Help please! Epson printer won't print

[seahermit]

Would anyone know what this problem might be, please? I have an Epson printer and very recently allowed the software to be updated (I now have an icon on the PC desktop called Epson Printer Connection Checker). I now find that none of the many Word documents I have saved into the Documents folder can be printed out - when I try to print out, the only option presented is to save as a PDF document onto the computer. I don't actually use PDF documents and dislike all the complications of them!

It looks as if the software download has changed or upset some of the computer or printer settings. Any ideas please? I am a bit desperate because I am corresponding a lot with health organisations at present, needing to print a lot of it out, so I may have to call in a professional computer trouble-shooter.

[seahermit]

As a follow-up to the above, I checked Devices on the PC and, against the Epson printer, there is now a message saying that "the driver is unavailable". It seems incredible that the software download might have disabled or removed the driver - not sure where to go from here!

[seahermit]

Not doing well! I managed to find Epson's printer drivers and downloaded the one for my PC - got a message to say that "The printer driver cannot be installed". Very difficult to find possible answers to the problem, the website is vast and mainly tries to sell you more products ..

[Richard]

Buy a new printer - they are cheap!
A professional computer trouble-shooter would probably cost more than a new printer/scanner, unless you have an expensive printer and you don't say which model it was or how old.
I have had similar problems and it's not worth the effort, unless anyone else has a bright idea?

[seahermit]

Epson Expression Home XP-432. Two years old.

Thanks Richard and I am of course quite prepared to buy a new printer if this one is truly worn-out and kaput. But it is not old and no problems before - it seems immoral to chuck it out if it has only a trivial fault, or more likely the software update messed things up.

Or would you suggest that I likewise chuck out the PC if it develops a fault?! No, I can't do that of course, the search for a less-wasteful solution must continue.

I know of a professional computer man who certainly doesn't charge even half the cost of a new printer (£40-50) - and he could help me sort out some other issues at the same time, so it may well be worth my going down that route.

[EthelTheFrog]

Hi

Hopefully I can help.

Unfortunately as an IT professional of many years who loathes having to buy new gear, we do have to accept a 21st century truth is that some IT gear is simply uneconomical to repair, printers being one such thing (unless you have a really expensive one). The other truth is that all self employed people have to make a living, so to have a first hour call out is going to sensibly cost about the same as a plumber or electrician with susequent hours costing anything from £30 per hour. So that’s the bad news done with...

Now to your problem. You certainly have a software glitch. You need to

1. Unplug the printer from your pc if you connected using a USB cable.
2. Turn off the printer
2. Completely remove the Epson software,
3. Restart the PC.
4. Download the driver and utilities from the Epson website (make sure you get this from Epson and nowhere else)
5. Reinstall the printer software and follow the instructions.

If this fails, the only other fixable possibility is that the printer has lost the network it was attached to. Epson’s can be put in reset mode from this by holding down the WiFi button until it flashes. Then rerun the install procedure above to find it again.

Realistically this would take an IT pro no longer than 1/2 hour

Hope that helps,

[Richard]

seahermit, I have to say you are a bit like the proverbial cat stuck up a tree when it comes to computers / electronics.
99% of all issues can be resolved by looking for answers via Google - there will always be folk who have had exactly the same issue and they put answers online - Seek and Ye Shall Find!

Works for me.


You could try 'Print as image'.

or

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... ms-in-word

[seahermit]

That's why I posted a message on here, in the hope that someone might recognise the problem .. obviously not. Never mind, there are other good computer forums which I will have to try.

Printer problems are common, this may well be quite a simple one to resolve - we'll see.

[Richard]

Have you set it up to print from Epson printer under your application's Print window?

[seahermit]

As far as I remember, after buying the printer I had to download a driver from the Epson website. Can't remember the precise way I did that.

This time, when a message came up that "the driver is unavailable" and I then discovered that the driver seemed to have been deleted from the PC's Devices, I tried to download another driver from the website. Downloaded but didn't work, so I'm going round in circles.

Sorry if I am anxious about it, it couldn't have come at a more difficult time. Some health issues are being tackled, emails coming and visitors calling every week and I need to print things out quickly.

Before the last Epson update, no problems. Now, no documents can be printed out, only saved (as PDF documents). Cos there is no printer driver!