PX-049A phone printing: a restart fixed it. Then it printed the wrong file.

Published: August 13, 2026 Updated: October 15, 20268 min

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First, find the power button. Then the phone cannot find the PX-049A. Epson iPrint finally finds it, only to freeze.

Restarting the printer gets it working. After sending the job, there are 1–2 minutes of silence. Then the machine suddenly whirs into life and a sheet comes out.

At last, a printout. Of the wrong file.

Fixing the machine did not fix the file selection. A restart helped in this case; if it happens again, start with the point where things stop.

Check the power, then whether the phone can find it

The PX-049A has a power button on its top control panel. If pressing it appears to do nothing, check the cable and outlet before touching Wi‑Fi settings.

Confirm the power cable is firmly connected to both the printer and outlet.
If a power strip is in use, test a wall outlet directly.
Press the power button and check for indicator lights.
If no lights appear at all, do not start network troubleshooting yet.

“A phone is connected to Wi‑Fi” does not automatically mean “the phone can communicate with the printer.”

Epson’s iPrint FAQ recommends checking the main network, IP address, app installation, and router features such as privacy separation when the printer cannot be found. Guest networks and AP-isolation/privacy-separator functions may allow both devices to access the internet while blocking direct communication between them.

Because the PX-049A is a 2.4GHz device, router band configuration is relevant. However, a phone does not always have to be forced onto 2.4GHz if the router bridges 2.4GHz and 5GHz clients on the same LAN. What matters is whether the phone and printer can talk to each other on your home network.

Found it, but iPrint froze? Start with a restart

If the PX-049A appears in the printer list, the phone has at least been able to discover it on the network. If the app then hangs, possible causes include a temporary iPrint issue, unstable phone networking, or a printer-side communication stall.

Start with steps that do not require changing all the settings:

Fully close Epson iPrint.
Power the PX-049A off and back on.
Toggle Wi‑Fi off and on on the phone.
Reopen iPrint and select the PX-049A again.
On Android, clear the app cache if necessary.
Only then move to IP-address checks, router settings, or reinstalling iPrint.

In this case, rebooting the printer restored normal operation.

Silence followed by noise does not always mean it is broken

Pressing “Print” on the phone does not necessarily cause immediate paper movement. Before printing begins, the phone may transmit data, the printer may process the job, and the printer may perform internal preparation involving its carriage, head, or feed mechanism.

This can produce a strange sequence: long silence, then sudden motor and carriage noises, followed by normal printing.

However, if every small A4 plain-paper job repeatedly waits one or two minutes, do not justify it with the 2:49 official figure. That figure is for an A4 glossy photo. Persistent startup delay should be investigated separately as a Wi‑Fi, app, data-size, or printer-state issue.

Black-and-white printing can still use color ink

Yes, it can.

The PX-049A has separate cartridges, so selecting monochrome for ordinary documents is sensible when color is unnecessary. However, Epson states that cleaning all nozzle rows consumes all colors, and color ink can therefore decrease even when most user printing is monochrome.

Repeatedly running head cleaning “just in case” also wastes ink. Epson advises that head cleaning is unnecessary unless symptoms such as missing lines, faint output, or abnormal colors are present.

The PX-049A supports a conditional “black ink only” mode through a computer driver, but the function has limitations and does not apply to standalone copying. Smartphone users should not assume that an empty color cartridge will always allow uninterrupted black-only printing.

Keep the old PX-049A, or print at a store?

The PX-049A was released in September 2016 and is now discontinued. It uses four separate pigment-ink cartridges: black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Its wireless LAN supports IEEE 802.11b/g/n in the 2.4GHz band.

Epson’s repair-acceptance deadline for this model ended on November 30, 2024. In 2026, it therefore makes sense to avoid spending excessive time on a minor connection problem: rebooting first and switching to another printing method if instability persists may save a lot of troubleshooting time.

For low-volume users, the real cost of a home printer is not just ink per page. It also includes ink consumed by cleaning, clogging risk, Wi‑Fi setup, app failures, physical space, and troubleshooting time.

As of August 13, 2026, Lawson officially lists smartphone PDF printing on plain paper via PrintSmash at ¥10 per black-and-white side and ¥50 per A4/B4 color side. Seven-Eleven’s Easy Netprint service lists plain-paper printing from ¥20 per black-and-white sheet and from ¥60 per color sheet. Seven-Eleven’s copier itself charges ¥10 for an A4 black-and-white copy. “All convenience-store printing is ¥10” is therefore inaccurate; pricing depends on the service.

If someone prints only a few pages a few times per year, a convenience store may be cheaper and simpler overall. If the PX-049A is already owned, still has ink, and immediate home printing is useful, continuing to use it until it becomes genuinely troublesome is also reasonable.

The last check is the file you chose

Before pressing Print, verify:

file name;
revision or modification date;
page range;
A4 size;
portrait or landscape;
monochrome or color;
single- or double-sided setting;
number of copies;
print preview.

Once it prints properly, stop changing settings or running unnecessary cleaning. If the next attempt eats up your time again, a store is another option. Even with the connection fixed, the printer cannot choose the right file for you.