Epson R1800 as flaky as can be!

Below is the text of a message I sent to Epson support regarding my R1800. It is very frustrating. As I sit here, I have it turned on (not trying to print anything), and it has gone through the process I describe below continually. It is currently on the Firewire, but it behaves exactly the same on USB. Any ideas would be appreciated. I have an XP machine and am using CS3.

"This printer is extremely unreliable. Typically, when turned on, the green light starts blinking rapidly and the print heads start thrashing back and forth. Then the printer will repeatedly lose and regain its USB connection with the computer (as indicated by the chimes that occur when USB connections are made and lost). Some times it actually turns itself off completely.

On the occasion when it settles down and I get a steady green light I will try to print an image. Typically it gets somewhere between 10% and 50% done, and then it ejects the unfinished print, the green light starts flashing rapidly, the USB connection is lost and regained, etc. etc.

On very rare occasions I am able to print an image, but the behavior described above can restart at any time.

My first thought was that there was something wrong with the USB port, so I tried several other USB ports, and nothing changed. It should be noted that I have absolutely no problems with other USB devices on this computer.

Then I thought it might be a problem with the USB hub, so I tried using the Firewire connection. The behavior of the printer was identical with the Firewire connection.

I have tried rebooting the computer, and that seems to make no reliable difference."

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer software? If you haven't that would seem to be the next logical step.

Have you tried it on a different machine?
Do you have any old printer drivers still installed?
Can you return it for a new one where you bought the original from?
Do you have any error messages regarding the usb ports/firewire ports? Maybe the driver is fouled up somehow?
Try removing all the printer sw and starting from scratch and download the most current drivers from the website to start.

Thank you both. I guess reinstalling the drivers is next. No error messages other than the "failed to print" error whenever it coughs up an unfinished print.

It is too old to return, and I don't want to consider replacing it right now, since it has been discontinued and the replacement uses (of course!) a different ink cartridge line-up. I have a bit of an ink stockpile, and at the price Epson charges for ink, I want to use it all!

BillyR wrote in post #6155626
Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer software? If you haven't that would seem to be the next logical step.

And if that doesn't work try another computer.

canons900 wrote in post #6155916
download the most current drivers from the website to start.

Based on my own experience with XP and my R1800 I would not suggest doing that. Early this year when I downloaded the latest file, which supposedly supports both XP and Vista, it took forever from the time I hit the "print" button until it actually started printing, so I uninstalled it and went back to the original driver, which worked as before. After I got my new Vista machine I installed the printer with the new file and it worked properly. Of course, they may have updated the file for XP since then, but if it works...

I downloaded and installed the drivers from the website. I haven't had time to test it a lot, but it looks as though that might have solved the problem. Thanks for the advice

One small problem that resulted from this is that the new drivers and printer dialogs use the new names for Epson papers, but the ICC profiles are the same, and still use the older names. I am going to have to learn which new names go with which old names!

Here's a few:

Presentation Paper Matte - formerly Photo Quality Ink Jet

Premium Presentation Paper Matte - formerly Matte Paper Heavy Weight

Premium Presentation Paper Matte Double-sided - formerly Double-sided Matte Paper

Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte - formerly Enhanced Matte

Hope this helps....

Tixeon wrote in post #6163612
Here's a few:

Thanks. I have the names, it's just that the printer properties box shows the new names, and the CS3 printer window shows the old ICC profile names. It is just a matter of memorizing the names so you know that you have the right profile selected in CS3, OR (brainstorm hitting) creating custom setups in the Epson printer properties box that include both profile names.

Here's a chart from Epson showing the new paper names:
http://www.epson.com …=highlights¬​eoid=89563

I enlarged and printed mine and keep it handy, since after several months I still get confused.

Sorry to hear you issues, mine is rock solid on usb and firewire prints evey time no errors. Printed 3 or 4 13x19 images borderless and plenty of 4x6 images printing strong for about 1 year.

I just read this thread. The problems described by pknight are the exact problems I have experienced with my MacBook Pro running leopard and tiger. As I sit here, my printer is randomly moving the carriage, with the lights blinking intermittently. I have called epson 3 times, get the printer to work for one or two documents, and then it fails again. Epson denies it is the printer, but it is the printer.

My R 1800 has stopped printing as well. I have not spent much time trying to figure it out. I will follow this thread and hopefully your fix will work for me too.