You sent a document to your Epson EcoTank ET-2850, heard the rollers grind, and now the screen is flashing a paper-jam message while a half-fed sheet sits stuck somewhere you cannot quite reach. It is a frustrating spot, especially on a supertank printer you bought to avoid hassles, but the good news is that this exact model has a defined jam-clearing path in its official documentation. The ET-2850 is a cartridge-free all-in-one with a built-in flatbed scanner and automatic 2-sided printing, and that body design means there are only two real places paper can get stuck and only two safe ways to reach them.
The fixes below are ordered from the safest, most common cause to the last-resort reset, so start at the top and stop as soon as your printer is back to normal. One rule applies throughout. When you have the printer open, never touch the flat white cable or the translucent film inside, because those parts are delicate and easy to damage.
Cancel the job and pull the sheet from the rear paper feed first
The first move in Epson's official paper-jam procedure for jams inside the product is also the easiest, so it is where you should begin. The rear paper feed is the top input slot where you load your paper, and a sheet that did not pull through cleanly is often still partly visible there.
- 1.If a print job is still queued, cancel it so the printer stops trying to pull more paper.
- 2.Gently remove any jammed paper from the rear paper feed at the top of the printer.
Pull slowly and evenly rather than yanking, since a torn scrap left behind will only cause the next jam. If the sheet comes out whole and the message clears, you are done and can skip ahead to reloading paper correctly.
Lift the scanner unit to reach a jam inside the product
When paper has fed far enough to disappear inside the body, the access point is under the scanner. The scanner unit is the top section of the printer that holds the scanner glass, and it lifts up to expose the paper path beneath it.
- 1.Using both hands, lift the scanner unit until it locks firmly in the raised position.
- 2.Carefully remove any jammed paper you can see inside the product.
- 3.Close the scanner unit when the path is clear.
While you are in there, do not touch the flat white cable or the translucent film, as the official guidance specifically cautions against handling those parts. After the path is clear, follow any prompts on the LCD screen to clear the error message.
Remove the rear cover, which is also the duplexer, to clear jams in the back
If your printer's message points to paper jammed in the rear cover, the jam is at the back of the machine. On the ET-2850 the rear cover doubles as the duplexer that flips pages for 2-sided printing, so jams during automatic duplex jobs often end up here.
- 1.Cancel the print job.
- 2.Pull any jammed paper out of the rear paper feed.
- 3.Press the buttons to release the rear cover, then remove it from the printer.
- 4.Carefully remove jammed paper from inside the product and from the rear cover itself.
- 5.Press in the buttons to reattach the rear cover.
- 6.Follow the prompts on the LCD to clear the error.
Check both the cavity inside the printer and the inner surface of the rear cover you just removed, because a sheet can wrap around the duplex rollers and leave a piece behind in either place. Once the cover clicks back into place and the screen prompt is satisfied, the error should clear.
Reload your paper the right way so it stops jamming again
Clearing one jam does little good if the way the paper sits in the feeder causes the next one. How you load and what you load both matter on this printer.
- 1.Place the printer on a flat surface.
- 2.Load paper in the middle of the rear paper feeder and slide the edge guides snug against the stack.
- 3.Keep the stack below the arrow mark on the edge guides.
If multiple sheets feed at once, take the stack out, fan the edges, and reload it. If only one or two sheets jam, try loading a few more sheets so the feeder has more to grip, and when you are printing 2-sided, load fewer sheets. Use new, smooth, high-quality paper that is not curled, creased, old, too thin, or too thick, and load it printable side up while keeping objects off the feeder guard. Finally, confirm that the paper size and type shown on the control panel match what you actually loaded, since a mismatch can cause misfeeds.
Clear the print queue and turn off Use Printer Offline on Windows
Sometimes the printer is fine and a stuck job on your computer just makes it behave as if something is wrong. On Windows, two quick checks rule this out.
- 1.Delete any pending print jobs from the Epson print queue, then try printing again.
- 2.In the Epson print queue, select Printer and deselect the Use Printer Offline checkbox.
