Epson Printer head cleaning

[terrydoughty]

I have acquired an Epson DX4400 printer (secondhand). It is working except that the black is not printing out - needs head cleaning. I have had previous Epson printers (and have 2 others still).

Normally I access printer preferences/maintenance but this is not showing on this printer's menu. I am running Windows 7.

Can anyone advise, please?

 

[rclarke250]

From fixya forums, I didn't feel like typing it all out as someone had already done it.
Open the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder.
In Windows 7, click Start then Devices and Printers. In other versions of Windows:
Click Start > Settings > Printers, or
Click Start > Printers, or
Click Start > Control Panel then double-click on:
Printers, or
Printers and Faxes, or
Printers and Other Hardware then View Installed Printers.

See How to open the Printers or Printers and Faxes folder in Windows in the Related Articles section for detailed instructions.


Right-click on the icon for your printer and select Printing Preferences.

Example: Windows Vista


This will display the Printing Preferences window.
Click on the Maintenance (or Utility) tab.


Click on Head Cleaning. This will launch the utility.
Click Start and wait for the printer to finish the first cleaning cycle.


Caution: Never turn off the printer while the On light is flashing. Doing so may damage the printer.



Click Print Nozzle Check Pattern. This procedure will confirm the effectiveness of the head clean. You can also access the print Nozzle Check option from the Maintenance or Utility menu.


Click Print.


The printer will print a nozzle check. Compare the print out with the next window. If there are gaps, the print out is faint, click Clean, and then Finish when the procedure is complete.


If the nozzle check prints correctly (showing no breaks in the pattern), but the text is still broken you may need to run the Print Head Alignment utility - see How do I use the Print Head Alignment utility? for assistance.

If the nozzle check is complete, click Finish.
If there are gaps or faint print on your printout click Clean.



If gaps are still present, perform another head clean (without printing a nozzle check between the cleans). Once the second clean is complete, power off the printer.
Wait one minute before powering it back on, then print a nozzle check. Compare the printout with the example window (above).

If it is complete, click Finish.
If there are gaps or faint print on your printout carry out another set of head cleans.
We recommend only a maximum of six head cleans.

 

[terrydoughty]

Thank
I know ehat should happen
But when I click on printer prefetebces the window does not have any options - there is no maintenance tsb or any other tsbs

 

[rclarke250]

Did you load the software from epson? or just take a windows default driver? it needs to have the latest software from epson to show any of the other tabs. If you did load the latest software, I have no idea why the tabs are not there.

 

[terrydoughty]

Many thanks
problem solved