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Mike Chaney's Tech Corner > Mike's Software > Qimage Ultimate > Image Problem
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Author Topic: Image Problem  (Read 1493 times)
bmw
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« on: July 22, 2025, 06:22:22 PM »
I don't expect you to have an answer since this is most likely not a Qimage problem, but just in case you have an idea I thought I would ask.  Occasionally a print will come out as if one of the colors is missing, most often cyan.  Test print looks fine but then when I print a full size print the image is too light with one of the colors missing.  In most cases I have printed a nozzle check before and after and there is no problem. I have also made sure that the settings when I did the smaller test and then the larger print are exactly the same. By the way I am using an Epson P900 printer.

Thanks in advance for any ideas you might have. 
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admin
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« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2025, 06:41:26 PM »
I would suggest turning on print preview in the driver and leave it on for a while.  That way you'll get a preview of what the driver sees before anything is printed.  If Epson's driver preview looks good but the print has the color missing, it's a physical problem with the printer (such as the print head or some circuitry).  If the preview is bad, then you know it's not the printer but something related to the software or driver.

Regards,
Mike
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bmw
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« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2025, 05:56:06 PM »
Thanks.
 
I almost always use the image preview and it is fine.  I can also see a preview on the touch screen of the P900.  I'll have to look to see if it is ok.  This is a very strange hardware problem.  It happened a few times in the past and now I just got a replacement printer from Epson that had the same problem.  I really like the P900 when it works, but  I'm on my 7th or 8th replacement in just under 3 years.  I'm lucky that I have an extended warranty.  In fact, this time Epson sent me a brand new printer instead of a refurbished printer after I complained. I'm sure you are not that interested my bad luck story.

Thanks again for your advice.
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« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2025, 08:30:47 PM »
I am definitely interested because I get quite a few complaints about the P900, second only to the HP Z3200.  The Z3200 and P900 seem to be problematic: the Z3200 due to extremely buggy drivers and the P900 due to... well... I'm not sure yet.  I have proof of the Z3200 driver bugs but I can't pinpoint the problems people are having with the P900 yet.

I would suggest more ways to test it but the problem is, if it's erratic I don't know that there's any reliable way to test.  If you get the problem on one print, have you ever tried just clicking print again to see if reprinting the exact same thing results in the same missing channel?  Or is it random and maybe doing that would give you a good print the second time?

If the print preview always looks OK, you'd think it's a printer (hardware) issue but to be sure, if it happens in Qimage, you could always stop it via the Windows spooler and reprint immediately from Qimage: if you reprint or load the last job from the automated job log and reprint, Qimage is sending the exact same data to the printer.  If one works and the other doesn't, it'd be more proof that it's a hardware issue since the same data caused two different results.

Do you always print with Qimage or are you able to replicate the problem in other software too?

Regards,
Mike
« Last Edit: July 23, 2025, 08:38:55 PM by admin » Logged
bmw
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« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2025, 02:04:51 AM »
I'll check out your suggestions.  The problem seems to occur only on larger prints well maybe not on 17 X >=22 but on 13 X 19.  I have tried printing a 2nd time and sometimes the second one is good and sometimes it is not.  If I go back and print a smaller print, they are fine. Also the problem seems to happen only on expensive fine art paper. I don't like running multiple sheets at $4 or more for each sheet.  If I come up with anything additional I'll let you know.

Thanks again for your time
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« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2025, 01:19:46 PM »
Quote from: bmw on July 24, 2025, 02:04:51 AM
I don't like running multiple sheets at $4 or more for each sheet.  If I come up with anything additional I'll let you know.

I wouldn't want to do that either.  But one thing you can do that I've done before is just test on the same sheet.  That is, if you keep an eye on it when it is coming out of the printer and notice it is bad, stop the print via the Windows print job and then since that sheet is already ruined, you can cut the top (printed) part off or just turn it 180 degrees and try printing again on the same sheet just long enough to see if it is coming out bad again or if it's good the second time: then stop it.  Just a trick for testing.

Mike
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bmw
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« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2025, 09:33:21 PM »
That's a good suggestion.  I'll let you know what happens.  Hopefully I wont see that problem for a while.
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