Epson R3000 Printer Driver Chaos

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Hello,
I've been using an Epson R3000 for about five years and during that time I've kept up to date on both my Mac OS (currently at 10.14.4) and Photoshop CC - although for now I'm sticking with CC 2018. A few days ago I started getting strange colors on my prints that were not resembling my files at all and usually when that happens it's due to one or more clogged nozzles. Not in this case. Perfect nozzle check patterns. Did a head cleaning anyway. Again, perfect test results. Got brand new ink cartridges. Same issue. Talked to Epson - they say that since they haven't updated a printer driver for my model since OS 10.6, it's the driver (hence a generic one) that's causing the issue. Meanwhile I've been using this printer and that very driver for years and have had nothing but good results, until a few days ago - out of the blue. Nothing had changed in my workflow. I even tried letting the printer manage the color - same bad result. I tried everything - deleting the driver - reinstalling. Rebooting. Reinstalling PS. Then I tried printing from both Preview and (even) Pages - same bad color.

If I were to try and describe how the images are printing (I've tried with several different photographs) is that 1): They tend to oversaturate the image overall but also oversaturate one color in particular to a sickening degree. And 2): The prints come out brighter than they should be.

And these are all images that I had successfully printed within the last couple of weeks so I can compare.

I'm using Epson Ultra Presentation Matte and Epson UltraSmooth papers with Epson's own ICC paper profiles (which have always been just fine). I'm on a late 2015 IMac 5K Retina and have a calibrated screen.

Is there anyone out there who's experiencing anything remotely similar with an older Epson printer like mine?
 

Slydude

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I had this issue once before though it might have been with a Canon printer. I don't think I ever completely resolved the issue. I notice that you are on 10.14.4 for the OS. Have you made any changes to the system since the last time photos printed correctly (OS updates, etc)?
 
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Thanks! No, I was on 10.14.2 when the problem occurred and had been on that version for quite some time with no issues. Then after a couple of days of troubleshooting I upgraded to 10.14.3 with no change and then yesterday I upgraded to 10.14.4 and the problem still persists.
 
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Try the printer on another PC? WinOS or macOS, it shouldn’t matter, if the printer is the problem. If it prints fine, then it is a setting somewhere.

Also, try a new macOS “user”? For testing purposes.
 

chscag

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Very likely a hardware problem with the printer. From your description above and sequence of events in that it suddenly occurred, it may be that your R3000 has seen better days. If it gave you the same problem when printing from the other Mac, that probably points to hardware. It can't be the driver if it was working fine and then suddenly started to print poorly.
 
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One other thing you could try, if you want to is, install an older OS X/macOS on a separate partition, and test the printer with a different driver. That’s the only way to prove it is the driver that is the issue.
 

cwa107


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It's possible that the driver may have been updated inadvertently. Have you tried deleting the printer and re-adding it?

Another option might be to experiment with an open source driver from the Gutenprint package, available here:

Gutenprint for Mac OS X
 

chscag

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Yes, tried that several times. I'll look into Gutenprint - thanks!

The first thing I did when I replied to your post above was to check Gutenprint. Unfortunately, your model Epson is not covered. You need to consider the age of the printer and that it was formerly working - which again, points to hardware.
 

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The first thing I did when I replied to your post above was to check Gutenprint. Unfortunately, your model Epson is not covered. You need to consider the age of the printer and that it was formerly working - which again, points to hardware.

Hi Charlie. While I don't disagree that this is likely a hardware problem, it does appear that the 'Epson Stylus Pro R3000' is a supported model here:

Gutenprint Supported Printers

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Assuming that's the right printer, I don't think it hurts to give it a shot. I've found that the Gutenprint drivers are often superior to the commercial drivers.
 

chscag

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Thanks Chris. I accessed an older list which did not show the R3000. Maybe that will work for him if it's not a hardware problem.
 

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