Epson 3880 printer utility closes unexpectedly and print does not go through

[Praki]

Hi:
I have a Epson 3880 printer that was performing fine until yesterday. I have Intel based iMac 24 running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and Photoshop CS5. Last week I received an software update from Apple for Epson Printers which I loaded. Last night when I tried to print, I got the following message shown in the  first attachment. Then the printer control dialog box also changed. Earlier under printer settings I could choose the dpi for printing (1440, 2880 etc.) and also high speed or low speed etc. Now I get a different dialog box shown in the second attachment.
When I press print, on most tries nothing happens, once in 10 ten tries, I get that the message that printer utility crashed but the print goes through and the printer prints the image properly. I have a similar problem printing from any app (Pages, Preview etc.). I tried using the scheduler to put the jobs on hold and manually release them but same problem, only one in 10 or so prints get printed. I have checked LuLa for similar issues but can't find any. A problem report is with Apple as well as Epson.
Also on a separate issue, the printer utility for an Epson 2200 (also attached to the same iMac) I have the Printer Utility 4 but for the 3880 I have Printer Utility 3. I tried to put the 3880 on the Version 4 but there is no way to add a printer to this utility.
I would appreciate any help with the above two problems. Details in the instructions would go a long way for me!
Thanks.

[Farmer]

Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you is to NEVER EVER do an Apple automatic update for printer drivers.

Uninstall the driver and "reset printing system" - with the iMac disconnected from the internet (so it can't go and do an auto update again), reboot and then reinstall the latest Epson driver (if you don't have it yet, download it before you go through all this).

Install that driver before you reconnect to the internet.

Regarding the utilities - they are not compatible.  The 3880 is a Pro range printer and uses the Epson LFP Remote Panel software whereas the 2200 is a consumer grade printer and uses the "standard" utility.

[Praki]

Thanks Phil, will try your suggestions.. Live and learn as they say. Thanks again.

[popnfresh]

Uninstalling the new driver may not be necessary. I would reset the printing system only and try it again. I would also use a utility like Onyx (it's free--get it from macupdate.com) to delete your system caches.

Only uninstall the driver as a last resort.

[Farmer]

I strongly disagree.  The driver that has been installed is the Apple driver, not the Epson driver.  For the Epson large format printers, this is not something that you want.  You want to get rid of the Apple updated driver completely and instead just use the Epson driver.

I've been through this with a *lot* of users.

For consumer models, it doesn't really matter.

[Wayne Fox]

I strongly disagree.  The driver that has been installed is the Apple driver, not the Epson driver.  For the Epson large format printers, this is not something that you want.  You want to get rid of the Apple updated driver completely and instead just use the Epson driver.

I've been through this with a *lot* of users.

For consumer models, it doesn't really matter.

I agree.  I've been through this with a lot of users as well. In fact in may require more than a simple uninstall.  I thought apple and Epson were going to work together on this but the apple installed Epson drivers are only useful for Epson consumer printers. I've had to use the gimp print uninstall in cases like this and for one user the Epson driver kept getting over ridden by the apple one and had to resort to backup the drive then wipe it and install OSX from scratch.

[popnfresh]

I agree.  I've been through this with a lot of users as well. In fact in may require more than a simple uninstall.  I thought apple and Epson were going to work together on this but the apple installed Epson drivers are only useful for Epson consumer printers. I've had to use the gimp print uninstall in cases like this and for one user the Epson driver kept getting over ridden by the apple one and had to resort to backup the drive then wipe it and install OSX from scratch.

I strongly disagree. The driver is merely distributed by Apple, but is, in fact, authored by Epson. My point is don't replace it until you KNOW that it's the source of your problem. Assuming that the driver is bad, when you don't know for a fact that it is, is pointless. My suggestion is a why to find out for certain where the problem really lies.

[Farmer]

No, that's not correct.  The driver distributed by Apple is *not* the same driver for LFP models as provided by Epson.  It's the Gutenprint driver that Apple distributes and as anyone and everyone who has experienced having this loaded onto their Macs will tell you, you don't want it.

The only place to get updated drivers for Espon large format printers is from Epson.

There's nothing wrong with your logic about determining where the fault lies - I agree 100%.  However, we have seen so many cases (literally hundreds, I suspect, between the folks here) that we can identify this as being over 95% likely to be the cause.  Furthermore, there's no harm in following this process.

[Yola de Lusenet]

I realize this is an old topic but just wanted to say THANK YOU!

After an update to Mountain Lion I spent an utterly frustrating afternoon wrestling with my lovely printer to prepare prints for an exhibition, and the advice given here solved it all.

Just in case anyone is stil in doubt about Apple/Epson drivers: yes I first innocently followed the advice on some other forum to download the driver from the Apple site and yes, it did mess up my settings no end.

But now I can sleep, at last.

[JohnBrew]

I had the same problem show up with my 3880. The solution Farmer describes fixed mine.