Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Hi all.  Been using QI for a few years on a number of computers and printers.  Currently I am having a problem with my original Mac hooked up to my Epson 9900. 

Everything previews in QI just fine and looks like it will print.  But on occasion, and seemingly with the larger files, it is printing out only a portion of the image.  Sometimes it even just causes the printer to spit out the entire length of paper, often up to eight feet.  It's a lot of waste and a bit frustrating.

I have set the jobs up on my other computers using QI and they work just fine so its not the file and its not QI.  If the memory were filling up on the Mac is it possible this would interrupt the process between QI and the printer?  If so is it just a matter of freeing up space on the computer?

Hi,
Have you checked the memory available for QU using Help - Analise Current Settings with the Shift held down? I get 2147MB on W7-64.
Compare the value on your other computers with the one giving problems.
Also check the Help - Trouble Shooting - Errors when printing.
Terry

Thanks for the reply

On the MAC i got,

Start: 1579 MB
Addl: 213 MB
Now: 1581 MB

On the other computer,

Start: 2146
Addl: 1585 MB
Now: 2146 MB

I am not certain what all this mean shut there is an obvious difference there.

Good Morning,
Terry is busy and asked for print size, and Image size in pixels.
Is the printer networked?
Thanks,
Fred

If the processing gauge in QU goes all the way to 100% and completes, these problems are always driver/spooler related.  In that case, this articles covers all the possibilities:

http://ddisoftware.com/tech/articles/april-2010-understanding-your-photo-printer/

Mike

Fred the image in question is 310 MB. 

Mike I will reload the drivers and see if that helps.  QU does load the image entirely and it says it has finished processing.

Thanks
guys

Check the printer cable  (Swap) with other computer.
If you ar printing through a network, check/reboot router...
Fred

Thanks Fred. It is a wire connection.  Just loaded the new driver so will see how that goes.  If no joy I will swap wires.

First couple prints went okay. Tried a larger one and it processed fine.  THen the machine proceeded to spit out 10' of material without printing anything on it. 

Still sound like the wire Fred?  I will do the switch when I get back to the office.

Thanks

Not really, but check something else for me.
See screen snap attached.
See the white arrow from my mouse cursor. It is pointing to a setting RAW.
That is for larger prints.
Check your setting please!

Fred

Fred when I check both computers I find that box to have EMF-Fast Fusion in it.  I changed it to the RAW setting as you've shown in your example.  I have made the change only on the MAC which is the problem computer and will see if that helps as I print today.

Sorry for late reply, I was traveling for work so had to put this on hold.

Dave

That's a pretty lame excuse.
Everyone knows that Qimage comes first.
 :D
Fred

LOL yeah but the airline pays me a lot more than the pictures do at this point.  Maybe someday.

So I ran a 24 x 96 through after making hat change and it seems to have gone fine.  I am now processing a 24 x 120 to see how that goes.  It is the same one that gave me a problem last week so fingers crossed and all.

Was wondering, would there be any benefit in simply switching the computers?  Say plug that 9890 into the MAc and the 9900 into the PC to see if the problem exists somewhere in the computer?  I know if it processes okay it should be fine but also wondering if there could be some messed up transfer of data from some other issue in the computer?  Both are running the same version of QI so its just a matter of loading the respective drivers.

Dave,
I think it's best to point again to Mike's comment.


If the processing gauge in QU goes all the way to 100% and completes, these problems are always driver/spooler related.

So the difference if you can find it, would be somewhere in the spooler and allocated memory.

Let's see if the RAW setting solves it.
That should have been there on RAW anyway for larger format printers.

Fred

Okay sounds good.  With cautious optimism it looks as if that has worked.  The big job seems to be coming through just fine this time around.  I will make the changes on the other two computer and printer setups so all is consistent across the board.  Thanks again for the help.

FIGNERS Crossed

After running a number of prints throughout he machine without  problem I am relatively confident the problem is fixed. Now to solve another problem. But that one's in the printers section.