Epson R1800 ink levels not showing under Mountain Lion

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Level 1

94 points

Epson R1800 ink levels not showing under Mountain Lion

Since I installed Mountain Lion, the ink levels on the Epson 1800 are no longer showing graphically. It goes through the motions of gathering information then states "information not available". Even the Epson Printer utility no longer provides the info. When levels are getting low, it simply tells you to prepare each individual cartridge that is low without showing how much ink is actually left. The Epson site simply refers you to update your driver/software through Apple. I'm assuming they're supplying it to Apple, but just wondering if this happening to others. The R1800 is an older model, but it still works fine. The ink level indicators show up graphically via Windows 7 and the latest drivers no problem - just not with the mountain lion drivers. It's a pain to be stuck in the middle of a print and run out.

OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 8, 2012 2:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Christm Author

Level 1

94 points

Sep 12, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Christm

Finally figured this out and entirely by accident.

When you're in the Print & Scan Settings > Utility > Open Printer Utility, you would normally just click on Status Monitor and see a text warning if you have low ink levels. ONLY after you click "OK" does the graphic notice appear. Dumb, since when you open this window and expect to see the graphic notice, your inclination is to "Cancel", which just takes you back to the text notice. I've done that so many times. Today, just clicked on "OK" for no apparent reason, and there it is.

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Answer 2

sberman

Level 10

272,712 points

Aug 8, 2012 3:11 PM in response to Christm

Here's a good article about printers in general on the Mac: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4670

The "Printer and Scanner Software" link does list an Epson Stylus Photo R1800, which sounds like your printer. So perhaps the best suggestion is to open System Preferences --> Print & Scan and remove and re-install your printer.

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Answer 3

xofer

Level 1

24 points

Aug 14, 2012 3:57 PM in response to Christm

That has never worked since Apple took over the drivers. Didn't work in 10.7 and won't work in 10.8.

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Answer 4

Aug 14, 2012 4:47 PM in response to Christm

Just making sure, but the printer is connected over USB when you're checking the levels?

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Answer 5

bandit

Level 3

895 points

Aug 14, 2012 6:49 PM in response to xofer

Has worked fine for me in Mountain Lion. In Lion, I had to install a gimp driver to make it work

http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net

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Answer 6

Christm Author

Level 1

94 points

Aug 9, 2012 9:52 AM in response to sberman

Thanks for the tip. I contacted Epson, and they had me repair permissions, reboot and uninstall then reinstall the driver. Still no luck. It works fine, just can't properly determine ink levels. They told me to call if I still have problems, but likely not worth the long distance charges. I think I'll have to wait until the next drivers come out or if anyone sees the same thing.

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Answer 7

sberman

Level 10

272,712 points

Aug 14, 2012 6:39 PM in response to Christm

For what it's worth, I have an Epson Workforce 645 that's on my wireless network (no cables at all run to the printer). It shows ink levels just fine on my MacBook Air running Mountain Lion.

Epson's iPrint utility under iOS shows the ink levels just fine as well.

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Answer 8

Aug 14, 2012 4:45 PM in response to xofer

Apple never "took over" the Epson drivers.

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Answer 9

Christm Author

Level 1

94 points

Aug 15, 2012 3:37 PM in response to John Blanchard1

It experiences the same issue connected via USB or Firewire. Currently connect via Firewire. The USB connection to a PC works fine and ink levels are shown.

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Answer 10

Christm Author

Level 1

94 points

Aug 15, 2012 3:37 PM in response to bandit

I might try this, thanks!

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