Does the printer sit unused for long times? If so, the holes in the print head may be clogged with dried ink.
Have you tried running the inkjet head/nozzle cleaning program?
If that doesn’t work you may need to replace the ink cartridge.
If I had two go bad I’d ask for an upgrade on the next replacement to a better model or I’d go nuclear on them in online comments everywhere the printer is discussed.
Are the blank strips items that should have printed, but didn’t, or is it just skipped space?
If the former, it may be a cartridge problem.
The latter, may be a driver problem. Try uninstall, then reinstall the driver.
You shoulda got a mac.
/s
After 10 minutes, ask for an escalation.
You will probably get a man or woman in Costa Rica. 10% chance s/he can help. After 10 minutes, ask for an escalation.
You will probably get to a woman in Canada. (there might be another “stop” along the way. She can help. She may simply send you a new one, etc. The secret in any tech support is getting to “The Woman In Canada.”
Always get names, ID numbers, etc. BTW, YOU NEVER USED ANY OFF-BRAND OR SO CALLED “COMPATIBLE” TONER... DID YOU ?!?!?!? (repeat this mantra 4 or 5 times to practice.)
Good luck.
Here is the manual for the Epson RX500 printer. Cleaning instructions are on Page 11.
http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/rx500_/rx500_pg.pdf
I can beat that, I have a Kodak ESP 7250 less than a month old, and last night it stopped scanning docs :(
If they are white blank stripes, check to see if the black toner has been replaced with white toner.
Epson is racist.
BTW, Always get to the ubiquitous “Woman In Canada.” She, regardless of the company involved, has the skills and authority to do anything.
I have the 600 ...never had a problem.
I bought a new Epson Artisan 700 from a retailer last year on eBay (new sealed in box) and the copy function was flakey but I didn’t do anything about it as I had a HP copy machine. Then I sound the scanner didn’t work and I put off doing anything about that as I thought I would just reinstall the software and when I got serious about the problem I went through the online trouble shooting and low and behold it said to call tech support.
I was told it was a defect but I would need proof of purchase which I couldn’t find so I just bought a replacement Epson 710 at Staples and gave the 700 to a friend as the printer worked fine and it was very fast. The 710 is working great but I do question my sanity for buying another Epson product...