towel. Next tape down the two ends under where your printer’s print head will pass over it. Taping down the ends allows the print head to pass over the paper towel without bunching it up. The thick part of the middle wipes the print heads clean. Dab some rubbing alcohol or glass cleaner on one third of your paper towel, preferably not in the center. Don’t make it too wet, or it’ll tear when the print head passes over it, and you’ll be picking paper towel out of your printer with tweezers and needle nose pliers. Hit the replace ink button to manually cause your printer to pass over the tapped down paper towel and you’ll see it rub a bunch of ink off the print heads. One time worked for me, and all was better.
A Guy named Bob
March 2005
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