To reach the queue in Windows 10, go to Control Panel, then Hardware and Sound, then Devices and Printers, right-click the printer, choose See what is printing, right-click the stalled job, choose Cancel, then choose Yes. With the offline state cleared and old jobs removed, send a fresh test page.
Prove the printer prints on its own, then power-cycle it
Before you start changing software, confirm whether the printer itself is healthy. A nozzle check run directly from the printer's control panel prints a pattern without involving your computer at all, which tells you the hardware can print.
- 1.Run a nozzle check from the control panel to confirm the printer prints independently of the computer.
- 2.Turn the printer off, then back on, and try your print again.
If you are on a Mac and it shows Printer is Offline, remove and re-add the printer instead. Go to the Apple menu, then System Preferences or Settings, then Printers and Scanners, select the printer, remove it with the minus button, then add it back choosing Bonjour as the connection type.
Reinstall or update the printer driver
If the jam is gone but printing still fails, an outdated or corrupt driver is a likely culprit. Epson packages everything you need in one download.
- 1.From the Downloads tab on the ET-2850 support page, download and install the Drivers and Utilities Combo Package, which covers both Windows and macOS.
- 2.If your printer is on a network, briefly restart your router and temporarily disable your firewall during the install, then re-enable the firewall once the install finishes.
Make sure you are using the genuine Epson printer driver for this product, because installing a generic or mismatched driver will limit the available functions. After the install completes, restart your computer if prompted and send a test page.
Reset the printer's settings, then contact Epson if the jam message will not clear
If nothing above resolves the problem, the control panel offers a reset, with options that range from network-only to a full wipe. Reaching for the right option matters, so read the choices before you confirm.
- 1.Press the home button on the control panel if necessary.
- 2.Select Settings, then Restore Default Settings.
- 3.Choose the scope you want. Network Settings resets all network settings; Copy Settings resets copy settings; Scan Settings resets scan settings; and Clear All Data and Settings resets all control panel settings and any stored information.
- 4.Press the OK button to confirm, or press the stop button to cancel.
Clear All Data and Settings is the full factory reset and will erase all control panel settings and stored information, so use it only as a genuine last resort. Epson recommends backing up or printing out your network settings before you reset, since that information will be lost. If you choose Network Settings, you will need to redo your Wi-Fi setup afterward. Reconnect on the 2.4 GHz band and use the password for that band, since the ET-2850 does not use 5 GHz. If your router is dual-band, set it to dual-band mode and give the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands separate network names, for example Home Network 2.4 GHz and Home Network 5 GHz, so you can pick the right one. Finally, if a jam message persists when there is no paper visible anywhere in the printer, contact Epson Support through the ET-2850 support page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where exactly can paper get stuck inside the ET-2850?
This model has two access points for clearing jams. For paper jammed inside the product, you remove it from the rear paper feed and by lifting the scanner unit until it locks. For paper jammed in the back, you remove the rear cover, which is also the duplexer. There is no front cartridge carriage and no automatic document feeder on this model, so there are no jams to clear in those areas.
What should I avoid touching when I open the printer to clear a jam?
Do not touch the flat white cable or the translucent film inside the printer. These parts are delicate, and the official guidance specifically warns against handling them while you remove jammed paper.
The scanner unit feels stiff when I close it. Is something wrong?
Lower the scanner unit gently and guide it down with your hand until it seats. Close it carefully so it sits flush and your fingers stay clear of the edge. If it will not seat, recheck that no paper or debris is left in the path.
My computer says the printer is offline but I do not see any jammed paper. What now?
On Windows, delete any pending print jobs from the Epson print queue and deselect the Use Printer Offline checkbox in the queue. On a Mac, remove the printer in Printers and Scanners using the minus button and re-add it choosing Bonjour. Running a nozzle check from the control panel also confirms whether the printer itself can print.
Will resetting the printer fix a stubborn jam message?
A reset can clear stuck control-panel states, and you reach it through Settings, then Restore Default Settings, choosing Network Settings, Copy Settings, Scan Settings, or Clear All Data and Settings. Use Clear All Data and Settings only as a last resort, since it erases all control panel settings and stored information, and back up your network settings first. If the jam message still appears with no paper visible, contact Epson Support through the ET-2850 support page.
