Epson Stylus Colour 680 Printer

[numan]

I had cause to unplug and reconnect my Epson Stylus Colour 680 printer recently and have developed a problem ever since. Every time I hit 'print', I get reams of dummy documents printing! The title of the doc in the print queue is 'Epson EBAPI dummy document data'. It has a properties page that requires a schedule, but no matter what I do, it still prints pages of the stuff and not what I want printed! I've even disabled all my start up programs in order to resolve any conflicts, but this makes no difference. It's also showing a communications error box, but no help on how to resolve it there either. I have un- and re-installed the driver several times and also downloaded the latest from the Epson site.. nothing changes! There are no conflicts in my system information and I've tried just about everything I can think of to solve this problem, but to no avail (It's not USB - plug and play - but uses LPT1).

HELP! I have tons of work to print off and could do with an expert to advise me.

[numan]

Yep! As I said, I don't think I've left any stone unturned.. Thanks anyway. I was hoping someone would point out the obvious, as it's usually these things that we miss isn't it? I'd be really grateful if you have any other suggestions, no matter how simple - the more simple and obvious the better - as I said, it's always these we overlook! lol By the way, my PC won't read the original printer driver disc. Keeps telling me something like it's not compatible with dos. I've had this message come up with various things before e.g. I can't install Textbridge from my scanner driver without getting the same message. I don't have the bugbear virus either, as someone said this plays havoc with printer software. Hope this gives you some other ideas for me to try - I'll await with bated breath! Numan

[AussieGeoff]

G'Day

A few things to try (I am assuming you are using XP, other OS's should be similar)

1. Open Device Manager and expand COM and LPT ports then see if the LPT port is ECP Printer Port. If not you may have to reboot and go into the BIOS and see if there is an option to change it to an ECP port. This may be the problem causing the "not compatiable with DOS" error - the driver may be expecting an ECP port and not finding one.


2. Reboot and select Safe Mode (keep hitting the F8 key until the menu comes up), if the logon menu comes up, you are too late so start again. Then open Device Manager again and delete all copies of your printer, there may be multiple copies - only the "current" one will show in normal mode. Then reboot and try installing again.


3. Delete everything in the Print Spooler folder - this is where windows keeps a copy until printed. To find the location open the Printers and Faxes Folder then click on File>Server Properties>Advanced tab and note the location of the Spooler folder then Cancel. Go to this folder and delete everything in it - all the files in this folder are copies of files waiting to print. One of them may be causing the problem - just accept any error messages.

That's all I can think of.

Geoff

[numan]

Thanks Geoff - I've actually solved it by applying my own advice - checking the simple things first. I checked the cables and a couple of the wires one end had become detached. No wonder it wouldn't print properly - I should have thought of that first.. Thanks a million for your expert advice tho' and I've copied it for future reference just in case!! Numan