Epson ET-2800 how to run a nozzle check from the control panel
When printouts are light or banded, to see whether the print head nozzles are clogged before cleaning.
Steps
- Make sure there are no errors on the LCD screen and the output tray is extended.
- Load a few sheets of plain paper in the product.
- Press the home button, if necessary.
- Select Maintenance and press the OK button.
- Press the OK button again to select Nozzle Check.
- Press the start button to print the nozzle check pattern.
- Look for gaps in the printed lines.
- If there are no gaps, select No and press the OK button.
- If there are gaps or the pattern is faint, select Yes, press the OK button and follow the screen instructions to clean the print head.
- If all or most of the lines are missing, select No and run a Power Cleaning instead.
If cleaning up to 3 times brings no improvement, turn the product off and wait at least 12 hours. Then run a nozzle check and clean the print head again. If quality still does not improve, run a Power Cleaning.
Source: Checking the Nozzles Using the Product Control Panel Source: Checking the Nozzles Using the Product Control Panel, pp. 159-161
Used for
- Printout is faint or has gaps
- White or dark lines across the printout
- Printout is blurry or smeared
- Printout is grainy
- Printout colours are wrong
- Blank pages print
- Printer makes noise but nothing copies
- Copies have faint or wrong colours
Other ET-2800 procedures
- How to clear a paper jam inside the printerWhen the LCD screen shows W-01 or a message that paper has jammed inside the product.
- How to clean the print head from the control panelWhen the nozzle check pattern has gaps or is faint. Cleaning uses ink, so run it only when print quality declines.
- How to run a Power Cleaning from the control panelWhen most or all lines are missing in the nozzle check pattern, or the printout is blank. If most of the lines appear, run a Cleaning instead.
- How to align the print head from the control panelWhen printouts are grainy or blurry, vertical lines are misaligned, or dark or light horizontal bands appear. Banding can also come from clogged nozzles.
- How to clean the paper guide rollersWhen there is ink on the back of a printout.
- How to refill the ink tanksWhen an ink level is below the lower line on a tank, or the LCD screen reports low ink.
- How to run a product checkTo find out whether the printer itself works when printing from a computer fails.
- How to reset the network settingsWhen the network settings need to return to their defaults, for example before reinstalling the software.
- How to restore all control panel settings to their defaultsWhen a problem with control panel settings remains and you want to reset all of them.
- How to connect to Wi-Fi with the Wi-Fi Setup WizardTo join the printer to a wireless router from the control panel.
- How to turn on Wi-Fi DirectTo connect a computer or mobile device directly to the printer without a router.
- How to connect to a router with WPSWhen the router or access point has a WPS button, hardware or virtual.
- How to print a network status sheetTo read the product's IP address, MAC address, signal strength or number of Wi-Fi Direct devices.
- How to print a network connection reportTo get an error code for a Wi-Fi connection problem.
- How to open the Web Config utilityTo view or change the printer's network settings in a web browser.
- How to turn off Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi DirectWhen you change the connection type or need to clear a network problem.
- How to connect the printer to a new Wi-Fi routerAfter you replace the wireless router.
- How to change from a USB connection to Wi-FiWhen the printer is connected to the computer by USB and you want it on Wi-Fi.
- How to change the LCD screen languageWhen the LCD screen text is in a language you cannot read.
- How to block computer access over USBTo restrict access to the product from a USB-connected computer.
- How to check the number of printsTo see the total, black-and-white and colour prints.
- How to clean the scanner glass and outer caseTo clean the product, which Epson says to do several times a year.
- How to prepare the printer for transport or storageBefore you move the printer any distance or store it.
- How to update the printer softwareTo get free updates to the product software.
Sources
- User's Guide, ET-2800/ET-2803. Epson America, Inc. Document CPD-60271, revision CPD-60271R2, 253 pages, en-US. files.support.epson.com (PDF). Listed on the manufacturer's support page. Retrieved 13 November 2026.
Page numbers are the numbers printed in the manual. Where this page and the manual differ, follow the manual.