Why has my Printer Utility stopped working?

Question

Level 1

8 points

Why has my Printer Utility stopped working?

I had a problem with my printer printing out washed out and orange images with blue lines on them and then it stopped printing text altogether. I had only used it a few times, so I called the Epson support people.

As soon as I said it was running on a Mac the guy said it was a Macintosh software problem and told me to change stuff and to then download new drivers and then uninstall the software and reinstall the new drivers. Anyway that didn't work.

So I called them back a number of times always getting another person, with a different solution and still nothing changed.

Then the last guy I spoke to said it was simply that the cartridges were empty!!

But now after mucking around and downloading new drivers and all my Printer Utility isn't working anymore.

When I click on it, it searches for the printer and cannot find it, therefor I cannot run a maintenance for clogged cartridges, low ink, that kinda stuff, etc.

I did trash the download stuff that was on my desktop after installing the new drivers. Could it be something to do with that? I haven't emptied the trash yet if it is. But I wouldn't know what to do if this is the problem anyhow.

Can anyone please tell me how to get it working again???

Tina

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.4), First time MAC owner.

Posted on Oct 11, 2006 5:19 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 11, 2006 4:12 PM in response to Surfarosa

I am having almost exactly the same problem and I am a veteran Mac user.
Printer Utilities worked fine in OS 9 and OS X 10.2.8 (previous computer). Now, with 10.4.6, I have no printer utilities. It opens and quickly closes. If I open it directly, it opens printer selector, printer shows up, I select, then both printer selector and printer utilities closes. This is with an HP photosmart. I found online a similar problem with Epson printers, so this is likely an OS problem after all.

I need to calibrate the print cartridges. Everything but that is available to manually select on the printer itself.

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Answer 2

Oct 11, 2006 6:22 PM in response to anothermacguy

I filled out the lengthy customer service form on hp's site and, after the auto response, received the following:

============
Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

I am sorry but the tool box does not work in 10.4.

Sincerely Janet,

HP Total Care

Our advice is strictly limited to the question(s) asked and is based on
the information provided to us. HP does not assume any responsibility
or liability for the advice given and shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in
connection with the use of this information. Always back up your data.
For more information, including technical information updates, please
visit our Web site at http://www.hp.com/support.

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Answer 3

Surfarosa Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 12, 2006 12:13 AM in response to anothermacguy

Dear anothermacguy

Thanks for your reply.

As to your response, "Really??"

I don't understand it, because before I downloaded the new drivers from the Epson website. I "could" open the Printer Utility and it would have my printer listed, and I could get the list for checking blockages, etc, but I just never used it because I wanted a professional to run me through it the first time(being an over cautious first time Mac owner).

But as soon as I said I was running it on the iMac OS X, he said it was a Macintosh problem, that the original software disc I installed for the printer was not compatible with the Macintosh software.

I just wonder though why the gentleman at Epson just didn't run me through the Printer Utility in the first place just to check the cartridges first before doing anything else.

So do you have any suggestions of how I can get it back?? Should I re-install the software disc from scratch or maybe download the latest version from Epson website and re-install that??

Any ideas??

Regards
Tina

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Answer 4

Oct 15, 2006 10:47 AM in response to Surfarosa

Surfarosa,

I'm not sure why the support person at Epson wasn't more helpful. It is often the case that the person answering these calls is not a true tech person, but someone trained just enough to answer the phone.

In addition to filling out the lengthy form on HP's site (and receiving a one line answer that said only that it doesn't work, no solution), I sent an email to the developer of the HP installer. I got a response saying they, idevelop.net, hadn't worked on it for years. So the questions here are why does HP distribute this driver for "10.2 - 10.4" when they know it doesn't work with 10.4? And why hasn't either Apple or HP addressed this? HP of course doesn't care about updating a driver to a discontinued printer. The printer has had only occassional use and works fine; only the utilities are now inaccessable.

Does Apple have any suggestions about this?

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Answer 5

Surfarosa Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2006 1:02 AM in response to anothermacguy

Dear anothermacguy

Well I have still had no luck. I have just gone out and purchased new ink cartridges and hopefully that's all it is. (I am keeping my fingers crossed though).

I have actually found another path to get to my Printer Utility. I haven't tried it yet though. If this path I found works, do you think it would be OK to then trash the Printer Utility shortcuts, they don't work anyway??

