I'm Having Trouble Sending or Receiving Faxes

Applies To

Description

If you're having trouble sending or receiving faxes, work through the checks below. Start with General Checks, then find the section that matches your specific symptom.

Note: Fax machines are designed to work over standard analogue telephone lines. Epson does not guarantee that fax transmission will work over VoIP phone lines.

Symptoms

  • Cannot send faxes at all, or to a specific recipient
  • Cannot receive faxes
  • Faxes are received but not printed
  • General connection or line problems

Solution

General Checks

  • Set Receive Mode to Auto on the control panel, so faxes are received automatically.
  • Check the cable connecting your telephone wall jack to the printer's LINE port is securely connected. In most countries the correct cable is an RJ11 6P2C cable.
  • Run the automatic fax connection check: Settings > Fax Settings > Check Fax Connection on the control panel — a connection report prints, showing suggested fixes if a problem is found.
  • If faxing from a computer, use the Epson FAX Utility.
  • Confirm the recipient's fax machine is on and working, and that you have the correct number entered correctly.
  • Make sure paper is loaded correctly.
  • Make sure your header information is set up and Caller ID isn't blocked — some fax machines automatically reject faxes without header information.
  • Verify the telephone wall jack itself works by connecting a phone to it directly. If the line has static, try turning off the V.34 and ECM (Error Correction Mode) settings — these are on by default. See the "Selecting send/receive settings" section of your product's Fax Guide/Basic Operation Guide.
  • If you're using DRD (Distinctive Ring), try setting it to OFF or ALL. If the fax answers when DRD is turned off, the ring pattern may be causing the problem — contact your phone company.
  • Turn call waiting off. Call waiting can disrupt an incoming or outgoing fax.
  • If there's no dial tone and you're on a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system or Terminal Adapter, change the Line Type setting to PBX: Settings > General Settings > Fax Settings > Basic Settings > Line Type.
    Note: If your phone system needs an external access code for an outside line, register the code with the printer, then enter # at the start of the fax number when sending.
  • If you still can't send, try turning off dial tone detection — note this may cause the first digit of a fax number to be dropped.

Faxing From a Windows Computer

Confirm the PC-FAX driver (installed with FAX Utility) is set up correctly:

  1. Open the Devices and Printers folder — see KA-01047 if you need help.
  2. Confirm the printer appears listed as EPSON XXXXX (FAX).
  3. If it doesn't appear, uninstall and reinstall FAX Utility.

Cannot Send Faxes

Beyond the General Checks above:

  • If your header information for outgoing faxes isn't registered, some recipient machines will automatically reject the fax — set it up via Settings > General Settings > Fax Settings > Basic Settings > Header.

Cannot Send Faxes to a Specific Recipient

  • If the recipient's machine takes a long time to answer (more than 50 seconds after dialling finishes), the call ends with an error. Dial using On Hook, or a connected phone, to check how long it actually takes — if over 50 seconds, add pauses after the fax number before sending (each pause is roughly 3 seconds; add as many as needed).
  • Check the Fax Speed setting registered for that contact isn't set incorrectly.

Cannot Receive Faxes

  • If you've subscribed to a call forwarding service, this can prevent the printer receiving faxes — contact your service provider.
  • If an external phone device shares the line with the printer and Receive Mode is set to Manual, change it to Auto: Settings > General Settings > Fax Settings > Basic Settings > Receive Mode.
  • If a telephone with an answering machine is connected to the printer, set the number of rings on the printer to more than the answering machine, and turn Auto Answer mode on so faxes are received automatically.
  • Check the inbox has enough available memory.
  • If you've set received faxes to save to a computer, make sure that computer is turned on — a received fax is deleted once it's been saved there.
  • If the printer isn't receiving faxes at all, verify it's not connected to a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system — the ring signal on a PBX system can cause problems. Contact your PBX administrator for support.

Received Faxes Are Not Printed

  • Clear any printer error (such as a paper jam), then ask the sender to resend.
  • Check your print settings for received faxes — if Save to Computer or Save to Inbox is set in a way that skips printing, adjust it to also print, or disable those saving options.
  • If the screen shows Receiving but nothing prints, the fax data may be too large — ask the sender to resend the fax in smaller sections.