Trouble printing to Epson Stylus 880 from iMac

yung · Jul 5, 2008

My neew iMac is brilliant. Even easier than the last one I had - 15 years ago. Everything works first time - except the printer....... I attached the Epson Stylus color 880 via USB - but the only message I ever get is "Printing data from another port". The printer is listed as being supported by the iMAC and it seems to provide a driver. I have tried deleting the printer and re-adding, rebooting the MAC, buying a new USB cable, upgrading my OS to the newest version, etc. But always the same message. What am I doing wrong ??

hughvane · Jul 7, 2008

yung said:
Everything works first time - except the printer - but the only message I ever get is "Printing data from another port".

I'm digging deep into my memory recesses here, but have you got another print job that was not completed before you upgraded your Mac?

The Epson has - I seem to remember - a xxMb memory of its own, which retains unfinished print jobs. You may need to clear the Print Log, or Jobs Waiting, Printer Utilities - some name like that - using the Epson printer software installed on your Mac.

yung · Jul 9, 2008

What's a PID ?

You could well be right. But I can't find it in the Epson utility. What I can see is the Mac logs. The last message before "Printing data from another port" is "Started filter /System/libraries/printers/libraries/prtjobmgr/contents/macos/prtjobmgr PID 41172". Then "(joba ) Recoverable: Printing data from another port" repeated hundreds of times.

What's a PID ? Printer ID? Problem ID?

hughvane · Jul 9, 2008

yung said:
The last message before "Printing data from another port" is "Started filter /System/libraries/printers/libraries/prtjobmgr/contents/macos/prtjobmgr PID 41172". Then "(joba ) Recoverable: Printing data from another port" repeated hundreds of times.
What's a PID ? Printer ID? Problem ID?

Okay, I think that confirms my thought that there is a print job lurking in there. PID is likely to be PrintID, in other words, the identity of the print job.

Do you know how to track down the file that's mentioned ie. PID 41172? You can either type that description into Spotlight, or go to the file via the directory path that's listed. Note the 'prtjobmgr' part - that, from memory, is what you need to get access to via Epson Utilities. Unfortunately, it's about 4 years since I last used an Epson so I'm unable to go through the track and trace process myself

yung · Jul 15, 2008

New printer time...

Well the apple help desk have just confirmed that the Epson stylus color 880 is not supported by Leopard 10.5.4. Looks like the only option is to buy a new printer... Such are the hidden costs of home computing.. Anyway, they were very nice people on the help desk and very patient. Now I have to decide on a new printer. Any advice ? canon pixmas takes my fancy...

hughvane · Jul 15, 2008

yung said:
Well the apple help desk have just confirmed that the Epson stylus color 880 is not supported by Leopard 10.5.4. Now I have to decide on a new printer. Any advice ? canon pixmas takes my fancy...

Hi Yung, bad luck about the 880. OS Leopard has caused a lot of grief for people with older peripherals (one reason I've stuck with Tiger).

Pixma? Yesssssss! They're great. I have a baseline MP110 and I work it hard. Other than the odd squeaking noises, it's never missed a beat, and ink use is economical. You can buy generic ink cartridges for the Pixma machines too. For home use, if you don't want high resolution, I'd suggest the MP470 mid-range model. US$100, don't know what prices are like in Switzerland. Go eye-shopping http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=178 for detailed info.

yung · Jul 17, 2008

Ended up with a MP610 - which is probably a bit of overkill but the offer was good and it's now all up and running. Anybody want a second hand Epson SC880 ? Buyer collects !!

hughvane · Jul 17, 2008

yung said:
Ended up with a MP610 - which is probably a bit of overkill but the offer was good and it's now all up and running.

Enjoy the use of it.

Anybody want a second hand Epson SC880? Buyer collects!!

My Epson 800 went to recycling :'(

, couldn't persuade anybody to buy it, not even with new ink cartridges, all for as little as NZ$20!

G4Powermacuser · Sep 16, 2009

Epson Stylus Color 880 compatibility with Leopard

yung said:
Well the apple help desk have just confirmed that the Epson stylus color 880 is not supported by Leopard 10.5.4. Looks like the only option is to buy a new printer... Such are the hidden costs of home computing.. Anyway, they were very nice people on the help desk and very patient. Now I have to decide on a new printer. Any advice ? canon pixmas takes my fancy...

Isn't that interesting! I am still using a desktop G4 but I have upgraded it with Leopard version 10.5.8 and sometimes I get a communication error when I try to print, and other times I don't. I was wondering when my Epson 880 would become obsolete. It was doing well printing out large .jpg files and .pdf files, and then sometimes it would stop in the middle of a job and get tired or something. I guess I am lucky it has worked up to now.