Epson R300 problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Evans
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill Evans

On a Dell 2400 (2.8 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM) running Windows XP SP2, I used an
Epson R300 until the other day. After heavy use for some months, the R300
reached a point where it would print bitmaps far too dark. I could compare
old print-outs to new prints of the same image, and the newer prints were
clearly darker and lacked the contrast of the old prints. This was much
more of a difference than could be attributed to the age of the older
prints.

Since I had a good experience with the first R300, I went out and bought
another R300.

I hooked it up to the USB port and then ran the setup program off of the
included CD. Of course it recognized the R300 immediately upon my
connecting it to the USB port because I had neglected to uninstall and
completely remove the original R300 driver.

Also I kicked myself in the tail when the install program reached the point
where it says "Plug in printer now", but the software installation continued
on past that point with no errors.

When it was done, and the printer was correctly recognized by Windows and
installed correctly pointing to port USB001 (or whatever the USB port is
called), I could try to print from any Windows app, or try to print the test
page, and the print job would enter the queue but never leave!

It would quickly go past the "Spooling" stage and hang at the "Printing"
stage.

After that, I uninstalled all the Epson software under "Add/Remove
Programs", I removed the original Epson printer and the new Epson printer
listed under "Control Panel/Printers", and I manually deleted the folders
under "Program Files" containing the Epson software.

Second time through doing the install I did it in the right sequence, I
didn't plug in the printer until asked to do so by the setup program. SAME
RESULTS.

I deleted and uninstalled everything again, and tried to get the new
software drivers to work with the OLD printer. SAME RESULTS. Print job
enters queue, never leaves.

I deleted and uninstalled everything again, and tried to get the OLD
software drivers off of the CD that came with the first R300 to work with
the OLD printer. SAME RESULTS. Print job enters queue, never leaves. That
combo of the old drivers and the old printer had worked earlier that same
day.

I downloaded the newest driver off of the web site, which is listed as this:

---
Printer Driver v5.5bAs
Windows XP, Windows 2000
epson11315.exe - 7.7MB - posted on 01/19/05
---

Tried that driver with both the old and the new printer. Same results.

I downloaded the latest BIOS and motherboard chipset drivers for the Dell
2400 from Dell.com. SAME RESULTS.

Any suggestions? I eventually carried the new R300 over to another computer
to test it, and it works just fine. Of course I remembered to not plug it
in until asked to do so, but it boggles my mind that that would make that
big a difference when replacing a printer with an identical model Epson
R300.



--
bill evans
(e-mail address removed)
Hartselle, AL

Freeman Dyson: "It's best not to limit our thinking. We can always
air-condition the Earth."
 
Bill said:
On a Dell 2400 (2.8 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM) running Windows XP SP2, I used an
Epson R300 until the other day. After heavy use for some months, the R300
reached a point where it would print bitmaps far too dark. I could compare
old print-outs to new prints of the same image, and the newer prints were
clearly darker and lacked the contrast of the old prints. This was much
more of a difference than could be attributed to the age of the older
prints.

Since I had a good experience with the first R300, I went out and bought
another R300.

I hooked it up to the USB port and then ran the setup program off of the
included CD. Of course it recognized the R300 immediately upon my
connecting it to the USB port because I had neglected to uninstall and
completely remove the original R300 driver.

Also I kicked myself in the tail when the install program reached the point
where it says "Plug in printer now", but the software installation continued
on past that point with no errors.

When it was done, and the printer was correctly recognized by Windows and
installed correctly pointing to port USB001 (or whatever the USB port is
called), I could try to print from any Windows app, or try to print the test
page, and the print job would enter the queue but never leave!

It would quickly go past the "Spooling" stage and hang at the "Printing"
stage.

After that, I uninstalled all the Epson software under "Add/Remove
Programs", I removed the original Epson printer and the new Epson printer
listed under "Control Panel/Printers", and I manually deleted the folders
under "Program Files" containing the Epson software.

Second time through doing the install I did it in the right sequence, I
didn't plug in the printer until asked to do so by the setup program. SAME
RESULTS.

I deleted and uninstalled everything again, and tried to get the new
software drivers to work with the OLD printer. SAME RESULTS. Print job
enters queue, never leaves.

I deleted and uninstalled everything again, and tried to get the OLD
software drivers off of the CD that came with the first R300 to work with
the OLD printer. SAME RESULTS. Print job enters queue, never leaves. That
combo of the old drivers and the old printer had worked earlier that same
day.

I downloaded the newest driver off of the web site, which is listed as this:

---
Printer Driver v5.5bAs
Windows XP, Windows 2000
epson11315.exe - 7.7MB - posted on 01/19/05
---

Tried that driver with both the old and the new printer. Same results.

I downloaded the latest BIOS and motherboard chipset drivers for the Dell
2400 from Dell.com. SAME RESULTS.

Any suggestions? I eventually carried the new R300 over to another computer
to test it, and it works just fine. Of course I remembered to not plug it
in until asked to do so, but it boggles my mind that that would make that
big a difference when replacing a printer with an identical model Epson
R300.

Just some suggestions!

Have you checked the printer properties?

Have you tried to print a test page from the properties box?

Is it set as the default printer?

Just check the location port of the printer and make sure its not seeing
a serial or com port.

In the BIOS it should be set as EPP.

r
 
Did you contact Epson tech support through their web site? I think there
are some items left behind in the registry that are causing you problems.
They will give you instructions how to get rid of them.
 
Hi,

This sounds familiarly like the incorrect port is being chosen for the
output to feed. I would suggest you reinstall the software if you haven't
already and do check the ports. Go to start, printers and faxes. By the way,
when you go there do you have more than one Epson 300 showing on the screen?
If you do that could be the problem right there. Each installation creates a
new printer and when you print you're printing to the wrong one,
Anyhow, right click on the picture of the Epson 300 and click on Properties.
Go to ports and check the port number. It might be mischosen.


Also go to the System folder in your Control panel and check the hardware
devices tab to be certain that there is no yellow exclamation mark on the
USB port you are using.
Good luck,
 
Usb001is the correct port for your printer so it's seeing the port OK. You
need to remove all the old R300 software and that is everything, you then
need to run a registry cleaner then install from the new disk you got with
your new R300 and be sure the printer is unplugged both mains and usb, when
the software searches for the printed and when it tells you to check your
connections only then reconnect the mains then the usb. As it stands at
present it sounds like two pieces of software are trying to run together.
 
Sorry about the top post...I see you've gotten quite a few replies and not
sure if they are working or not yet, but here is a simple trick that I
learned...if you have not already deleted everything in the registry
DON'T...sometimes this works but most times the regstry is not the problem
with printers (unless your Permissions are not set correctly or you are not
an Admin)...

Go to the Printers and Faxes and double-click the icon...if there are print
jobs in the queue, delete them all...close the print queue (the dialogue box
you just opened) and right-click on the printer icon and delete it...

Leave the printer plugged in and reboot the system...If XP says new hardware
found, let it go ahead and install the printer...if it does not, you have a
connectivity or printer hardware issue that needs to be addressed...

If the printer driver gets installed, go to the properties and select
Advanced...take the check out of the box that says Enable Advanced printer
settings (don't worry, you will not miss anything by doing this except for
some spool settings that you would probably never need)...

Click Apply if it is active then close the Properties page...right click the
icon and go to Properties and print the test page...if it works, you're all
set...if it does not...then you might want to hack the registry...

Hope that helps...

Marky
 
You mighty want to try deleting the 'USB0001' port from the printer
properties. This will be reconfigured during an installation.

-irv
 
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