Problems and Solutions

Power supply problems

Paper loading or feeding problems

Printing position problems

Printing or printout quality problems

The printer's voltage rating does not match the voltage of your electrical outlet.

Check the printer and the outlet voltage ratings. If the voltages do not match, unplug the printer immediately and contact your dealer.

Warning:

Do not reconnect the power cord to an electrical outlet with the wrong voltage for your printer.

The electrical outlet does not work.

Plug another electrical device, such as a lamp, into the outlet to check if the outlet is working properly. If it is not, use a different outlet.

Tractor is selected as the paper source on the control panel.

Select Manual/CSF as the paper source on the control panel. (See Buttons and Lights.)

Tractor is selected as the paper source on the control panel.

Select Manual/CSF as the paper source on the control panel. (See Buttons and Lights.)

The paper is old or creased.

Use only new, clean sheets of paper.

Note:

If paper is jammed in the paper path, see Clearing a Paper Jam.

Your paper may be too long.

Make sure the page length of your paper is within the specified range. See the single-sheet paper specifications in Single sheets. Also check and adjust the paper size setting in your application or the printer driver.

The printer has not fully ejected your paper.

Remove the paper by hand; the Paper Out light goes out. If you are printing a multiple-page document, insert a new sheet of paper into the paper guide. The Pause light goes out and the printer automatically loads the paper and resumes printing.

The paper has come off the tractor.

Reattach the paper to the tractor as described in Loading Continuous Paper.

The paper has been fed back to the standby position.

Press the Load/Eject button to load the paper.

The sprocket units are positioned incorrectly for the width of paper you are using.

Adjust the position of the sprockets to remove any slack along the width of the paper.

Note:

If paper is jammed in the paper path, see Clearing a Paper Jam for instructions.

Paper is jammed inside the printer.

Clear the paper jam as described in Clearing a Paper Jam.

You may have loaded too many sheets in the bin.

Remove some sheets. See Paper for information on the types and quantity of paper that can be loaded with the cut-sheet feeder.

Sheets of paper are stuck together.

Remove the paper stack, fan it, and then reload it.

You may not be using the right type of paper for the cut-sheet feeder. For example, your paper may be too heavy or too light.

Make sure your paper meets the requirements of your printer and cut-sheet feeder. See Paper for information on the paper specifications.

The printer has not fully ejected your paper.

Remove the paper by hand; the Paper Out light goes out. Press the Pause button to resume printing.

The paper was not properly loaded in the paper guide.

Load the paper in the paper guide as Loading single sheets from the front.

The paper size setting in your application software does not match the size of the paper loaded in the printer.

Adjust the paper size setting in your application or the printer driver.

The paper source is not selected correctly.

Select the proper paper source on the control panel. (See Buttons and Lights.)

You moved the paper using the knob while the printer was on.

Adjust the top-of-form position using the Micro Adjust function. See Adjusting the top-of-form position.

Caution:

Never use the knob to adjust the top-of-form position; this may damage the printer or cause it to lose the top-of-form position.

Caution:

Never use the knob to adjust the tear-off position; this may damage the printer or cause it to lose the tear-off position.

The printer's page length setting for the tractor does not match the size of the paper you are using.

Change Page length for tractor setting using the printer's default-setting. See Changing default settings.

Your software is not properly set up for your printer.

Make sure that your printer is properly selected in your application software. If necessary, install or reinstall the printer driver software. Refer to the Setup Guide for detailed instruction.

Paper on the paper guide is positioned too far to the left, right or inside for the paper sensor to detect it.

Move the paper a little to the right, left or inside. When it is positioned properly, the Paper Out and Pause lights go off.

The paper source is not selected correctly.

Select the desired paper source on the control panel. See Buttons and Lights.

The ribbon is jammed because it has too much slack or it is worn out.

Remove any slack from the ribbon by turning the ribbon-tightening knob, or replace the ribbon cartridge. See Replacing the ribbon cartridge.

The print head is overheated.

Wait for a few minutes; the printer resumes printing automatically once the print head cools.

There is too much slack in the ribbon or the ribbon has come loose.

Remove any slack in the ribbon by turning the ribbon-tightening knob, or replace the ribbon cartridge as described in Replacing the ribbon cartridge.

The print head is damaged.

Stop printing and contact your dealer to have the print head replaced.

Warning:

Never try to replace the print head yourself because other parts of the printer must be checked at the same time.

The wrong character table is selected in your software.

Select the correct character table in your software or the printer's default settings. Note that the character table setting in your software overrides the settings made in the default-setting mode.

Your application software is not correctly configured for your printer.

Make sure that your application software is correctly configured for your printer. See your application documentation.

Software settings override settings you make in the control panel or in the default settings.

Use your software to select the font.

Top margin and loading position settings made in your Windows applications override settings you make in the SelecType mode.

Use your application software to make these settings.

Note:

If you want to eliminate the top margin and print at the very top of the page, adjust the top margin in your Windows application little by little until text is printed at the very top of the page.

No line feed command is sent at the end of each line of text.

Turn on the auto line feed option in the default-settings mode, so that the printer automatically adds a line feed code to each carriage return. See Changing default settings.

The line space setting in your application software is incorrect.

Adjust the line space setting in your application software.

The lines-per-page, top and bottom margin, or form length setting is incorrect.

Adjust these settings in your application software, as follows:

If your application software has a lines-per-page setting, set it to 66 for letter size paper or 70 for A4 size paper. If your software does not have a lines-per-page setting, try decreasing the top margin or increasing the bottom margin, or both, until you get the results you want. Adjust the form length setting if your software has this option.

Bidirectional printing, which is the printer's standard printing mode, may be out of alignment.

Use the printer's bidirectional adjustment mode to correct this problem. See Aligning Vertical Lines in Your Printout.