Epson Stylus Photo 820 Troubleshooting

Print on the paper is faded or distorted.

If the lines are dashed and go across the whole page, one explanation could be debris in the print head assembly. The problem should go away with a thorough cleaning. Your printer has the ability to self-clean the print heads. However, this process does use ink so make sure you have a sufficient amount of ink left. Hold the ink cartridge button (the furthermost right button) down for three seconds. This should initiate your printer's self-cleaning ability.

The print on the paper becomes faded when there is not enough ink in the printer, which means the old ink cartridges need to be replaced. See the guide for replacing ink cartridges.

The inside of the printer will naturally get dirty over time. See the guide on how to clean the inside of your printer.

If the printer is wireless, try connecting the printer directly to the computer. If that solves the problem, there is likely interference over the wireless network.

The software you are using may be causing the problem. Try printing from another program, if the problem disappears, consider avoid printing with that program on this printer. The problem may be resolved by updating your drivers. See the heading below on how to update your drivers.

If connected with a cable, the cable itself may be the problem. Check the connections on both ends. If this does not work, then consider buying a new cable.

There is paper stuck in the back of the printer.

A solid green power light and a solid red error light may indicate a paper jam. See the guide for how to fix a paper jam.

If there is no actual paper jammed in the printer, the problem may be that a small pad is not gripping the paper. This can be resolved by cleaning the pad with a Q-tip, as shown in the guide.

The program freezes, the printer is not responsive, or other software-related issues.

Visit the Epson Stylus Photo 820 software page to download up-to-date drivers and software.

Sometimes the printer can lock, preventing it from printing. Reset the printer and computer, then try again.

If your ink cartridges do not move at all it may be the result of a broken drive motor. See the guide on how to replace your drive motor.

Problems indicated by the lights on the front of the printer.

A blinking red light indicates that you are out of paper. Insert paper into the feeding tray and try again. If this does not solve your problem there may be a paper jam/feeding problem. See the Jammed Paper section above.

A solid red light indicates that one/both of your ink cartridges is empty. Open the printer software on your computer to check your ink levels. See the guide on how to replace your ink cartridges. The printer may not recognize your ink cartridges if you are not using Epson brand ink.

A blinking power light (green) indicates that the printer is currently charging the ink. This is normal, and takes about a minute to complete. Do NOT turn off the printer while the light is blinking, wait for the charging process to complete. Only turn off your printer while the power light is flashing or if your printer has been non-responsive for 5 minutes.