Broken Pipe

Question

Level 1

6 points

Broken Pipe

Hi,

I just installed a new 27" iMac and have been having trouble printing to an Epson Stylus Pro 3800. The symptom is usually a print job the stalls half way through, but i just received an error message on the print queue that says:

"Unable to send trailing nul to printer: Broken pipe"

Can anyone help me with the meaning and repairing of this error.

The iMac connects wirelessly to the printer through an airport extreme. My previous 24" iMac from 3 days ago had no such problem.

Thanks

27" iMac i7 processor, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Mar 29, 2010 10:21 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 27, 2010 5:14 PM in response to scarlatti

The "broken pipe" error is a communication error.
There are some excellent troubleshooting suggestions posted at: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1253
Do you have trouble printing if your iMac is connected to the printer via USB instead of through the airport extreme? Please let me know if the troubleshooting steps help.
Here to help,
Syd

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Answer 2

scarlatti Author

Level 1

6 points

May 1, 2010 3:19 PM in response to Epson Mac Tech

Thanks for your reply.

If i connect the printer to the airport extreme by USB it prints fine but you can't use the Queue to see the ink level. If you connect the computer by Ethernet cable to the airport extreme all is just fine. I then made the printer an IP printer and I thought that worked alright but alas it to failed, printing half a sheet of paper.

Any more thoughts will be appreciated.

Thanks

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Answer 3

May 20, 2010 4:49 PM in response to scarlatti

Using the Airport extreme you will not be able to check your ink levels, as you have seen. Using the printer on the Airport Extreme's USB port does not provide full functionality. It will print, but you will not be able to check ink levels becuase that requires full duplex communication. Have you tried connecting your printer directly to one of the computer's USB ports and taking the Airport Extreme out of the equation?
Here to help,
Syd

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