Epson 3800 printer issue/question

My Epson 3800 printer is over 10 years old, has had pretty light use, and very light use in the past 7 years. 1 or 2 years ago I made some nice black & white prints with it, which was a surprise because after the previous 4 years of not having used at all, I figured there would be issues. The only times I've used it very recently has been a few times to print out tickets or address labels, with the type not printing black, but a faded grey.

 

Anyway, yesterday I made an attempt to print a black and white print, using the advanced black & white setting in the 3800's menu.

This process I've read doesn't use the magenta or cyan inks. What I'm getting is the example I show here, that prints blueish areas where there should be black or very dark tones.

 

Yellow ink in the printer is empty, so is that likely to be the essential problem?

 

Or could it be my old photoshop version (CS4 Extended) or lack of maintenance on the Epson 3800?

 

Snapshot of the problem print with scan from the original negative for comparison:

 

 

And how's the nozzle check look?

I only have a 4X magnifier to look at it. With the naked eye the lines look straight, at 4X there's a very slight but seemingly regular jaggedness.

Both the monochrome and cyan/magenta checks are light on regular paper. Is all of that normal? For some reason it didn't allow me to do a cleaning.

 

Would there be some reason I need to download & install a new printer driver? Nothing labeled Epson shows in my applications.

What you showed looks as if not all inks are firing.You should always test output using good color reference images designed for that task. The color reference images RGB values are such they are set for output and are editing and display agnostic. Test the output this way and examine for the same color issues so we know it's not your image specific issues causing the problems:

 

http://www.digitaldog.net/files/2014PrinterTestFileFlat.tif.zip

I would think I'd need to install a new yellow cartridge before doing that test though, right? Y on the printer is flashing— cartridge is entirely depleted?

If low, it's OK

Btw how do the new printers compare to the Epson 3800? The largest I print is 13x19, on Epson's Exhibition Fiber paper.

 

Epson SureColor P600 is going for $694 with $200 rebate, Canon PIXMA Pro-100 $400 with a $250 rebate- That's not much more than the cost of 2 ink cartridges for the Epson 3800…. Is quality competitive or no?

Quality is as good or better. I went 3800 to 3880 to P800 and found each a bit better in a number of areas.

I'm checking specs and reviews, with the Canon as well.

 

Is P600 a downgrade from P800 only in regard to print size capability? At first glance they both have advanced black & white mode and similar or same print head. Looks like P600 ink could be a bit more expensive if you do a lot of printing.

According to the 3800 manual the yellow cartridge is expended. Red ink light remains on and message REPLACE INK CARTRIDGE.

I have often printed with low ink warning until the printer will print no longer then of course replace. There's still ink in the lines so once replacement is done, it picks up and finishes. But sure, you can replace now and maybe that will fix the issue. It sure looks above that not all inks are firing but it could be a bad head or other problem.

OK, so I replaced the empty yellow ink cartridge but still get the same results.

 

On the print menu I have:

checked 'Document' (as opposed to 'Proof')

Color Handling: Printer Manages Colors

Rendering Intent: Relative Colormetric

 

Then in Print Settings I have Advanced B&W Photo, Neutral

 

As I said it is stated Cyan and Magenta (with both supply is low) aren't used printing with Advanced B&W setting.

 

I don't think so, but I wonder if there's a small chance my old version photoshop CS4 could have something to do with it. It's been doing funky things lately like sometimes refusing to save a file after I've done some cloning on an image.

Need a screen capture because I can't see where you'd set Relative Colorimetric with Printer Manages Color.

That dropdown doesn't do anything. So no big deal there. Now let's see what the Printer dialogs look like.

I am confused by "'Remember to enable color management in the printer dialog box." Don't see anywhere to do more with that on this menu before printing.

In Color Matching, make sure you've got EPSON Color Controls radio button on. Not ColorSync. I think you do, otherwise you can't select ABW which I see above. The reminder doesn't know you're using ABW, and if you were not and wanted to use Printer Manages Color, there's a dropdown menu to select a profile. Not pertinent in the mode you're using.

And if you suspect Photoshop, you should be able to print a test using either Preview or the ColorSync utility.

Epson Color Controls is the button, yes.

Printing from Preview doesn't give me the option to set controls but it printed what mostly looks like a normal b&w photo, but with a slight cyan cast- I suppose similar to the photo up top. In the very darkest (or black) areas, it prints that same light blue, even tho I printed a different image.

 

I wonder if Photo Black is not fully getting through.

 

Also, this may sound silly, but at the beginning of this problem I looked in my applications and couldn't find the Epson 3800 driver. I tried to download and install the latest version from Epson without success.

Could it have been uninstalled at some point when I installed a system update? Would it print at all and show 3800 in the print menu without the driver?

First, that Preview printed without the issue you report points to an issue in Photoshop or how you're setting it (although it looks OK)....

IF you wish to see if Photo Black is 'getting though' you do a nozzle check but you said you did. But what I see from your first post really still appears like not all inks are firing. But that's an assumption.

I don't see how you can print without the Epson driver so how can it be uninstalled?

The Epson driver isn't IN applications. It's installed such you can go into Printer and Fax and load it there.

I printed your Printer Test in color with Preview and with Photoshop and they're pretty much identical. Following is a close facsimile of

the photoshop print. The paper is slightly yellow so I'm not sure if it's old or a different batch of paper. I printed the Preview print in the middle of a whiter paper and it looks the same- just slightly better. Both are pretty close to the Test as it shows on screen but not as saturated and slightly less contrasty- so slightly faded. Noticeable is the section of the woman's hair at top left that didn't print dark.

 

The ink leak along the edge of the paper here has happened at times before since I've had the printer new but this seems more than normal. It's not on the print that's centered on the other paper so I don't know if this is an issue with printing small close to an edge.

 

- Also cyan and magenta lights are flashing and both of those inks are very low, so I don't know if that affects the results here.

Edited July 12, 2019 by ray .

That printer is NOT producing output correctly AND look at the black ink on the side. You've got a bad valve or something mechanical that needs to be fixed. Get it serviced, attempt a ink switch valve replacement yourself if you feel you can do so (I can supply some URLs) or replace it.

I could take a look but I'm not too mechanically inclined if it gets past a certain point.

 

The printer is over 10 years old, so if the cost is even $200 to repair it I may as well scrap it or sell on craigslist for a nominal price and pick up a P600 or 800.

 

The ink leak has occasionally happened to a lesser degree for most of the time I've had the printer and hasn't really been much of a problem, at least up to now.