Epson 2200 Color problem solved...I think

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Level 3

735 points

Epson 2200 Color problem solved...I think

I have read the posts on the color problems with 10.6 and the EP 2200. I too had the same issues after installing 10.6 this evening. After much teeth grinding and some choice words I set about solving my printing problem.

The Gutenprint driver has the same problems GIMP had. It isn't really printer specific, as in all the options you once had. I would rather have no driver than have this lame piece of software automatically installed. Gutenprint will make the printer run but that's about all it will do.

The solution is pretty easy:
1. Open System Preferences. Click on Print and Fax
2. Select the 2200 (or any printer giving you fits) and click the ➖ to delete the printer. Close prefs.
3. Go to the Epson site and download the 10.4 driver, Epson 11832. Install.
4. Also download the 10.6 updater and install.
5. Open System Prefs>Print and Fax again.
6. Click the ➕ and select the printer model, in my case Epson 2200.
7. In the drop down window Select Epson SP 2200 not the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 - Gutenprint v5.2.3! The latter being a Jack of all Trades and Master of none.
8. All the print functions reappear as expected.

Do I believe the reports of Epson dumping on the Mac market? Not a chance. Mac has the majority (well over 50% and growing) of the graphic and creative arts market. Most professional photographers I know use the Mac platform and are very enthusiastic about it. Epson couldn't afford to turn their backs on the Mac platform.

With 10.6 I did loose all my custom icc profiles from PS but not PS Lightroom. I also lost the custom monitor profile. I will re-profile my paper/ink/scanner/monitor and consider it a light hit. I'm sure I don't know why this update was so rough on the drivers. I'm also sure that there will be other pains I have yet to discover.

Is 10.6 crap? Probably not. Will I install 10.7 when it arrives? You bet! At OSX worst it is better than Gate's best!!

Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 7, 2009 11:08 PM

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Answer 1

MacGuy Author

Level 3

735 points

Sep 7, 2009 11:13 PM in response to MacGuy

OK the first ? is the minus sign and the second ? is the plus sign. Sorry about that.

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Answer 2

Jespes

Level 1

45 points

Sep 9, 2009 9:21 AM in response to MacGuy

Thanks for this very helpful note.

One question, just to clarify: Is it definitely necessary to install BOTH the 10.4 and 10.6 drivers? Because on this Epson page (Mac drivers for 2200), I see a "Common updater" that claims 10.6 Snow Leopard support. And is the color problem definitely solved for you? (Subject line suggests it was in doubt...) Many thanks again.

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Answer 3

Sep 9, 2009 12:56 PM in response to Jespes

I was wondering the same thing. MacGuy could you tell us if the bad color problem was DEFINITELY solved by installing Epson's drivers? Are you using the normal color-managed workflow? (Photoshop Manages Colors selected--your paper type selected under Printer Profile--No Color Adjustment selected under Color Management in the Epson print driver).

Another post (link below) would suggest that nobody has been able to get the Epson drivers to produce correct color under Snow Leopard, at least when using a proper color-managed workflow.

Epson claims 10.6 compatibility, but did you notice the Common Updater was actually posted on January 21, 2008? It would seem that Epson didn't build a new driver or updater for 10.6, they just relabelled the old one as 10.6 compatible. Perhaps it wasn't tested thoroughly enough?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2137715

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Answer 4

Sep 9, 2009 1:49 PM in response to Bazzography

His method does work . I did it a few days ago with my 2200. You do have to download and install the 10.4 driver first. Then the 10.6 Common Updater or it won't work.

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Answer 5

Sep 9, 2009 2:10 PM in response to David Remley

It would appear that the exact sequence may depend on how you install SL.

I have been using essentially the procedure MacGuy reported on 10.6 since I started testing in March. See my [Post Here|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10112356#10112356]

I didn't install Common Updater nor 10.4 drivers.

My Installations were done over a 10.5.x system.
I also believe I tried it on a migrate from 10.5.x install.

I think the bottom line is that once you get the Epson driver selected, you should see Driver Version 3.03 in the Print Queue window for the 2200 which indicates success.

Steve

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Answer 6

Sep 9, 2009 3:13 PM in response to Steve Holton

This is all good info, but for me at least, the real issue is not whether you can get the driver/printer to function (most people seem to be able to get it working) but when you get it functioning under Snow Leopard are there color issues.

Although the printer may work fine for basic documents etc, it is for color-critical photo work that I need my 2200. Many other posts are reporting that although the driver is functioning, there are fairly severe color issues when trying to create high-quality photographic prints using the standard color-managed workflow. This would be rather crippling for photographers and other artists who rely on their 2200.

