Epson 3800 - URGENT

Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.


On Feb 19, 2008, I bought a new Epson 3800 from Samys Camera of Los Angeles.
I set it up, made a single gorgeous 8x10 test print, and everything seemed
fine - for a while. I left the country and didn't use the printer again for
nearly 5 weeks. That's when the trouble started.

I returned from my trip about 6 weeks after I bought it, tried to print
again, and all it would print was clean white pages, not a single drop of
ink came out. Of course, the brand new Epson inkjet cartridges were still
in the printer for the past 6 weeks. I powered it off, rebooted my PC, made
sure all of the techie stuff was OK (I have 30 years of hands on IT
experience, so I know I covered those techie bases right.)

Then all of the sudden the 3800 stopped even feeding blank pages though when
trying to print, and started displaying a message on the LCD panel something
like "Serious error - call Epson technical support".

So I did, and Epson determined the printer was defective, and agreed to send
me a NEW 3800 to replace it. I insisted on a new unit, not a refurbished
unit - which is their standard policy if it's more than 30 days from the
date of purchase.

About 5 days later I received a box from Epson with 3800 Number 2 in it, and
yes, they screwed up and sent me a refurbished unit. Back on the phone with
Epson and they agreed to replace it again.

Two days ago, I receive 3800 Number 3, and I check it very carefully. Yes,
it IS a brand new printer with all of the manuals, inkjet cartridges, and
software CD inside that come with a new printer.

Today I hooked it up, and bingo, 3800 Number 3 fails immediately. Once
again, it will not print ANYTHING in spite of the print heads going back and
forth and it's SOUNDING like its printing but nothing comes out other than a
completely blank piece of paper.

(Before anyone suggests their might be something wrong with my PC's basic
ability to print, I print fine all the time to a HP LaserJet sitting right
next to the 3800.)

So I called Epson again; they have offered to replace it a 4th time or give
me a full refund. Samys Camera (what a WONDERFUL store to deal with!)
offered to do the same.

HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I owned
before the 3800?

I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800 users
may have. Other flamers need not reply.

TIA ----

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Hash: SHA1

John Smith wrote:
| Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.
|
|
| On Feb 19, 2008, I bought a new Epson 3800 from Samys Camera of Los
Angeles.
| I set it up, made a single gorgeous 8x10 test print, and everything
seemed
| fine - for a while. I left the country and didn't use the printer
again for
| nearly 5 weeks. That's when the trouble started.
|
Snipped here
|
| HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
| replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I
owned
| before the 3800?
|
| I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800 users
| may have. Other flamers need not reply.
|
| TIA ----
|
|

~From your long winded explanation I would say in all honesty, You should
take the refund. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these
printers. There may be issues with cable length, driver installation
being done while the printer was connected and switched on or a plethora
of other small but significant things you either overlooked or don't
know about.

Laserjets are not Inkjet printers. They use an entirely different system
to print with. Just having one on the same machine that prints OK has
nothing to do with your Epson.

I don't know anything about Samys. I do know that squeaking hinges get
oiled before silent ones. I also know that the consumer market is driven
by price. To even be in business today, a store like Samy's would have
to sell on price alone. This absolutely guarantees they buy boxes and
sell boxes.

A small firm with knowledge and the ability to fix customer's problems
is called a "Value Added" dealer. In Australia at least, they've all
gone broke because the buying public demanded prices as low as 5% on
their cost, yet still expected the service they simply couldn't afford
to deliver.

Like I said at the start. Take the refund. If you had a 2400 on the PC
before and it worked OK, chances are there are some Dynamic Link
Libraries (Dll's) still in the system which are interfering with the new
printer. It is critical to clean out this crap and follow the
installation instructions to the letter for an Epson to install cleanly
- - If it works OK in the first place and Really... I can see no reason
why it shouldn't.

- --

from Douglas,
If my PGP key is missing, the
post is a forgery. Ignore it.
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Cable length isn't an issue. Brand new Belkin Gold Series USB 2.0 cable 10
feet

Drivers and all software were installed with the printer NOT corrected, just
as the Epson instructions say. I said I installed everything very carefully,
and have tons of IT experience.

What other "small but significant things did I overlook or don't know
about"?

Do YOU have any actual experience using a 3800? You didn't say.





..

