General Inkjet Support

If you are experiencing problems with your inkjet printer there are various tricks you can use to revert your printer back to perfect working order thus avoiding the expense of having to purchase a new printer head.

TOPICS (click to jump)
Printer Head Cleaning
Printer Banding / Incomplete Nozzle Check
C.I.S Inkjet Head Recovery
Inaccurate Colour
Installing Profiles / Explanation
Further Help

We have dedicated support pages for the most popular Epson desktop printers, CLICK HERE to find your printer

Printer Head Cleaning

Before each printing session, carry out a nozzle check to ensure that all ink channels are firing. If they are not, make sure that you have not run out of ink, and then perform up to a maximum of four nozzle checks and cleans to restore a good nozzle print out.

THE BEST TIP OF ALL: Problem prevention is always better than problem solving! Turn you printer on for a few minutes once every few days - especially when you are not using your printer for long periods. When you turn a printer on, it goes through a mini head-clean which can prevent the build up of dried ink on the underside of your ink head. - If you go on holiday, why not leave your printer switched 'on' and connect your print to the mains through an inexpensive central heating timer switch, set to turn on for a few minutes every other day - when you return, your print head will be in perfect order, ready to print.

For dirty rollers or poor paper feed action, we recommend Platen Cleaner Spray. This will remove any build-up of dried ink or paper fibres. We advise you to use this spray applied to a sheet of paper to create a cleaning sheet, which will maintain your inkjet roller friction, and maintain good paper feed characteristics.

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Printer Banding / Incomplete Nozzle Check

There are many causes of printer banding and these are often simple mistakes which can be easily corrected. Before you attempt any printer cleaning methods we suggest you go through this fault finding checklist:

You have a perfect nozzle check and the text underneath is clear and crisp. (performed in printer drivers utility)

You have a perfect head alignment. (performed in printer drivers utility)

The CIS containers are at least 50% full

The CIS tubes are not kinked or damaged

The print resolution is correct (usually 'Best Photo' or 'level 4')

The CIS breathers on top of the reservoirs are clear of any ink

You have the selected the correct media setting. (set in printer driver properties)

- If this is unsuccessful, read on:

Problem with a single channel (e.g. black): The aim of this printer head cleaning technique is to attempt to force ink through the nozzles, thus clearing any dried ink.

Produce a solid block of the colour you are experiencing problems with in Adobe Photoshop. This is done using the paint bucket tool.

Print it up to 6 times A3 size on 'Best Photo' setting

Keep printing until you get a solid colour

If you are experiencing a problem with a certain channel using a bulk system please ensure the bottle is filled to the top, and the tubes are not pinched off or damaged in any way

If you have problem with more than one channel you may like to run a purge file at the best print quality (the slowest print) in order to gain a complete nozzle check. Right click here and select "save target as" save this in any folder or on your desktop - you can then open this up in Photoshop for printing. Print this up to 6 times or until your nozzle check come good.

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C.I.S Inkjet Head Recovery

If you have a Continuous Ink System and you are experiencing a lack of ink in one (or more) of your channels you may have lost your ink flow. This technique regains the flow of ink in one or more of your channels. The procedure for doing this is slightly different for each printer, to find your printer CLICK HERE

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Inaccurate Colour

First of all, please ensure you have a perfect nozzle check (this is carried out in the utilities section of your Epson printer driver). If you do not have a perfect nozzle check, please refer to this section. Once you have confirmed you have a perfect nozzle check, ensure you are selecting the correct profile and have the correct printer settings in Adobe Photoshop for that profile (correct media type, resolution, colour management settings...) - if you are unsure of these please contact us.
Desktop inkjet printers do vary quite noticeably one printer to another, so it is advisable to install a free ICC profile for your printer/paper/ink combination. You can download free ICC generic profiles and the installation instructions for our supported printers by clicking here.
For professional photographers and critical enthusiasts, it may be best to commission one custom ICC printer profile for your favourite inkjet media to guarantee best possible colour accuracy and image quality. See this link for further information about our custom profiling service.

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ICC Profiles Explained - Trouble Installing / Selecting Profiles

A Profile is a file that describes how an input or output device handles colour. As all printers come with colour biases, colour errors etc. it is necesaary to install a profile to achieve accurate colour from your printer. Profiles needs to be installed into your hard drive and then selected in Photoshop . The profile is installed by dragging your profile(s) into the correct folder, and can be confusing as it depends on your operating system, the paths to get to this folder are found below:

PC USERS:
Windows 7, Vista / XP = Right-click on the profile you require on the CD and select "Install Profile" from the context menu. Then Restart Photoshop. Or, to manually install = my computer - c: - windows – system32 – spool – drivers - then drag and drop into the color folder. Then Restart Photoshop.
Windows 2000 = my computer - c: - windows – system32 – spool – drivers - then drag and drop into the color folder Then Restart Photoshop.
Windows 98 = my computer - c: - windows – system - then drag and drop into the color folder. Then Restart Photoshop.

MAC USERS:
Mac OSX = MacHD - Users - imac(home) - library - colour sync - then drag and drop into the profiles folder . Then Restart Photoshop.
Mac OS9 = MacHD - system - then drag and drop into the colorsync profiles folder. Then Restart Photoshop.

Selecting your Profile / Photoshop Advice: You need to ensure that after you've installed your profile you re-start photoshop (if already opened). You also need to ensure you select the profile in Photoshop . For Photoshop versions 7, CS, CS2, CS3 CS4, CS5 and Elements 3 (and above) the profile is selected in: File, Print with Preview, (making sure you have 'Show More Options ticked' and 'Color Management' selected) print space – profile. For Photoshop CS2 and above, after selecting 'Color Management', in Options select "Let Photoshop Determine Colors" in the 'Color Handling' box, then you will be able to select your profile in the box below.
Please Note: If you need to select "same as source" in Adobe Photoshop CS2 this has been replaced by "No Colour Management" (selected in Print with Preview, Colour Management, Option, Colour Handling). For earlier versions of Photoshop the profile is selected towards the bottom of "Print" dialog box where it says "space".
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, SEE OUR DEDICATED ICC PROFILING SUPPORT PAGE

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Further Help

If you are still experiencing problems, please contact us so we can fault-find, and hopefully resolve your problem.