My epson stylus SX200 2C will not print black , i have replaced the ink 3 times and cleaned it - it has a lot of gaps and sometine doesn't print black at all. Colour is fine. Help please .

hey have you tried head cleaning, do the head cleaning utility two to three times, then check

Hi

Rub the printhead in a plain paper with alcohol until ink flows and then run the print nozzle for 2-3 times.

Let me know if you need more help

*** I'll be more than happy to help you on that.
there is a great possibility that the nozzles of your printer are clogged by dried inks.maybe cause by the previous inks that you just replaced. we can check that by printing a nozzle check pattern.

1. Load a few sheets of plain paper in the sheet feeder. 2. Turn off the Epson Stylus NX110 Series. 3. Hold down the Stop button as you press the On button to turn the Epson Stylus NX110 Series back on. When the On light begins to flash, release the Stop button. 4. Check the nozzle check pattern that prints to see if there are gaps in the lines. 5. If there are no gaps, the print head is clean and you can continue printing. If there are gaps or the pattern is faint, clean the print head. Using the Control Panel 1. Load a few sheets of plain paper in the sheet feeder. 2. Make sure the Epson Stylus NX110 Series is on and the ink light is off. 3. Hold down the Stop button for three seconds to start the cleaning cycle, which lasts around one minute. The On light flashes throughout the cleaning cycle and stays on green when the cycle is finished. Caution:
Never turn off the Epson Stylus NX110 Series during a cleaning cycle or you may damage it. 4. Run a nozzle check to confirm that the print head is clean. You may need to clean the print head up to 4 times. You can also turn off the Epson Stylus NX110 Series and wait at least 6 hours. Then try printing again.

***hi there,il be willing to help you on that. ****
the nozzles of the printer might be clogged by dried inks thats why when your printing, its feeding the paper, as if its printing but no inks on the paper. print a nozzle check to see which part or color have clogs, if there are gaps or breaks, do head cleaning untill no more gaps then try printing.
Running a Printer Check
1. Load a few sheets of plain paper in the sheet feeder. 2. Turn off the Epson Stylus NX100 Series. 3. Hold down the Stop button as you press the On button to turn the Epson Stylus NX100 Series back on. Hold down both buttons until the On light begins to flash, then release the buttons. 1. Load a few sheets of plain paper in the sheet feeder. 2. Turn off the Epson Stylus NX100 Series. 3. Hold down the Stop button as you press the On button to turn the Epson Stylus NX100 Series back on. Hold down both buttons until the On light begins to flash, then release the buttons. 1. Load a few sheets of plain paper in the sheet feeder. 2. Turn off the Epson Stylus NX100 Series. 3. Hold down the Stop button as you press the On button to turn the Epson Stylus NX100 Series back on. Hold down both buttons until the On light begins to flash, then release the buttons. 4. Check the nozzle check pattern that prints to see if there are gaps in the lines. 5. If there are no gaps, the print head is clean and you can continue printing. If there are gaps or the pattern is faint, clean the print head. If your printouts are unexpectedly light, or dots or lines are missing, you may need to clean the print head. This unclogs the nozzles so they can deliver ink properly. Print head cleaning uses ink, so clean it only if quality declines.
You can also clean the print head by holding down the stop button on the printer for three seconds. (This only works when the red ink light is off.) Run a nozzle check to confirm that the print head is clean.
Caution: When you don’t turn on your printer for a long time, print quality can decline, so turn it on and print a few pages at least once a month to maintain good print quality. ***if my troubleshooting steps are helpful, pls vote for me, i will appreciate it, so that I can be a part of fixya, thanks, Godbless****

If you are not using Epson ink, your printer will do this. Epson printers hate knock-off ink. Always use Epson ink if you want to keep your printer working properly. To solve the problem you are having, try cleaning the ink tubes. Make sure you re-install them properly. Hope this helps. Charlene

Remove ink cartridges one by one and put it back in. If same thing happens, try to do head cleaning and nozzle checks consecutively from the computer.

Start -> Control Panel -> Printers & Faxes (Windows XP) / Printers (Windows Vista) -> Printer Icon (right click) -> Printing Preferences -> Maintenance

You should be able to see nozzle check, click it and follow the prompt. Line patterns that corresponds to the colors of the ink cartridges would be printed. If breaks on the patterns appear, continue with head cleaning. Try to do this about 3 times until all patterns are complete.

You have to run a head cleaning cycle:
Follow these steps to clean the print head:

1. Make sure the Stylus CX is on and the ink light is off.
   
   
2. Hold down the ink button for 3 seconds until the On light starts flashing. The Stylus CX runs a head cleaning cycle and the On light flashes.
   
   Caution: Never turn off the Stylus CX while head cleaning is in progress. You may damage it.
   
   
3. When the On light stops flashing, turn off the Stylus CX.
   
   
4. Load letter-size paper in the sheet feeder.
   
   
5. Press the ink and On buttons together and hold them down for about 3 seconds. The Stylus CX turns on and prints a test pattern, which includes a nozzle check. Shown below are some examples of what the nozzle check may look like:
   
   Nozzle check pattern with no gaps Nozzle check pattern with gaps
   
   
6. Examine the nozzle check. If it does not look like the nozzle check pattern with no gaps as shown above, repeat steps 2 through 6.

