Expert help - XP Epson driver problem?

[Tom]

I have an Epson Stylus 440 that "did the job" on a computer running
Win'98 using the Epson-supplied driver.

I was even able to print "pretty decent" photos on photo paper (for a 720
dpi printer).

I recently got a new computer (running XP/Pro), it identified the Epson,
and installed its own driver, and the quality went down the toilet!!??

Text and line art type components are fine, but photos (from hi res JPGs)
look like they're in some sort of "draft mode," or something... Horribly
grainy, coarse images.

I checked Epson's web site to no avail. They say that their native
drivers are for previous operating systems, and for XP, the driver
shipped with the OS should be used... The one that looks lousy.

This problem is consistant with all apps... Photoshop, ACDSee, Irfanview,
Publisher (2003), Word (2003), etc... Every component on a page looks
perfect, except for photos, which almost look as though they were done
on a different printer, they're so bad.

Yes - The driver is running in "Best quality" mode.

Checked all the obvious... New (full) ink, head cleaning, alignment, test
pattern OK, etc.

It may be something in the "advanced" settings of the driver, but I don't
even know where to begin, or what half those settings mean (and help
isn't very helpful)!?

Any help would be trult appreciated!!

 

[Guest]

I can offer empathy at least. I am going thru a similar
process with an epson 740. Works great on an old win98
laptop but not on a newer XP desktop. In my case, I get
a high quality photo but only with 10% of the photo
printed! So, which would you choose? 100% of a draft
quality photo printed or 10% of a high quality photo
printed?! A little bit funny. There are some great
experts on this forum so hopefully you get some
suggestions. One suggestion to me that you might try is
to use the coribright process
(www.coribright.com/windows/Article%20One.htm) and/or
maybe the win2000 driver.

Good luck.

John

 

[Shand Stewart]

Hi there. What Epson told you is a load of crap. There are
winxp specific drivers on their support site. The
packaging with the printer states DO NOT USE WINXP
DRIVERS. you must download from epson.

 

[Guest]

Hi.

Finally solved my similar XP epson 740 problem by using
the usb port on the epson (not the alternate parallel
port) and the win2000 driver. I get beautiful photo
prints now. Don't know if you have an alternate usb port
on your epson but the win2000 may work for you. The XP
driver on the epson web site definitely did not work for
me even though the driver is "signed" by MS for use. Let
us know what solution finally works for your case.

John

 

[Guest]

Tom,

Great to hear you got everything up and running!