Level 1

22 points

Awful Color on Epson 2200 after Snow Leopard Upgrade

I'm an experience photographer and printer who has done extensive printing on the Epson 2200 under previous versions of the OS using CS4. As a beta tester for Snow Leopard I had used it extensively on another machine before the release, so I did not hesitate to upgrade my photography production computer as soon as it was available this past weekend.

The problem I now have is that print colors are all wrong - very greenish (bluish?), which is typically a symptom that nothing is managing the printing out of PS. (Reddish/purplish prints are often a symptom that color is being managed by both PS and the printer's own software.) I have changed nothing else in my workflow or printing process besides doing the upgrade - I have a solid workflow process that works consistently and accurately, or should I say it DID work so until the upgrade.

I have installed the updated 2200 drivers from the Epson web site. I have removed and re-added the printer in the preferences panel. Still no joy.

Help? Advice? Anything to try that I haven't thought of yet?

Thanks in advance,

Dan

iMac 24" (aluminum), Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 9:13 PM

154 replies

Sep 6, 2009 9:04 PM in response to danmitchell

You could well be correct about the methods people who say their printers are working perfectly. I use the correct management system, have for a long time, but it's broke now.

I may be hosed. My Epson 1280 is pretty old. I hope Epson updates drivers, but who knows if they will. It seems to have become popular in the industry to "force" people to buy new equipment from time to time.

Steve T

Sep 7, 2009 7:37 AM in response to danmitchell

I can't even get the Epson drivers yo show up after installing the current 12433 and 13044 from the Epson web site. My only driver choice when adding my Epson Stylus Photo 2200 is Gutenprint v5.2.3.

Has anyone cracked the code to get the Epson drivers to show up as a choice for Print using...?

Thanks.

Level 5

7,075 points

Sep 7, 2009 7:41 AM in response to danmitchell

Check you colorsync calibration, especially gamma and color temp settings.
They may have changed 🙂

Sep 7, 2009 8:15 AM in response to JohnZonie

I'm using an Epson 1280. They show up for me. Yes, I know this started as a 2200 thread, but it should all be the same. Here's a couple thoughts. Did you try resetting the print system? Add the printer with the Guttenprint driver for your printer. Then, once it's showing in the printer list in the print/fax section of preferences, control click or right click on it and choose "Reset Printing System.....". Then try adding the Epson driver again. If it still doesn't show you can go trash the Library/Printers folder in the root Library folder (as opposed to the one in your user folder). And start again. Run the Epson installers, and the common updater and have another go at adding the printer with the Epson driver.

Sep 7, 2009 8:37 AM in response to danmitchell

Epson R2400. Printing from InDesign CS3. (I posted this in another thread as well)

After upgrade to SL the outputs have bad color issues. I downloaded the new driver from Epson and that didn't help. I've created a printer using both the Gutenberg and then the old driver, but it did not help. I "reset printing system" and did it all over again and that was no help.

I also lost of my ICC Profiles. I've re-downloaded them twice from Epson and they will not show up in my color mgmt options in the InDesign CS3 print dialogue box in the Color Mgmt section. That one is new to me. I'm not sure why this has occurred.

I've resorted to printing from an old laptop (via exported PDFs) that is still running 10.5. It works. It's not ideal however and I am still testing.

Sep 7, 2009 9:15 AM in response to Elevator Guy

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried resetting the printer system, deleting /library/printers/EPSON, rebooted, emptied trash, rebooted again and ran the Epson updater epson13044.dmg and Easy print, epson 12433.dmg. It still offers only the Gutenprint software. Interestingly enough, if I choose Select Printer Software..., The Epson Stylus Photo is not on the list! I suspect this is at the root of the problem.

Any other ideas?

danmitchell Author

Level 1

22 points

Sep 7, 2009 9:15 AM in response to AJ

"Check you colorsync calibration, especially gamma and color temp settings.
They may have changed 🙂 "

Been there. Done that. Not relevant to this situation, but certainly was on the list of potential issues to look at. 🙂

risotto

Level 1

0 points

Sep 7, 2009 9:26 AM in response to JohnZonie

Make sure you unplug the printer after clearing out the drivers and while installing the new Epson drivers. Restart, plug in, then hit the plus in the printers box and select the Epson 2200, then the Epson drivers. Has worked for me three times. I only installed 12433 then 13004, in that order. BTW, I am using USB.

