Complete newbie needs help troubleshooting.
I uncrated and set up the printer with original ink cartridges a week ago, printed, got some test material and some test prints the day after, with good results. I turned it off, and came back to it to print this weekend (6 day gap in use). The prints (on Epson premium glossy 4 x 6) had inappropriate thin lines perpendicular to the paper travel axis (ie, parallel to short side of paper). There was a distinct dark line ~ 1" from one end, a distinct light line ~3/4" from the other end. I tried just printing a few 4x6s to see if the behavior would continue, which it did. Then I did the nozzle check pattern, which was perfect. A subsequent print still had the lines, so I cleaned the nozzle and produced another nozzle check pattern, again perfect. Lines still there on subsequent print. Then I did the head alignment routine, got values of 5,5, and 6, changed the third value to 5. Subsequent print still has the lines problem. Furthermore, I noticed that there was a tendency to show ? head width (~ 3/4") very subtle intensity bands that were noticeable only in sky at first (before head alignment) but became obvious at ordinary viewing distance in all situations after the head alignment). I had been printing relatively low-res scans in jpg format, with minimal adjustments other than cropping. I tried printing high-res scan and original high-quality jpg, thinking that there might be an issue with resizing a low-res scan, but the high-quality jpg and high-res scan had similar line and band problems.
I don't know what the humidity was, but it wasn't less than 20% or greater than 80%. Temperature 75 d F.
Could the thin lines be due to dust? If so, how do I dislodge the dust particle?
The wide banding seems to be intensified by my minor change in head alignment but that isn't the whole story.