Regards
Tina

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Answer 6

Oct 19, 2006 9:12 AM in response to Surfarosa

I have experience with Canon and HP printers in modern times (Apple printers before that). Your Epson driver may be different. However, it does seem that you are talking about Printer Setup Utility which is part of OSX. On my computer Printer Setup Utility and the printer itself work fine. It is the utility within the printer driver that does not work for me. The printer utility shows up as an icon along the top of Printer Setup Utility when you highlight a particular printer (used to be a separate application). This utility will facilitate various functions on the printer - most common is checking ink levels, though there is now another icon which is just another shortcut to this function. Other things that can be done are clean ink cartridge heads, align cartridges, print test pages, etc.

Trashing the shortcuts, or aliases as they have been called in the Mac world, should have no effect on anything, but those shortcuts are usually in places to provide convenience to you. One thing you could do is control-click on the shortcut, then choose "show original." If the original isn't found, you have the option of finding and re-connecting the shortcut.

New ink cartridges? I thought you had a new printer?

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Answer 7

vics43

Level 1

5 points

Oct 19, 2006 2:55 PM in response to Surfarosa

Many vendors just aren't comfortable with Macs. Most times all they do is read through their online 'Troubleshooting' guide (maybe never having actually worked on a Mac) and then they give you the 'textbook' example of what to do. Not much help in most cases (in all fairness, I've experienced the same thing from a FEW Apple Help Desk staff.

Anyway, one thing you might do is try UNInstalling the drivers, and reinstalling them - BUT, it's possible you have something partially installed, etc. Had similiar problem the other night, downloaded the LATEST version of StuffIt Expander, and it screwed up everything I tried to do after that. I went back to StuffIt's site, downloaded the PREVIOUS version and everything worked fine again. I had downloaded and re-downloaded some Epson Drivers and Installed/reInstalled them for an hour without success. As soon as I installed the PREVIOUS version of StuffIt Expander, BAM, it all worked agian... Amazing!! Another thing to try, run Disk Utility to Verify Permissions on your Startup Disk. It's a good idea to do this BEFORE and AFTER updating any version of the OS, and AFTER following the installation of new software, just to keep things running smoothly... Good Luck!!

20" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

20" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

20" iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 8

vics43

Level 1

5 points

Oct 19, 2006 3:49 PM in response to Surfarosa

Don't think you said what Model Epson printer you were having issues with. I know some of the OLDER Epsons used to have issues with their Cartridges being removed. If you removed them, even accidently, they basically then became trash - once removed, then could not be re-inserted and used in the printer - hope yours wasn't one of those...

You might try re-Booting your Mac... sometimes these 'weird' problems are a crash or partial crash situation and restarting sometimes fixes the issue.

Other times, it's just Epson that's the problem. I have an Epson C60 printer my wife uses on her G3 tower. The print heads dry out at the drop of a hat, but at least you can use the Printer Utility to 'view' the ink levels in the cartridges.

On the other hand, I have an Epson All-In-One CX4600 and you can NOT view the ink levels in it. You just print till a red light starts flashing, then hope you have a spare cartridge on hand to replace the empty one.

By the way, if you need cartridges, try www.printpal.com. I usually pay about $7.00 a cartridge and often they have free shipping and after an order or two will give you a 15% dISCOUNT...

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Answer 9

Surfarosa Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 27, 2006 4:29 AM in response to vics43

I have finally got the printer utility to work, went out and bought new ink cartridges, and my printer is still shody.

What could it be? It's too late now, but first chance I get on Monday I am going to call the Epson support centre again.

This problem with my printer was happening with the original installation software and then still after installing the new drivers from the Epson site.
I will try it again but I don't want to re-install new drivers (again) without step by step instructions.

I think I just probably got a dud printer.

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Answer 10

Surfarosa Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 29, 2006 3:51 AM in response to vics43

Dear Vics43

Um..I have a Epson RX530, it is a scanner/printer and it is driving me nuts. It has never printed out a decent copy. I have had it since February.

I wish I had of stuck with Hewlett Packard, I never had a problem with that printer. But when I purchased my Mac, the salesman recommended I purchase an Epson because it was "compatible" with Macintosh. But I have since found out that other Mac users have all kinds of different brand printers.

Regards
Tina

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