"Alienjones" wrote in message
...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

John Smith wrote:
| Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.
|
|
| On Feb 19, 2008, I bought a new Epson 3800 from Samys Camera of Los
Angeles.
| I set it up, made a single gorgeous 8x10 test print, and everything
seemed
| fine - for a while. I left the country and didn't use the printer
again for
| nearly 5 weeks. That's when the trouble started.
|
Snipped here
|
| HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
| replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I
owned
| before the 3800?
|
| I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800
users
| may have. Other flamers need not reply.
|
| TIA ----
|
|

~From your long winded explanation I would say in all honesty, You should
take the refund. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these
printers. There may be issues with cable length, driver installation
being done while the printer was connected and switched on or a plethora
of other small but significant things you either overlooked or don't
know about.

Laserjets are not Inkjet printers. They use an entirely different system
to print with. Just having one on the same machine that prints OK has
nothing to do with your Epson.

I don't know anything about Samys. I do know that squeaking hinges get
oiled before silent ones. I also know that the consumer market is driven
by price. To even be in business today, a store like Samy's would have
to sell on price alone. This absolutely guarantees they buy boxes and
sell boxes.

A small firm with knowledge and the ability to fix customer's problems
is called a "Value Added" dealer. In Australia at least, they've all
gone broke because the buying public demanded prices as low as 5% on
their cost, yet still expected the service they simply couldn't afford
to deliver.

Like I said at the start. Take the refund. If you had a 2400 on the PC
before and it worked OK, chances are there are some Dynamic Link
Libraries (Dll's) still in the system which are interfering with the new
printer. It is critical to clean out this crap and follow the
installation instructions to the letter for an Epson to install cleanly
- - If it works OK in the first place and Really... I can see no reason
why it shouldn't.

- --

from Douglas,
If my PGP key is missing, the
post is a forgery. Ignore it.
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iD8DBQFICDMKhuxzk5D6V14RAoq9AJ4nju1Xiaj+v0a20fe/3EP+0SzCGACfVrfN
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Long winded? If I hadn't explained things thoroughly, you probably would
have complained I left something out...


"Alienjones" wrote in message
...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

John Smith wrote:
| Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.
|
|
| On Feb 19, 2008, I bought a new Epson 3800 from Samys Camera of Los
Angeles.
| I set it up, made a single gorgeous 8x10 test print, and everything
seemed
| fine - for a while. I left the country and didn't use the printer
again for
| nearly 5 weeks. That's when the trouble started.
|
Snipped here
|
| HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
| replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I
owned
| before the 3800?
|
| I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800
users
| may have. Other flamers need not reply.
|
| TIA ----
|
|

~From your long winded explanation I would say in all honesty, You should
take the refund. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these
printers. There may be issues with cable length, driver installation
being done while the printer was connected and switched on or a plethora
of other small but significant things you either overlooked or don't
know about.

Laserjets are not Inkjet printers. They use an entirely different system
to print with. Just having one on the same machine that prints OK has
nothing to do with your Epson.

I don't know anything about Samys. I do know that squeaking hinges get
oiled before silent ones. I also know that the consumer market is driven
by price. To even be in business today, a store like Samy's would have
to sell on price alone. This absolutely guarantees they buy boxes and
sell boxes.

A small firm with knowledge and the ability to fix customer's problems
is called a "Value Added" dealer. In Australia at least, they've all
gone broke because the buying public demanded prices as low as 5% on
their cost, yet still expected the service they simply couldn't afford
to deliver.

Like I said at the start. Take the refund. If you had a 2400 on the PC
before and it worked OK, chances are there are some Dynamic Link
Libraries (Dll's) still in the system which are interfering with the new
printer. It is critical to clean out this crap and follow the
installation instructions to the letter for an Epson to install cleanly
- - If it works OK in the first place and Really... I can see no reason
why it shouldn't.

- --

from Douglas,
If my PGP key is missing, the
post is a forgery. Ignore it.
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Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFICDMKhuxzk5D6V14RAoq9AJ4nju1Xiaj+v0a20fe/3EP+0SzCGACfVrfN
3QpLv1UUYUslJw4MyqaXCPg=
=ZEjf
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

In article ,
"John Smith" wrote:

Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.


