Can't install drivers for Epson P800 photo printer on iMac

Question

Level 1

8 points

Can't install drivers for Epson P800 photo printer on iMac

About 18 months ago, my iMac suddenly refused to allow the installation of drivers for my Epson P800 large format printer. This means that I can't fully utilise what is an expensive photo printer.

Predictably, Epson says it's Apple's fault and Apple blames Epson.

Essentially, if I try to run any of three Epson apps to install the drivers, it either crashes in two cases, or simply spins away until I force quit.

Details are as follows:

SCP800_1033_AM

Select "Install Epson primer Driver" and it returns "The installation failed".
This also happens when run in in safe mode.

SCP800_Lite_64NR_AM

Software updater installs and drivers download
At Progress 48% - "An error has occurred" and app closes
This also happens when run in in safe mode.

Epson_SC-P800_Series_EA_21_Web

App downloads required software.
I select: Set up printer connection again
App finds printer + MAC address (F8D027FEDFFB) and IP address (192.168.1.100) and displays "Printer Connected to your Network"
App offers option of AirPrint or "Register the Epson printer driver". I select "Epson" and 15 minutes later, the wheel is still spinning. In fact, it ran over night one time - no progress and no error message!

Other things I have tried which didn't work include:

Run Disk Utility - after resetting the print system
Deleted all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences>Print & Fax. and then deleted the whole Epson folder from /Library/Printers . 
Reformatted and re-installed Catalina. I was able to install the driver, but when I recovered my files and apps from Time Machine - nada

Does anyone have any other suggestions about how I can identify the problem and resolve it? I'm at my wit's end.

TIA

Shane B

Perth, Western Australia

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 4, 2020 7:54 AM

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Answer 1

Jeff Donald

Level 8

44,598 points

Sep 5, 2020 9:25 AM in response to SMB ACT

I notice that the US website has a much newer version of the “web installer”, 2.6.0 vs 2.1. I’m not sure if it will make a difference, but you might want to download the Epson uninstaller and uninstall all the Epson software. Then use the web installer from the US site and try it.

I had issues connecting my P7000 Epson with Ethernet until I got it installed via USB first. Once the USB was working and loaded in Apple System Preferences>>Printers & Scanners, I was able to get it working with ethernet. I also had to keep restarting my Ethernet switch when it couldn’t find the printer during install. I use a high quality Ethernet Cat 6 cable.

Once I got ethernet working reliably, I deleted the USB printer, but I doubt that was necessary.

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Answer 2

Jeff Donald

Level 8

44,598 points

Sep 5, 2020 7:47 PM in response to SMB ACT

That is not what we were hoping for. 😢😢

Try creating a new user account and installing the Epson drivers in the new account. This starts to narrow it down to software vs hardware issues. Here is the Apple Support Document on creating new user accounts,

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac

It also could be related to more strict permissions in Privacy & Security settings in System Preferences. It’s 10:45 PM in Clearwater, FL and I’m off to bed, sorry for the delays in responses.

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Answer 3

Jeff Donald

Level 8

44,598 points

Sep 12, 2020 5:24 AM in response to SMB ACT

When you install from your Time Machine backup, how many apps are you talking? Maybe reinstall the “fresh” apps from the internet, rather than Time Machine. If it is an app, you’ll be able to see which app is causing the conflict with the printer and installer.

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Answer 4

TheLittles

Level 10

202,823 points

Sep 12, 2020 6:44 PM in response to SMB ACT

SMB ACT Said:

"Can't install drivers for Epson P800 photo printer on iMac: [...]Essentially, if I try to run any of three Epson apps to install the drivers, it either crashes in two cases, or simply spins away until I force quit.[...]"

-------

Getting the Drivers:

View Epson Support for Drivers: Search Epson P800 Photo Printer - Search Queue - Epson Support

But, if you still cannot install the Printer Drivers,...

Try Reinstalling the macOS:

This is a consistent error, and it is occurring on every try, correct?

If So, then you need to Reinstall the macOS:

Sometimes, changes are made to your Mac (i.e. Updates), and then settings (i.e. for Printer Settings), become manipulated, technically. So, reinstalling the macOS will place moved items back to where they should be, and will replace damaged system files.

1. First, Back up your Mac:

Create a Time Machine backup of your Mac, so that you can have something to restore your Mac from, should anything go wrong with the reinstall.

2. Then, Reinstall the macOS:

Nothing would be deleted. It's just that items that have become corrupted or deleted, would be replaced or reinstalled back to where they should be. Go Here: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

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Answer 5

Jeff Donald

Level 8

44,598 points

Sep 4, 2020 8:30 AM in response to SMB ACT

Do you have any other printers or scanners installed?

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Answer 6

SMB ACT Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 4, 2020 5:47 PM in response to Jeff Donald

Yes, a Brother laser, an H-P multifunction printer unit and an Epson V550 scanner. They are ok.

Incidentally, I tried installing the drivers for the new Epson P900, which is a replacement for the P800 - with similar results to the P800.

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Answer 7

SMB ACT Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 5, 2020 5:44 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Hi Jeff

In answer to your questions:

Catalina - 10.15.6
My preference is for Ethernet - and the cable is attached, though I could live with USB.
Printer driver 10.33 is here http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/du/02/DriverDownloadInfo.do?LG2=EN&CN2=AU&CTI=4&PRN=SC-P800%20Series&OSC=MI
The alternate "web installer" is here: http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/du/02/DriverDownloadInfo.do?LG2=EN&CN2=AU&CTI=59&PRN=SC-P800%20Series&OSC=MI

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Answer 8

SMB ACT Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 5, 2020 7:34 PM in response to Jeff Donald

Hi Jeff

Thanks for that. I grabbed the installer from the US site, removed the P800 and a little Epson multifunction from printers in System Preferences, used the uninstaller to remove anything Epson printer-related, plugged the P800 in via USB, re-booted and ran the web installer. It got to 32% and ...

"An error" isn't all that helpful! :-(

All the best

S

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Answer 9

SMB ACT Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 12, 2020 11:22 PM in response to TheLittles

Hi Littles

Thanks for your suggestion - though unfortunately, it didn't work.

For the record, I:

Looked through my apps and uninstalled about a dozen that I didn't seem to be using any more.
Re-installed Catalina using ⌘-R
Uninstalled Avast antivirus and Malwarebytes (on the basis that they could conceivably block an installing app), and
Re-booted
I then tried to install the driver/utilities package I'd downloaded fresh from the Epson USA web site (SCP800_Lite_64NR_AM.dmg).

Exactly the same result: it got to 48% and crashed.

I'm thinking that I may have to re-format and re-install Catalina and then the apps manually - which I really don't want to do.

Question for someone who knows: if after reformatting, I load my documents and my "other" files (but not apps) from TM, will I retain my emails?

Thanks everyone.

Shane

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Answer 10

SMB ACT Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 21, 2020 4:16 PM in response to SMB ACT

Hi all.

I've resolved my issue with installing drivers for the Epson P800 by brute force. After trying a heap of other options (thanks for all the suggestions, BTW) I reformatted by HDD, installed Catalina, recovered my documents from Time Machine, installed the driver - and re-installed apps from the web rather than TM.

So far, so good.

Thanks again to those who offered suggestions - and stay safe.

Shane

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