Epson 1400 Doing My Head In!!! stops half way through page?

[Fidget242]

Hoping somebody to help me out with this problem, I can't seem to find what the problem is and its costing way to much in wasted paper and ink to carry on like this!!

My Epson 1400 has developed an intermittent problem, it will stop printing half way through a page, pause for 5 minutes or so and then spit it out half printed. The status monitor still says it printing but in the windows queue box it says error. I have to manually delete the job before it will stop flashing the green light and print another page. It doesn't happen every time but its more frequent than it was, it is getting to be every other page :(

Does anybody know what is wrong? I've swapped the USB cable, power cable and changed the usb port it is plugged into. I've reinstalled drivers etc too. Is it a problem with the printer or with the computer? I'm going to try installing it on my laptop later to see if I can rule anything out.

Any help or advice greatly appreciated ;)

[phoenixalpha]

I find that can happen if I'm printing a large A3 print whilst doing too many different things (watching video streams, photoshop, quark, outlook open at the same time) - essentially the printer buffer runs out of space and spits the dummy from the pram half way through a print run. If you are running low on hard drive space this may also happen as there isnt enough space to save the spooled file to disk.

[mgibbs]

Sounds like a memory or disc space problem. Try going into the printer driver properties and setting it to "print directly to printer" rather than spooling.

Mark

[Matt Quinn]

The clues are there in both previous answers I suspect - However one other thing I've found can influence things is what is attached to the USB ports - Some printers don't like being attached to hubs and will intermitently throw up errors like this as a result. Especially if you have multiple printers on the same machine.

[phoenixalpha]

Could be a USB hub problem as mentioned too. If its not plugged straight in to your computer, sometimes a USB hub wont have the throughput to handle it.

[Fidget242]

Thanks everyone for your help, It must be something to do with the computer as I've now installed it on my laptop and its working fine. The computer that has the problem has 12gb hard disk space left, is this too low? the hard drive is only 60gb to start with though, lol. I don't have anything else open on it as it is a dedicated computer just for printing all the subli stuff off, generally I just set up the queue in the morning and leave it to it for the rest of the day :)

It's plugged in at the back of the computer into a USB port, there are 4 ports and I've now tried it in 3 of them. I've given up for today but will try telling it to print direct to the printer as mgibbs suggested :)

[phoenixalpha]

12gb spare will be more than enough for almost any print run unless you are spooling dozens and dozens and dozens of pages at once

[Fidget242]

Generally our print runs are anywhere from 40-50 A3 sheets, but that doesn't matter as it can still do it if I just send one page now :(

I might try reformatting the computer tomorrow and re-install windows etc from scratch. As far as problems go this has got to be the most bizarre I've ever come across, lol. A printer that just can't be bothered, lol.

[Fidget242]

Could another printer driver be causing it do you think? we've just installed a Dell laser printer a week or so ago - it might have been a similar time to when this started happening now I've thought about it? Don't know why it would cause it but maybe its possible?

[Matt Quinn]

Could another printer driver be causing it do you think? we've just installed a Dell laser printer a week or so ago - it might have been a similar time to when this started happening now I've thought about it? Don't know why it would cause it but maybe its possible?

My instinct would be yes it's possible - When you do the clean install put the lazer printer's drivers in first. Could be it's installation has overwritten a file. Make sure you have the latest drivers for everything too..

[mgibbs]

Before going through all the pain of a reformat and all that entails you should try a Windows repair install first.
I can't remember the exact responses but basically: boot from the Windows CD, continue at the first screen (don't select R for recovery, F8 to accept the licence terms then you should get an option to install afresh or repair. Choose repair and Windows Setup will repair your Windows installation while keeping your programs and settings intact.

Mark

[Matt Quinn]

Before going through all the pain of a reformat and all that entails you should try a Windows repair install first.

This is a lesson leaned the hard way many years ago! - Don't trust Microsoft's 'sticking plaster approach' - It's like respraying a rusty car; sure it'll look great for a few weeks but.... :rolleyes: It is one of the biggest areas of conflict I have with the ICT technicians in the college (I lecture part time as well as running my businesses). - particularly when running intensive systems.

Invariably they'll take shortcuts like this and leave 'scrappy' patched installs that require attention again a few weeks or months later. On my own systems I always insist of full clean re-format and ground up re-installs and it's very rare for a problem like this to re-occur.

The approach is often taught to techs as they will then get the call-back in those few weeks or months time - and be able to charge again for it! Many think it's the 'way the truth and the light' - 't'ain't!

[mgibbs]

Have to disagree. We've used the repair install to fix corrupted Windows systems many, many times.

Its not a shortcut its a perfectly valid repair technique.

Mark

[Matt Quinn]

Have to disagree. We've used the repair install to fix corrupted Windows systems many, many times.

Its not a shortcut its a perfectly valid repair technique.

Mark

You're perfectly entitled to disagree of course . - But there are very good reasons why such techniques are specifically excluded from being used on many Medical, Avionic and Military systems.

