Epson error 0x50: feed sensor fault troubleshooting

What causes it

• A sliver of paper resting on a paper-edge sensor
• A sensor lever bent or knocked out of position during a jam clearance
• Dust or ink mist coating an optical sensor
• The cassette not pushed fully home so the cassette-present switch does not close
• A failed sensor or a broken sensor lever

How to fix it, in order

Work down the list and stop when the printer recovers. The steps are ordered from most likely and least invasive to last resort.

1. Unplug and drain the printer

   Turn it off with the power button, disconnect the cord at both ends, hold the power button in for 30 seconds and leave it for five minutes. Sensor states are latched at power-on, so a full drain is what gives the printer a chance to read a clean picture of the paper path.

2. Remove the cassette and examine the sensor levers

   Pull the cassette right out and shine a torch into the bay. Look for one or two small white or grey plastic levers projecting into the paper path. Push each with a fingertip and let go; it should move freely and snap back. If one stays down or feels gritty, ease it back into position gently.

3. Hunt for paper fragments with a torch

   Look carefully for thin slivers rather than whole sheets. Fragments a centimetre across are enough to hold a sensor and they hide against white plastic. Check the cassette bay, the exit slot and, with the rear cover removed, the duplex path. Use tweezers only where fingers cannot reach.

4. Blow dust off the optical sensors

   Where you can see a small optical gap in the paper path, use a puff of air from a blower bulb or a short burst of canned air held upright at a distance. Do not use a vacuum cleaner nozzle inside the printer, and do not touch the sensor face with a cloth, since fibres left behind cause the same fault you are trying to fix.

5. Seat the cassette firmly

   Reload paper, square the stack, set the guides to touch it, and push the cassette in until it stops with a firm seat rather than resting a centimetre proud. On some WorkForce models the cassette must go in level, and pushing one corner first leaves the cassette switch open.

6. Set the paper size and type on the panel

   After reloading, the printer normally prompts for the paper size and type. Confirm the settings match what is in the tray. If you skip that prompt the printer may keep the previous configuration, and a size mismatch changes what the sensors expect during the feed.

7. Test with a single internal page

   Print a nozzle check from the maintenance menu so the printer feeds a sheet on its own terms. If it succeeds, follow it with a normal two-page job to be sure the sensors report consistently across consecutive sheets.

Frequently asked questions