'Filter' failed error when printing from EPSON

Some of these issues with 'filter error' occur when you try to print something that is outside of the printers printable area. Another cause can be when the printer is out of ink, toner or some other supply issue. Check both of these when you have issues before looking at drivers or other more involved faults!

I'm a new Mac user with a brand new machine. I'm having the same 'filter failed' printing problem that others have. I have a Kyocera network printer FS-C5200DN. I spent about an hour with the Apple hotline desk, which wasn't able to help me. I called Kyocera, which couldn't help me immediately but is looking into the issue.

Can anyone help me? I'd really appreciate some troubleshooting tips.

Thanks.

Welcome to the world of Mac, ddorf, and congratulations on joining us! I'm sorry to say that you've stumbled on one of the more unusual and frustrating problems I've known through 30 years and every version of the Mac OS. I've had the 'filter failed' problem a few times in the last few months but, right now, my Mac and ageing Epson all-in-one printer/copier/scanner are working happily - and am not sure that any of the ideas above has helped. Each time I've had the problem, things have come back to normal sooner or later after switching off the printer for a few minutes and allowing it to restart/reboot its own internal software. Ensure, too, that you keep your software up to date and use the most recent drivers. Sometimes, simply opening the print queue, deleting its contents, quitting it and then trying anew seems to have helped. Hope this helps - sooner or later, Apple will fix the issue!

Mark

I was having the same issue -- I ended up downloading and using the Gutenprint drivers with my Epson C88+. Works flawlessly.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print/?source=dlp

Once the drivers were installed I re-added my printer through the System Preferences using the IP form (my printer is attached to a d-link printer server). You will want to manually select the printer type in "Gutenprint" in the filter field to bring up the drivers.

Be aware the Gutenprint drivers don't included scanning functionality and you may need to change your security options for software install to Anyone (I'm using Mountain Lion)

After some weeks of satisfactory working, the 'Filter Failed' issue recurred with one of two iMacs unable to print to one of the two Epson printers on my home network. It took a while for me to work out that the iMac had somehow defaulted to the Netgear 802g wifi signal whereas the Epson SX600FW remained accessible on the n wifi network of my Time Capsule. And all through, my older Epson RX700 remained available via an Ethernet daisychain from the Netgear g network.

Simple solution - reselect the Time Capsule wifi signal each time I find it's dropped out between printing. This is an irritant but no longer a show stopper. I'm also have to monitor, of course, the period between back-ups.

Hope this helps!

This one worked for me, too. I have a G4 Cube as my server and an old Epson Stylus Photo R265, a new Mac Pro (mid 2012) and MacBook Pro (2013). All Macs connected wirelessly through a new AirPort Extreme BS. The Mac Pro was fine printing to the Cube but the MacBook wouldn't and gave no errors when trying. So I installed the Guttenprint (GIMP) drivers on the MacBook and all worked seamlesly after first deleting the printer from System Preferences then selecting the specific Guttenprint driver to add it back in.

Solution

working with esposn xp-400

10.8 OSX

After struggling to find a solution for this for 2 weeks. Forum, then through applecare, and finally epson. All were not able to help, figured out a solution today morning, under pressure to print - amazing what a bit of adrenaline will do 🙂

You have to do the following:

if you have the new moutnain lion on a new comp without cd drive, you probably did what i did. and went to the epson website, searched for and dowloaded the driver ( basic problem) ... part of the problem.

1. You have to uninstall all epson software from your computer. If you know how to do this great.

>if not look for the following on the list (latest update) download and install , you will see that you now have an epson uninstaller. Ue that to uninstall everything.

Uninstaller v1.23

07/13/12 534.9 KB epson14666.dmg Download

or the one below:

Epson Software Updater v2.00

04/24/13 5.3 MB epson15212.dmg Download

2. Go to system preferences, printer > delete printer from the list

3. Disconnect from power source, (physically) - so pull the plug out..

4. turn back on go back to preferences and add printer (use a usb cable) Wifi simply refuses to work another issue for another day...

5. Print a test document ( you will see that you no longer get the filter error) and printer utillities works so you can check your ink levels, clean your printer heads etc.

6. Now here is the tricky part in order to be able to scan go back to the epson website, download a scanner driver only NO PRINTER DRIVER * very important.

ICA Scanner Driver v5.4.9

01/24/13 11.6 MB epson15261.dmg Download

...and voila you now have both printer and scanner working. However untill they can come up with an update that's not so buggy, you might have to give up on wi-fi , mine was never able to find the printer, even though the printer was successfully connected to wifi.

Message was edited by: fionahn

I solved this problem months ago by finding an older driver on the Epson site. Now the problem is back...right after an Apple OSX update. If I could have isolated the printer driver out of the download I think I would have been fine. Wish I'd written down which old driver it was! I will try some of the steps listed on this thread before I go driver hunting again.

Suddenly I encountered this problem. Removing and reinstalling the printer did not help. My printer is connecected through IP.

The printer utility showed "connection error". Then I found that the IP of the printer seems recently changed. My guess was, that the printer utility might be caching the old address, and trying to connect to that address.

I removed the network settings of the printer, and reconnected it using WPS. Then tried printing, it worked.

**** you, Epson (most likely) or Apple (not likely).

I was getting the same error. It seems to be entirely different, as it seems to just effect printing from Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Acrobat reader. Preview prints fine. Haven't looked into it much more, but it seems like X 10.8 is a common factor.

I had this issue with my Epson printer. It had been working fine up, then one day it stopped with this error. I noticed that the IP address on the printer had changed, so I suspect this was the cause. Even though I changed the IP address within the printer settings, my iMac would not print.

My Epson is a different model from this (a WF-3540), and I attach it to my network via Wi-Fi. What I have done is to add a DHCP reservation to my router for the printer, so it will always get the same IP address. I then re-added the printer (didn't use the 'nearby printer option), and it's been fine since.

I had this issue also (10.8 / Epson Workforce 645 / connected via WiFi). Reinstalling did not help, but the IP change scenario seemed likely so I shut down the printer, rebooted the router, then turned on the printer. Solved the problem.

Thanks to previous posters for the tips!

I just ran into this problem today with my Epson Workforce 600. What I did, was I reset the network settings on the printer itself. I made sure that I had set the printer to set up the IP address automatically. Once I did that, I deleted the printer from my printer settings. I added a new printer and it took a minute for OS X to find a my printer again as I had reset it. Once it found it, I chose the Epson Workforce 600 drivers and it reinstalled. Then Voila!! The printer and scanning capabilities have been restored. I can't claim to know why that worked, it just did.

Rainman522

I ran into the 'Filter' Failed issue on my Epson 7880 running a new iMac (no CD drive). (The problem happened immediately after updating my system software.) I tried everything before your post, no luck. Then I followed your advice. It worked. Thank you.

Hey there 🙂

Try going to sharing in system preferences and make sure there is a computer name and the field is not blank. Kind of an odd solution but it seemed to work for me. Good Luck!

All Hail Apple.