Sep 7, 2009 9:44 AM in response to risotto

Hi risotto,

Did you have Tiger previously installed on your machine? I didn't. The Epson web site said if your printer wasn't on the list, and the 2200 isn't, you should install the Tiger drivers, followed by the updater. I tried that and, although the Epson driver showed up automatically, EPSON SP 2200", hitting the Add button resulted in an error message with error -9672.

risotto

Level 1

0 points

Sep 7, 2009 10:17 AM in response to JohnZonie

JohnZonie:

Never had Tiger on my machine. I am running off of a clean Snow Leopard Install. A quick Google on error -9672 seems to suggest there is a problem with the cable. I am running my 2200 through a powered USB hub, and it works fine. I would suggest trying a different cable/USB port.

Sep 7, 2009 10:27 AM in response to risotto

risotto,

That was the clue I needed. I was using the printer port on an Airport Extreme. Changing to a USB port and everything seems to work.

Now I can join the color matching fun 🙂

Thanks!

Sep 7, 2009 12:09 PM in response to Elevator Guy

I've got an Epson R800 which came on the market in 2005. Still worked perfectly fine until I installed SL.
I can cause it to print using a driver provided by Apple but it's not it's designated driver. Consequently as expected the print quality is no good.

The R800 driver is not among those for whom Epson has provided a driver upgrade to SL.
So I'm like you. Am I suppose to buy a new printer because Epson doesn't support it anymore?

So the printer is 4 yrs old, so what? If it still works okay and I'm happy with it why shouldn't Epson support it?? I can't believe that under these circumstances they think that everyone who has a slightly older printer is going to opt to buy another one from them.

The fact that Epson has acknowledged that they aren't very concerned about Mac user's, us being only 10% of the computer population is just unbelievable.

risotto

Level 1

0 points

Sep 7, 2009 8:02 PM in response to danmitchell

Well, I am finally making good prints off my 2200! How did I do this? Borrowed a Leopard CD and an old FireWire drive, installed 10.5, updated to 10.5.8, and started printing. My images are coming out just as I expected.

Here is the ironic part: I am using the drivers that CAME WITH LEOPARD, did not even have to download new ones from Epson.

I might install the Epson update someday, but why tempt fait?

All I have to say is: *** Apple and Epson?! You ship great drivers with the last OS, and Gutencrap with the new OS. On top of that there are no working Epson drivers to replace it with?

I feel like adding some words here that will be replaced with *** if I actually type them out!

Edit: I guess abbreviations for foul language are also forbidden, that is supposed to say W.T.F.

Message was edited by: risotto

risotto

Level 1

0 points

Sep 7, 2009 8:58 PM in response to risotto

Update: the latest drivers for the 2200 on the Epson site are the exact same drivers that shipped on the original Leopard (10.5.0) CD.

Postscript: My 2200 is now pulling the randomly-clog, cross-contaminate-the-inks, not-gonna-feed-the-paper-thing. After all this hassle I might actually have to buy a new printer.

Sep 7, 2009 10:25 PM in response to Nancy Raymond

I'm having reasonable success printing from Aperture with the 10.5 Epson driver. I tell Aperture that the color sync profile is "system managed", then I use the generic paper types in the Epson driver, which is set to "super photo" with gamma at 1.8 and the brightness setting hiked up to 7 in the "advanced settings" of the color management box. Brightness is the only advanced setting I can access: the rest of the box is truncated. I use the sRGB profile for my monitor, and everything is pretty close. I've had less luck with PSCS4, which tends to give me a magenta cast using the Epson driver.

At first, I wasn't able to access the Epson driver at via a USB cable connected through a powered hub. Then I connected using firewire, so I tried plugging USB directly into the Mac, which allowed me to add the Epson driver, then I was able to plug back into the hub, and now the driver is available.

There's so much voodoo and ritual in this stuff. Honestly, I feel like an apprentice shaman sometimes.

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Awful Color on Epson 2200 after Snow Leopard Upgrade