It's a 'quick fix' not a good fix... And my experience is that systems 'repaired' in such a manner often prove unreliable in the medium to long term. We might use a trick like this to get a short-medium term fix on someone's laptop or desktop 'admin' machine. But certainly on something demanding like an edit suite or one of the printserver's it is, in my opinion, just asking for a repeat performance of the problems.

[mgibbs]

It would almost always be users' desktop/laptop pcs that need the repair. Systems such as CAD and fileservers tend to be much more stable due to the way they are used.

Still worth spending 30 minutes as opposed to several hours to try and fix the problem in my view. Our experience is that, if its a Windows issue, the repair install is successful 9 times out of 10.

Mark

[Matt Quinn]

Doesn't take me or anyone else here anything remotely like several hours to reformat and re-install on a full-broadcast edit suite! - Nor for that matter the admin machines! I think my 14-year old daughter can do a full strip and re-install of her machine in about 1 1/2 hours!

I suppose it boils down to who's time is being expended.

Your view is perfectly valid. - And shared by many repair techs in who's interests it is to visit a client three or four times in a year, with a hefty call-out fee attached to each visit... From the client's perspective not so good IMHO!

As a schoolboy I used to repair old tellies for pocket money. Often sets needed no more than a valve, and there were TWO types you could use - Cheap Russian ones that were almost guaranteed to fail in 6-9 months or Mullard ones (at about three times the price) that would last 6-9 years!

You could buy 'vanloads' of old broken tellies to 'refurbish' for resale - Because you never wanted to see things again you aye replaced the valves with Mullard ones - If you were repairing sets though, and wanted a repair that just lasted long enough to ensure you'd get the call back - maybe even open up the opportunity to sell on a 'refurb' - you used the Russian valves...

30-odd years on and the principal seems to be alive and well and living at Microsoft! - As I say; there are good reasons why many critical users specifically ban their techs from using this sort of shortcut. My view is it's like a 'get out of trouble' stopgap; not really a proper repair...

As my earlier response hinted at; this may be an issue of driver precedence - the latter-installed device overwriting some critical element of the earlier installation. My own system for instance requires the two Epson SX-415s to be installed BEFORE the 3170 scanner and 1290; otherwise clashes occur... This could only be established on a clean install - NOT a patchwork quilt!

And we're well-used to systems that need their programs installed in a particular order of problems are to be avoided.

Simply 'repairing' an old/broken installation leaves too many variables at large to isolate the problem should it re-occur - The O/P's use of this machine is a little more demanding than typing letters and playing with Facebook! So, with all due respect, I'm going to strongly suggest that his original 'tack' of doing a good clean re-install is the correct one.

[mgibbs]

The time taken obviously depends on how many programs and drivers need to be reinstalled, patches reapplied, printers etc re-installing plus backup/restore times if data isn't held on a seperate partition.

I'm not a "repair tech" out to fleece customers 2 or 3 times a year as seems to be implied.

I'm responsible for the I.T. infrastructure (networks, servers, pcs etc) for a multinational company with over 30 years in the industry.

The TV analogy seems superfluous - the repair install repairs potentially faulty Microsoft Windows files with Microsoft Windows files - not an inferior brand of file.
Also a clean install wouldn't stop you installing drivers in the wrong order if you didn't know that their installation order was critical.

I'm certainly not claiming that it is a cure-all but it is a relatively quick way of trying to fix a problem. If the problem still persists then you've lost nothing except a few minutes time.
Mark

[Matt Quinn]

I'm responsible for the I.T. infrastructure (networks, servers, pcs etc) for a multinational company with over 30 years in the industry.

30 years in which industry exactly?

If IT/computing at technician level then you'll be fully aware that the shortcut (and it IS just that) you've suggested is, as I said, specifically excluded from operational procedures for many (most perhaps???) critical systems? - AND the reasons why it's excluded in such situations. Like the Russian valves it's a second-best 'quick fix'; and NOT a proper 'fix'.

Now; fact is this guy's little printserver is every bit as critical to his survival as a workstation in an ATC tower...

The TV analogy is perfectly valid - The point being it's just a shortcut - a plaster on a potentially festering wound. - Which may flare up to the disadvantage of the end user and NOT the 'tech' involved. Nothing to do with 'fleecing' customers... What is a 'cost-effective in most cases' shortcut for a multinational or even a medium size college COULD bankrupt a microbusiness!

The O/P is losing stock which he can clearly ill-afford - What's needed is a proper fix; and that seems to be what he's planning...

You and I can spend the next three days having a P!$$!ng competition if you like - Fact is this guy needs his system working PROPERLY! He's clearly already on the best track to achieve that... I could cite half-a-dozen other wee tricks and shortcuts that might or might not work for him - but apart from making me appear to be a smart ass and causing him to potentially waste time and stock what exactly would that achieve??

[Fidget242]

Sorry if I've caused arguments I never intended to cause any problems, just wanted to see if anybody could help, lol.

