Epson Stylus 820

lablkilz699 · December 5th, 2004, 07:02 PM

ok im having problems installing my epson stylus photo 820 printer. i first put the new ink in and connected it and attempted to install it through the windows installer thing and it didnt work. i dont have any cd or anything because i got it off of ebay. so then i tried to install it by downloading the drivers and that didnt exactly work either.....any ideas? suggestions?

if theres a black ink and color ink and i only put in color in and not black ink...could that be messing things up? and also, when i go to look at the ink levels in the epson status monitor it just says that everything about the ink is unkown.....

any help....

THANKS

paul9 · December 5th, 2004, 07:23 PM

i bet it's a usb printer!
you should always run the driver install program before connecting the usb lead.
delete the printer from device manager, unplug the usb lead uninstall whatever drivers you put on there. now reboot, start installing the drivers, and do not plug in the usb lead until the setup program tells you to. this should be when the program says it is searching for a printer.

lablkilz699 · December 5th, 2004, 07:56 PM

i think it has to do with the fact that there isnt any black ink....theres a red light on, on the paper/ink button...when i tell it to print something, as if its not even communicating with the computer....but then when i go to shut down my comp or something it does the little "im a printer and the computers shutting down so im going to freak out for a second" thing...so i know its communicating.....

any thoughts?

THANKS

lablkilz699 · December 5th, 2004, 08:00 PM

i just noticed another thing....it say that there is NO ink at all in the ink monitor...not even color, which i just installed today...

paul9 · December 5th, 2004, 08:08 PM

the no ink thing only stops print attempts, it shouldn't actually stop an install. i have had problems with this usb/epson thing a few times. try my suggestion, if you are using a usb connection, or if you have a parallel port option, plug that one in and you should get results. i think you will need the parallel port set to enhanced (for biderectional communication) in the bios.

lablkilz699 · December 5th, 2004, 08:15 PM

yeah, i mean the printer is fully installed and ready to go, just when it sends itself "dummy print jobs" they just sit there in qeue....its really strange nothing will print...i will look in the bios right now....

anything else anyone???

Thanks for the help so far.

paul9 · December 5th, 2004, 08:25 PM

that is only if you use a parallel port. the printer will not work if there is even one colour of ink empty. how many buttons on that printer? switching on the printer from standby while holding in one of the other buttons for five or ten seconds should print a nozzle check page. the other button may run a headclean cycle.

elroy · December 5th, 2004, 08:40 PM

Was this printer new or used? In case you didn't know the heads on an Epson are built into the printer and if it is used and then sits unused for a while [maybe a month or 2] the ink can dry in the heads which stops the printer from working. I like Epson printers but wouldn't touch a used printer with a 10 foot pole. The Epson I have is very particular about the way it is installed. You must follow the steps as outlined in the instructions, which you don't have. Good Luck

lablkilz699 · December 5th, 2004, 09:13 PM

it was a floor model at a store so i dont think it was really used....plus, now that i switched to a USB cable, it recognizes the color ink cartidge but says that the black ink cartidge isnt installed right....so now im guessing i just need a black ink cartridge installed and it should work....right?