On Feb 19, 2008, I bought a new Epson 3800 from Samys Camera of Los Angeles.
I set it up, made a single gorgeous 8x10 test print, and everything seemed
fine - for a while. I left the country and didn't use the printer again for
nearly 5 weeks. That's when the trouble started.

I returned from my trip about 6 weeks after I bought it, tried to print
again, and all it would print was clean white pages, not a single drop of
ink came out. Of course, the brand new Epson inkjet cartridges were still
in the printer for the past 6 weeks. I powered it off, rebooted my PC, made
sure all of the techie stuff was OK (I have 30 years of hands on IT
experience, so I know I covered those techie bases right.)

Then all of the sudden the 3800 stopped even feeding blank pages though when
trying to print, and started displaying a message on the LCD panel something
like "Serious error - call Epson technical support".

So I did, and Epson determined the printer was defective, and agreed to send
me a NEW 3800 to replace it. I insisted on a new unit, not a refurbished
unit - which is their standard policy if it's more than 30 days from the
date of purchase.

About 5 days later I received a box from Epson with 3800 Number 2 in it, and
yes, they screwed up and sent me a refurbished unit. Back on the phone with
Epson and they agreed to replace it again.

Two days ago, I receive 3800 Number 3, and I check it very carefully. Yes,
it IS a brand new printer with all of the manuals, inkjet cartridges, and
software CD inside that come with a new printer.

Today I hooked it up, and bingo, 3800 Number 3 fails immediately. Once
again, it will not print ANYTHING in spite of the print heads going back and
forth and it's SOUNDING like its printing but nothing comes out other than a
completely blank piece of paper.

(Before anyone suggests their might be something wrong with my PC's basic
ability to print, I print fine all the time to a HP LaserJet sitting right
next to the 3800.)

So I called Epson again; they have offered to replace it a 4th time or give
me a full refund. Samys Camera (what a WONDERFUL store to deal with!)
offered to do the same.

HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I owned
before the 3800?

I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800 users
may have. Other flamers need not reply.

TIA ----

You'll probably see the largest number of "works for me" and "never
works for me" comments about the Epsons. There's something about their
print mechanisms that is sensitive to environmental factors. I fall
into the case of "never works for me" for a 2200 that I had. After a
few months of working well enough, a film of ink kept forming over the
print head. The printing would fade out then drops of ink would smear
all over the paper. I'd be lucky to get a 13x19 print completed before
it went bad.

--
Block Google's spam and enjoy Usenet again.
Reply with Google and I won't hear from you.

Sensitive, like being next to too much heat from the light coming in from a
window? Or like being next to a draft?



"Kevin McMurtrie" wrote in message
et...
In article ,
"John Smith" wrote:

Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.


On Feb 19, 2008, I bought a new Epson 3800 from Samys Camera of Los
Angeles.
I set it up, made a single gorgeous 8x10 test print, and everything
seemed
fine - for a while. I left the country and didn't use the printer again
for
nearly 5 weeks. That's when the trouble started.

I returned from my trip about 6 weeks after I bought it, tried to print
again, and all it would print was clean white pages, not a single drop of
ink came out. Of course, the brand new Epson inkjet cartridges were
still
in the printer for the past 6 weeks. I powered it off, rebooted my PC,
made
sure all of the techie stuff was OK (I have 30 years of hands on IT
experience, so I know I covered those techie bases right.)

Then all of the sudden the 3800 stopped even feeding blank pages though
when
trying to print, and started displaying a message on the LCD panel
something
like "Serious error - call Epson technical support".

So I did, and Epson determined the printer was defective, and agreed to
send
me a NEW 3800 to replace it. I insisted on a new unit, not a refurbished
unit - which is their standard policy if it's more than 30 days from the
date of purchase.

About 5 days later I received a box from Epson with 3800 Number 2 in it,
and
yes, they screwed up and sent me a refurbished unit. Back on the phone
with
Epson and they agreed to replace it again.

Two days ago, I receive 3800 Number 3, and I check it very carefully.
Yes,
it IS a brand new printer with all of the manuals, inkjet cartridges,
and
software CD inside that come with a new printer.

Today I hooked it up, and bingo, 3800 Number 3 fails immediately. Once
again, it will not print ANYTHING in spite of the print heads going back
and
forth and it's SOUNDING like its printing but nothing comes out other
than a
completely blank piece of paper.

