New printer and typical lousy software

karavite

karavite

Registered
Hi All,

I just picked up a Epson WF 600 "all in one" printer. Set up was clicking one button after another as Epson loaded my Mac with so much junk. I went for the option of plugging the printer into my router. Install went fine, test page was fine, I can scan..., but every time I print it searches endlessly for the printer. I then run the print utility to check ink levels and it finds the printer instantly. After doing this it will print fine... until next time.

I mean come on, it's 2009. Is printing on a teenie little home network 4 port router so complex? Can I buy one piece of non Apple gear and not have to deal with endlessly sorting out all this BS? Am I asking too much?

You should see the manual. It actually walks you through bugs. For example, you will receive a dialog box saying such and such is not working twice, and the manual tells you to ignore it and click through it not once, but twice. Can you imagine the meeting around that one? "Well, the project is behind and we can't go back to fix this, so just cover it in the manual." What kind of lame developers do these people hire? I bet there are 100 people on this forum who could do an outstanding job on something like this.

Any way, any suggestions on how to have my new printer actually print when I want it to?

Thanks in advance
 
karavite said:
...

I just picked up a Epson WF 600 "all in one" printer. Set up was clicking one button after another as Epson loaded my Mac with so much junk. I went for the option of plugging the printer into my router. ... Can I buy one piece of non Apple gear and not have to deal with endlessly sorting out all this BS? Am I asking too much?

...
Click to expand...
Your issue has been discussed to death on this forum. You cannot use a USB driver for a network connection. If you want to network your all-in-one, then you need a CUPS driver for it. It is included in the Gutenprint bundle.
 
Interesting point-of-view, I suppose. This particular printer has USB, plus built-in Ethernet, plus built-in Wifi, too. Your speculation that the poster was using USB is likely incorrect, with the mention of a 4-port router in use.
And, the software updates provide an updated network configuration utility. Perhaps that doesn't indicate CUPS use, but seems that network use would be a native setup with that printer software.
 
DeltaMac, thank you for being observant. I am NOT using wireless and NOT using USB. I have the printer plugged in via an ethernet cable to my router - "wired ethernet." I followed the install instructions for this method. I checked the updates and they are all for intel based Macs. This Mac is a G4 DP 1 GHz with 10.4.11 - supported and meets sys requirements of the printer.

However, the online trouble shooting guide looks surprisingly useful and I will try it when I get home. Gee, would it be a good idea to actually include a link to this from some of the installed software?

I'm sorry, but having to muck around with a printer in this day and age is absurd and I chalk it up to nothing less than shoddy workmanship and low skill/competency by the vendor. I LIKE the hardware. It seems like a great little printer and appeared more usable for my wife than the HP or other models. It is the driver developers that are earning my disgust here. I guess few people take pride in their work or realize they play a part in quality and customer satisfaction.
 
karavite said:
DeltaMac, thank you for being observant. I am NOT using wireless and NOT using USB. I have the printer plugged in via an ethernet cable to my router - "wired ethernet." I followed the install instructions for this method. ...
Click to expand...
Both you and DeltaMac misread my previous post. It was clear from your OP that you have a network connection between your Mac and printer.

Inability to print over a network connection is probably the most common symptom of using the manufacturer's driver. Most manufacturer-supplied drivers are USB-only. This is why I said that you cannot use a USB over a network connection. This is also why I recommended that you use a CUPS driver, which does work over a network connection. The Gutenprint bundle includes a CUPS driver for your model Epson.

It was my mistake that I did not check Epson's site to see that it also provides network driver support for your printer. Now we all understand that both Epson and Gutenprint support your printer over a network connection. However, we still do not know why Epson's driver appears not to work over your network.

Because all of your AIO's non-printer functions appear to work, the problem would appear to be something that you neglected to do related to printing. Consider these questions:
  • Does your printer appear in the printer popup menu of your File/Print dialog box?
  • If it does appear, then how many times does it appear?
  • If it does not appear, then have you run the Printer Setup Utility?
 
Thank you for trying to help MrMe. Forgive my frustration with sub par vendor driver developers. Shoddy work irks me. One issue of semantics if you don't mind. IMO, it isn't anything I neglected, it is something Epson negelcted since I followed their network connection instructions to the T.