Note: If you don't see any improvement after cleaning the print head three times, turn off the Stylus CX and wait overnight. This lets any dried ink soften. Then try cleaning the print head again.

If you do not use your Stylus CX often, it is a good idea to print a few pages at least once a month to maintain good print quality.

1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing.

NOTE: You cannot clean the print head if the any of the cartridges are expended. Replace the appropriate ink cartridge before proceeding.

2. Load letter size paper.

3. Click on START.

For Windows 95/98/ME: Click SETTINGS, PRINTERS, then RIGHT-CLICK on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PROPERTIES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows 2000: Click SETTINGS, PRINTERS, then RIGHT-CLICK on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows XP: Click CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS AND FAXES. RIGHT-CLICK your EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. If this icon is not showing, select VIEW INSTALLED PRINTERS. Then RIGHT-CLICK the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows Vista: Click CONTROL PANEL,HARDWARE AND SOUND then PRINTERS. Note: these steps may vary depending on how Vista is setup. RIGHT-CLICK on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

4. Click on the UTILITY or MAINTENANCE tab, then click on HEAD CLEANING.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to clean the printhead. Cleaning takes about 30 seconds, during which time the printer makes some noise and the power light flashes. Never turn off the printer while the power light is flashing, unless the printer has not moved or made noise for more than 5 minutes.

6. When the power light stops flashing click PRINT NOZZLE CHECK PATTERN and then click NEXT.

7. If the nozzle check pattern has no gaps in its lines, click FINISH. If the pattern has any gaps, click CLEAN to clean the printhead again.

8. If the situation continues after three cleaning cycles and nozzle checks, replace one of the affected ink cartridge(s).

9. Once the cartridge(s) has been replaced, please follow steps one through seven up to three times.

If the nozzle check still has gaps after you have run at least 3 consecutive cleaning cycles and replaced the affected ink cartridge(s) with genuine Epson inks, your printer will require service.

Pls dont forget to rate solution, thanks!!

Please confirm that the head cleanings were done using the most effective method listed below.

1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing.

NOTE: You cannot clean the print head if the any of the cartridges are expended. Replace the appropriate ink cartridge before proceeding.

2. Load letter size paper.

3. Click on START.

For Windows 95/98/ME: Click SETTINGS, PRINTERS, then right click on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PROPERTIES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows 2000: Click SETTINGS, PRINTERS, then right click on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows XP: Click CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS AND FAXES. Right click your EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. If this icon is not showing, select VIEW INSTALLED PRINTERS. Then right click the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows Vista: Click CONTROL PANEL, HARDWARE AND SOUND then PRINTERS. Note: these steps may vary depending on how Vista is setup. Right click on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

4. Click on the UTILITY or MAINTENANCE tab, then click on HEAD CLEANING.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to clean the print head. Cleaning takes about 30 seconds, during which time the printer makes some noise and the power light flashes. Never turn off the printer while the power light is flashing, unless the printer has not moved or made noise for more than 5 minutes.

6. When the power light stops flashing click PRINT NOZZLE CHECK PATTERN and then click NEXT.

7. If the nozzle check pattern has no gaps in its lines, click FINISH. If the pattern has any gaps, click CLEAN to clean the printhead again.

8. If the situation continues after three cleaning cycles and nozzle checks, replace one of the affected ink cartridge(s).

9. Once the cartridge(s) has been replaced, please follow steps one through seven up to three times.

If the nozzle check still has gaps after you have run at least 3 consecutive cleaning cycles and replaced the affected ink cartridge(s), your printer will require service.

***

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try this :

1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing.

NOTE: You cannot clean the print head if the any of the cartridges are expended. Replace the appropriate ink cartridge before proceeding.

2. Load letter size paper.

3. Click on START.

For Windows 95/98/ME: Click SETTINGS, PRINTERS, then RIGHT-CLICK on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PROPERTIES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows 2000: Click SETTINGS, PRINTERS, then RIGHT-CLICK on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows XP: Click CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS AND FAXES. RIGHT-CLICK your EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. If this icon is not showing, select VIEW INSTALLED PRINTERS. Then RIGHT-CLICK the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

For Windows Vista: Click CONTROL PANEL,HARDWARE AND SOUND then PRINTERS. Note: these steps may vary depending on how Vista is setup. RIGHT-CLICK on the EPSON STYLUS PRINTER ICON. Select PRINTING PREFERENCES from the drop-down menu. Proceed to Step 4.

4. Click on the UTILITY or MAINTENANCE tab, then click on HEAD CLEANING.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to clean the printhead. Cleaning takes about 30 seconds, during which time the printer makes some noise and the power light flashes. Never turn off the printer while the power light is flashing, unless the printer has not moved or made noise for more than 5 minutes.

6. When the power light stops flashing click PRINT NOZZLE CHECK PATTERN and then click NEXT.

7. If the nozzle check pattern has no gaps in its lines, click FINISH. If the pattern has any gaps, click CLEAN to clean the printhead again.

8. If the situation continues after three cleaning cycles and nozzle checks, replace one of the affected ink cartridge(s).

9. Once the cartridge(s) has been replaced, please follow steps one through seven up to three times.