Maybe those posting here could comment on whether they have been using their 2200 for photographic purposes and whether or not they have seen color issues. I wonder if some people just aren't noticing a problem because they aren't doing color-managed photographic work.

I haven't installed Snow Leopard yet and I'm trying to determine if this is affecting a very small percentage of people or if everyone is having trouble getting proper color from their 2200 since Snow Leopard. So far I haven't seen a single post specifically stating that they they are using the 2200 for high quality photo printing and have had no color issues under Snow Leopard.

Message was edited by: Bazzography

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Answer 7

Sep 10, 2009 8:25 AM in response to Bazzography

I made some simple tests comparing photos printed with the Epson paper profiles on 10.5.8 and 10.6 and they seemed to match.
I have not re-calibrated the display since 10.6.
I did notice that 10.6 got the display profile wrong after installation and I had to re-direct it to use the last calibrated profile.
I have not made my own profiles for the 2200.

I'm not a pro, but a very serious amateur, but have not been doing a lot of critical work since 10.6. I don't print a lot of images myself.

This is a sample of one.

Steve

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Answer 8

Sep 10, 2009 12:49 PM in response to Steve Holton

Thanks for that Steve. Just to clarify though, the driver v3.0aAs (epson11832.dmg) that you installed is in fact the 10.4 Tiger driver, not the Leopard driver. The Leopard driver was built into the OS and it was part of every Leopard install disc, so Epson did not need to post a specific Leopard driver on their website.

My driver version under Leopard is 3.09, not 3.03.

Can someone please tell me what the driver version is when you install Driver v3.0aAs (epson11832.dmg) and the Common Updater (epson13044.dmg) currently on Epson's website? I'm guessing it's not a new driver for Snow Leopard but the same 3.09 driver they used for Leopard, but I'd appreciate it if someone could clarify.

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Answer 9

Sep 10, 2009 1:22 PM in response to Steve Holton

Has anyone tried downloading and installing the latest version of Gutenprint and trying that? I noticed the Gutenprint version that came with Snow Leopard is 5.2.3, not the latest 5.2.4. So I installed the new version of Gutenprint and with it came an AppleScript to access the driver utilities on my Epson 2200 and R340 like head cleaning, nozzle check, etc.

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Answer 10

Sep 10, 2009 9:28 PM in response to MacGuy

I have been working on this color issue problem as well. I do not have Snow Leopard but I did down load the so called new profiles from the epson site yesterday. Everything was printing well until I uploaded the new profiles.
I have fixed the problem.
I went into my epson folders and deleted everything with yesterdays date and replaced it with older folders/profiles from another hard drive. It worked and now I'm printing with the correct profiles. I took a screen shot of all of the files,profiles,etc from my trash. I would like to share them because I know how much of a pain not being able to print is. Drop me a line and I will send you the screen shot of my trash containing what I deleted. The last two days where **** but now I'm very happy with my print results. I also had pretty good results using PrintFixPlus by Color Vision. This simple software let you create profile without any hardware.

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Answer 11

Sep 11, 2009 9:21 AM in response to Bazzography

I'm a little fuzzy on the exact details, but I was unable to get the 2200 at first when I moved to the Mac. Which was under Tiger. I installed the driver v3.0aAs (epson11832.dmg). I can't re-call for sure what I did on upgrading to Leopard, but I think I went back and re-installed from driver v3.0aAs (epson11832.dmg).

In any case the driver level reported in Leopard is 3.09 as you also have seen.
I've been testing SL since March and at each new update have followed the procedure I referred to in my early post in this thread (the procedure [Post is Here|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10112356#10112356]

Why installing the same driver on SL give Driver version of 3.03 is a complete mystery to me, but it has consistently done it since I first started working with SL.

As an aside , it is sad that support for older printers like the 2200 are get dropped. The only "official" support is the Gutenprint driver, and I don't expect Epson will do anything beyond driver v3.0aAs - so someday we'll be forced to buy new printers....

Steve

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Answer 12

Nov 12, 2009 4:41 AM in response to Steve Holton

I have to say I don't think this is an Epson problem. I have both an Epson 2200 and a Xerox Phaser solid ink printer, and I've suddenly turned up unable to get decent color from either of them.

A couple weeks ago they both printed with beautiful color. The last few days, total crap. The problem arose somewhere between upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6.0 and the installation of 10.6.2, as when I first installed Snow Leopard, the prints were great. They turned crappy while I was running 10.6.1. I have no idea why, but I am about to do an archive and install on 10.6.0 and see if I can recover.

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