Okay, on to real symptoms. The printer does appear in my File/print dialog box and appears only once. It is the only printer listed. In the same dialog box it appears under Bonjour Printers as, I think, should be expected. For kicks I deleted then added it.

When I try to print more times than not I will receive a communication error, the printer cannot be found. This happens every time after a restart or sleep no matter what the app I am printing from. If I delete the job and retry it usually succeeds. Can you (or anyone) suggest other settings I might look at?

Also, before posting I searched and could not find anything specific on "workforce" WF600... if there are existing relevant posts, a link would be appreciated.

Thank you in advanced
 
Confirmed. This is what happens after a restart.

Shut down machine. Started.
Opened new Word file, type "test"
File-Print
Epson Print dialog box shows message,
"Attempting to connect to host EPSON6635EA.local. for printer auto"

After about a minute it times out. New overlay dialog box states,
"Unable to connect to printer; will retry in 30 seconds... Operation times out"
Three buttons:
Delete Job, Stop All Jobs, Stop Job

I click "Delete Job"
Type additional text in word file, File-Print again
Document prints right away

A few seconds later the first document "Test", the one I thought I deleted, prints too!!!
 
karavite said:
Confirmed. ...

Type additional text in word file, File-Print again
Document prints right away

A few seconds later the first document "Test", the one I thought I deleted, prints too!!!
Click to expand...
Based on everything that you have written, it appears that the problem may not be such much sub-par vendor support as it is overreaching. They appear to be trying to simulate the user experience of a laser printer.

For your print jobs, you might download and install Gutenprint. The CUPS driver may not have this problem. If this does not improve matters, then a workaround is to awake the printer from the walk-up control panel before you send a job to it.
 
Ugh. I might try that, or I may just go with a USB connection. I suppose I should try calling their tech support, but I think we can guess how much fun that will be. Still, thanks for the help! I have to imagine that there are good programmers out there who for the same money could have written a much more reliable driver. Seems a shame.
 
I am having the same type of issues with this printer; except I am attempting to print wirelessly.

I'll tell you now, don't bother with Epson tech support. I wasted an hour with tier 1 support then another two with tier 2 and got no resolution. Three hours of my life I won't get back.

On a whim I deleted my old printer and I was able to print...until the next time I shut down my computer.

Now I get the same type of thing you describe. The print goes to the queue then just sits there. After a few minutes I get a communication error with the option to quit, delete, etc. In addition, my router gets knocked offline and I have to unplug and replug it in to get my wireless network back up.

I am going to try the drivers suggested here.
 
Yoda, sorry I was off a while. I feel your pain! However, you aren't alone. I just knew calling Epson would be the nightmare you experienced so I am avoiding at all costs. Can you update me on how things went? I was going to just use USB and forget about it, but I would like ability to print from other computers on the network. I am installing gutenprint now. Wish me luck! :)
 
I installed the gutenprint....didn't work. I have not had time to troubleshoot it.
It works fine from my Dell laptop. You'd think the mac would work easier than a pc.
 
Gutenprint would not work for me either. I believe the trouble was the printer and Mac though. At various times I could ping the IP of the printer and sometimes it was there and others it was not. In effect, and without the proper technical lingo, the Mac was unable to "wake up" the printer consistently. I am now hooked up with USB and it prints and scans like a mad man. Of course I would occasionally like to print from two other laptops that I run wireless in the house (one mac, one PC), but since networking this thing is out, I guess I will have to revisit sharing the installed printer from the Mac. I did this years ago and remember it as being a chore with a Windows machine.

Honestly, it is just a bunch of devices talking and listening to each other. I know some of you technical wiz guys love defending this stuff, but it should not be rocket science and it should just work right out of the box. I am probably above average with this kind of thing and I can't imagine a new user having to deal with this. Poor Yoda, I knew calling Epson would be a complete waste of time, but how many others waste away hours and hours on this silly stuff? Last I checked it was 2009, not 1999 or even 1989. Check that, I seem to recall Apple Talk working like a dream.
 
Arg!!! This stupid printer. Now it only sometimes works on the PC. I found that if between every print job I reboot the computer and printer, then I can print 75% of the time. With the Gutenprint driver I get the following error when it does not print -"Network host busy - retrying in 30 seconds" but it never re-trys.

I can either call Epson again or take a nap. I'm taking a nap. That has a better chance of fixing this thing.
 
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