Product

Platform

Operating system

Error

Symptoms

You can successfully print a test page, but on output of an imposed proof, the output dies after imaging anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of the coverage area of the imposition.

Cause

Solution

Check to see how good the network connection to the Epson is. Set up a continuous ping (ping -t) to the Epson's IP address. It's possible that a bad network connection is causing this. The reason is because the Epson has an internal timeout that switches between the Ethernet and parallel port interfaces i.e. if one goes dormant for a certain amount of time, then the proofer goes back to polling back and forth between the Ethernet and parallel port. As long as data continues to come through one of the two interfaces, then the Epson keeps printing. Once the data stream gets interrupted, though, the Epson goes into either a reset or weird state and it is not possible to continue the print job after that. Other variations on this theme originating at the sending side are also possible.

Another, less likely cause is internal to the Epson, with similar symptoms (roller spools forward printing empty paper midway through a job, sometimes resuming printing). This was fixed by an Epson tech coming in and putting new firmware into the Epson. The first cause (bad network) is the more likely one, though.

For diagnosis, hook up the Epson to the parallel port on a print queue server machine, and send output from Prinergy to the print queue that dumps output to the parallel port. This will let you know know if it's a problem with the network or not, as the print queue mechanisms are generally more forgiving of data dropouts. To get closer yet, you can try to hook up the Epson to the parallel port on one of the Prinergy server machines and output directly to the parallel port from a local proofing JTP, getting rid of the need to send data through the network altogether. This will help you to localize where the problems are. You can also try printing a large page directly out from Photoshop or similar application to the same print queue and see if you have the same sort of problems. Prinergy just generates the printer description language (ESC/P) for the printer that the regular Mac/Windows driver generates and sends that straight out to the print queue.

Permanent fix:

See also

Keywords

proofing

Technical contact(s)

Rob Prior

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