My epson 2200 printer prints a gray tone instead of black for text...
what do i need to do to print black instead of gray?

Hi xcoach,

The "gray" you are experiencing is probably due to the ink that came
with your Epson. You have seven separate cartridges and one of them is
probably "Light Black" (which is supposed to produce nicer shadows and
neutrals) and another is probably "Photo Black".  There is an optional
"Matte Black" cartridge - replacing the "Photo Black" with the "Matte
Black" should produce darker tones when printing on matte paper.

"The 2200 only supports Photo Black + Light Black and Matte Black +
Light Black modes, you cannot put two Matte Black ink cartridges in
it...
To switch the black ink cartridge on the Epson 2200 (or to change out
any ink cartridge BEFORE it is empty), momentarily press the "ink"
button on the front of your printer (the middle silver button). This
will move the print head and cartridges to a position where any of the
cartridges can be removed. Pull out the current black ink cartridge
and replace it with the other black ink cartridge. Momentarily press
the "ink" button again, and the printer will go through a purge and
cleaning cycle (dumping the mixture of Matte and Photo Black inks in
the print head). When it finishes, you will be ready to print."
http://www.inkjetart.com/pro/7600_9600/black_mode.html

Additional Link:

Black and White Printing on the Epson 2200
http://studio-nelson.com/inkjet/bw22001.htm

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please post a
clarification request before rating my answer.

Thank you,
hummer

Google Search Terms:

"epson 2200 printer" black text
"epson 2200 printer" gray
"epson 2200 printer" gray balancer
"epson 2200 printer" grey black

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Request for Answer Clarification by xcoach-ga on 17 May 2003 06:13 PDT

I don't have any matte black cartridges, so I will order a couple and
try and let you know!  It has always printed gray and the printer is
rather new, so I doubt if it needs cleaning already (as mentioned in
the comments)  I will let you know what I find out and then send a
rating!  Thanks  Frank

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Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 17 May 2003 06:24 PDT

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your note - will look forward to your next update. 

Good luck!
hummer

Thanks Hummer!  That helped quite a bit!  Still not quite as dark as I
would like  but if I make the print bold it is decent!!!  Thanks for
taking the time to give me a thorough answer!!!!  Frank

Your printer may be:
a) running low on black ink. I suggest replacing your Black ink
cartridge.
b) dirty. I suggest running the Printer Utility to start the print
head cleaning process.

Has it ALWAYS printed grey? That might mean something else. LMNOP-ga

Hello Frank,

Thank you for getting back to me with the outcome - I'm glad to hear
of the big improvement. It really is too bad that you can't put two
matte cartridges in (according to InkJetArt, anyway) to the 2200
because that would probably be more to your liking - seems a shame
that you have to use extra ink just to produce black text. Well, we
tried, eh?  Thank you for the very good rating, nice tip, and your
thank you - all are appreciated.

Happy printing,
hummer