any epson printer experts?

[bj nick]

I have an epson photo 700 that has been great for five years. Now I am getting awful banding when printing graphics or pictures in color on photo paper. It happens with different brands of photo paper. The settings are correct. I have run utilities/head cleaning numerous times. It works ok with regular paper.
any ideas?
It looks like I may need a new printer, which I really don't want to do.

 

[Party Boy]

Try physically cleaning the cartridges - using a slightly damp lint free cloth gently clean the nozzles and the copper contacts on the cartridges themselves.

 

[vwtick]

this guy tore it right down and manually cleaned it, lots of pics
here

and a page on banding even when the test apttern appears OK
here

 

[roosterman]

try cleaning like the guy on the site that vwtick recommended. that guy put some effort into the printer and made a difference.