(Before anyone suggests their might be something wrong with my PC's basic
ability to print, I print fine all the time to a HP LaserJet sitting
right
next to the 3800.)

So I called Epson again; they have offered to replace it a 4th time or
give
me a full refund. Samys Camera (what a WONDERFUL store to deal with!)
offered to do the same.

HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I
owned
before the 3800?

I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800 users
may have. Other flamers need not reply.

TIA ----

You'll probably see the largest number of "works for me" and "never
works for me" comments about the Epsons. There's something about their
print mechanisms that is sensitive to environmental factors. I fall
into the case of "never works for me" for a 2200 that I had. After a
few months of working well enough, a film of ink kept forming over the
print head. The printing would fade out then drops of ink would smear
all over the paper. I'd be lucky to get a 13x19 print completed before
it went bad.

--
Block Google's spam and enjoy Usenet again.
Reply with Google and I won't hear from you.

John Smith wrote:
Urgent: I need feedback ASAP from other Epson 3800 owners.
Snipped bits out

HERE'S MY QUESTION: Are these 3800s fundamentally problematic? Should I
replace it and upgrade to a 4800? Or go back down to a 2400 which I owned
before the 3800?

I'd GREATLY appreciate any feedback that any experienced Epson 3800 users
may have. Other flamers need not reply.

I run a 3800 I got at Christmas, not a problem. I trashed all Epson
drivers before installing the beta driver for OS 10.5, "Leopard".

Kindly bottom post in this group if you'd be so kind.

--
John McWilliams

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Hash: SHA1

John Smith wrote:
| Cable length isn't an issue. Brand new Belkin Gold Series USB 2.0
cable 10
| feet
|
| Drivers and all software were installed with the printer NOT
corrected, just
| as the Epson instructions say. I said I installed everything very
carefully,
| and have tons of IT experience.
|
| What other "small but significant things did I overlook or don't know
| about"?
|
| Do YOU have any actual experience using a 3800? You didn't say.
|
|

I thought it was obvious by my rant about value added dealers.

I sell them to the graphics industry.
I install them for photographers, mostly Wedding photographers.
I use one in my WF print studio for B&W printing.

I absolutely love my HP printers and given the choice, I'd give up the
Epson's before I'd part with an HP ...but when it comes to B&W, Epson
have it all over the rest.

The other issues are cleaning out the last driver from your r2400. And
here you haven't mentioned the OS you are using either. The DLLs are
similar in both drivers and it is not out of the question that Windows
or a monitoring program you could have installed - even an AV program
still running during installation could be doing a silent "fix" when it
finds an altered DLL.

Did I mention the effects of an Anti Virus program on printer and
software installations?

If you have all this IT experience, get into the registry and clean it
out of all the garbage left when you do a "remove" on the print driver.

And here is another "insignificant" thing. Did you uninstall the r2400
drivers and associated applications or did you just delete the printer
from the printers folder in the control panel.

The real issue with remote support is always a lack of information from
the person you are trying to help. So far all I've read from you is that
claim to be smart enough to do this by yourself. OK. If you can't, and
this is replacement # 3... Take the refund.



- --

from Douglas,
If my PGP key is missing, the
post is a forgery. Ignore it.
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John Smith wrote:
| Long winded? If I hadn't explained things thoroughly, you probably would
| have complained I left something out...
|
|
Well you did.
In your "long winded" post you neglected to mention if you are using a
Mac or a PC and what OS you are running.


- --

from Douglas,
If my PGP key is missing, the
post is a forgery. Ignore it.
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Kevin McMurtrie wrote:

|
| You'll probably see the largest number of "works for me" and "never
| works for me" comments about the Epsons. There's something about their
| print mechanisms that is sensitive to environmental factors. I fall
| into the case of "never works for me" for a 2200 that I had. After a
| few months of working well enough, a film of ink kept forming over the
| print head. The printing would fade out then drops of ink would smear
| all over the paper. I'd be lucky to get a 13x19 print completed before
| it went bad.
|

That happens when the felt that protects the print head when the printer
is switched off, dries up. It also happens when you try to save ink by
leaving the printer turned on all the time. The felt only comes in
contact with the head when it gets switched off. Later models using K3
inks didn't seem to have this problem.

- --

from Douglas,
If my PGP key is missing, the
post is a forgery. Ignore it.
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