Just to let you all know and anybody else that ever comes across this problem and can't get rid of it - the problem was cured by removing all my usb device drivers and re-installing them. I got my brother in law to look at it for me yesterday and within about 20 minutes he declared the problem fixed! I set off the very overdue (and by that point very large) print queue going and he was right, it printed the whole thing without it happening once - and the Dell laser printer which I thought was a bit slow compared to the old one is a flying machine! lol.

I'm by no means a techie and don't understand most of the arguments above - but this was the solution to the topic that I started in the first place :p

Quick summary from my brother in law was: Unplug all USB devices, uninstall all usb devices through proprietary un-install software and / or device manager, restart and then re-install driver, test, then if all is ok reinstall the other usb devices.

I don't know exactly what the problem was but the 'laymen's terms' explanation he gave me was that both printers were trying to use the same paint brush, lol. Once one started using the brush the other complained and caused an argument - but where the epson just stopped and spat the paper out (fine, you use the flipping brush then!), the laser chugged on one sheet every 40 seconds (get OFF it, its MINE) - apparently that was something to do with the laser having memory on board or something and had saved the job before the conflict occurred so could finish it, just very slowly due to being interrupted.

As I say I don't know anything myself but for anybody else that has this problem - just un-install your printers and reinstall them :D

[Fidget242]

Also as a side note - thank you both Mgibbs and Matt Quinn for arguing (lol, I don't mean this sarcastically) what I mean is if I didn't have to different solutions provided I wouldn't have phoned my bro-in-law to ask which he thinks I should do, which in turn would have meant he wouldn't have come to the rescue (he can't resist computer problems, lol).

So thanks both of you, you both offer good valid points and I'm sure your arguments are justified, just wish I knew half of what you were arguing about, lol. It was a very expensive pain the backside and if it wasn't for this forum I don't think I would have got it fixed so fast, so thanks again everyone :D

[mgibbs]

Matt: 30 years in I.T. We'll just have to disagree about whether a "shortcut" is necessarily a bad thing. In most installations I think its a valid approach. For life critical systems I'd not use Windows anyway :)

Fidget: Forums are all about discussion which inevitably leads to differing opinions. It'd be boring if everyone agreed all the time :)

Mark

[Matt Quinn]

:rolleyes::biggrin:

Not really arguing as far as I'm concerned... :biggrin: My view is simply that it needs to be remembered we're dealing with the means by which people earn their living here - not living room toys or units that can be swapped out in a corporate environment.

- Yes simply uninstalling and re-installing drivers in order can often help; I take it the lazer went in first? There are also often odd settings you can 'tweak' and a few other shortcuts that might have been worth trying.

But there is an old saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I'm not sitting in front of the machine, I don't reallly know how much you know or what support you have to hand. - If I was to advise you to try something that might throw up other odd effects I risk causing you to waste more valuable time and stock. And possibly make your problems worse in that respect. I'd also risk causing you to put other fauts on the system that might be harder to track down.

With no disrespect intended I've no way of knowing if you have the knowledge to work through some of the more complex solutions. As don't have the machine in front of me I don't know its history it could have taken days for questions and answers to shuttle back-and-forth via a forum...

And there's the added complication that with the machine in front of me I may spot something critical that I wouldn't necessarily be prompted to ask about via the forum. - Without it I possibly wouldn't think to ask and you wouldn't know to tell me!

This is a machine used for work and not some silly toy for playing daft games on. As this is (or was) affecting your business,costing you money and taking the food off your table that's not a direction I'm happy to see someone steered.

As you had yourself suggested doing a reformat/reinstall - and that remains the most sure way of getting an almost guaranteed result... :rolleyes:

Anyway - glad it's worked out and the presses are rolling again.

[Matt Quinn]

For life critical systems I'd not use Windows anyway :)


Ideally I'd not use windows period :biggrin: Oh how I wish someone could break the IP stranglehold and produce something that ran the windows programs we need efficiently!

Not really saying a short cut is a bad thing - Just inappropriate sometimes. 'Life Critical' is a relative term ;-)

[Fidget242]

I'm not sure which printer he installed first, I just let him get on with it. If I have problems I generally go to a forum first, then if unsuccessful I'll quiz the brother-in-law - usually he's too busy to help but will try his best to guide me over the phone, but the odd time he can spare a sunday and he comes and works his magic for me :)

The rare occasions forums dont work and he isn't available I get a local IT tech from a shop in town to call out, he can sometimes be expensive but as you've both already said better to get the problems fixed than be stuck with no income!

Don't get me wrong I wasn't saying neither of your suggestions were helpful as they really were, and if I couldnt get hold of him I would have tried them without a doubt. I understand your points but I wasn't accusing anybody of giving me wrong information. I am grateful for all your help :D

[Matt Quinn]

I understand your points but I wasn't accusing anybody of giving me wrong information. I am grateful for all your help :D

No no of course not... I'm sure no-one imagines that to be the case.

Forums, and online communication generally , rob us of many of the visual cues we normally depend on... If this exchange had taken in a pub it would plainly have been two blokes bantering... Nothing to get upset about or troubled by; thorough debate is empassioned debate...

Main thing is everything's working now and you can get on with the vital business of putting tonight's dinner on the table.