Epson ET-7750 lotsa coffee breaks

[paleolith]

This is the fourth year I've used my Epson ET-7750 to print Xmas cards based on my late wife's art work. I love the print quality. The paper handling is excellent, especially as I'm using cards which are probably miles out of spec on thickness.

But it sure does love coffee breaks. I see that Ink stained Fingers noted in his 2018 review that it slows down on a long print run. I see this a lot -- it just stops printing, plays with itself for a minute or two or several, then starts up again. It even stops in the middle of a card, though once it gets back to work, it nonetheless prints the card perfectly.

As I type, I'm printing the envelopes for the cards. Perfectly ordinary 5.25"x7.25"envelopes. Yet it's taking even more coffee breaks. Without the breaks, it prints the envelopes PDQ. But the envelope breaks take up an even longer portion of the time than the card breaks.

Any idea why? As I say, the quality is excellent, and I'll keep using it. Curiosity drives me to ask why it does this. If I could avoid the breaks, that would be even better, but I'm really not holding out much hope for that. Mainly hoping to satisfy that curiosity.

 

[The Hat]

but I'm really not holding out much hope for that. Mainly hoping to satisfy that curiosity.

Here are some helpful tips..

Use more system ram..

Use a wired connection, replace your old USB cable..

Update to the latest driver..

Age of printer, the expiry date is getting closer..

Last but not least, try defrag your system O/S..

 

[paleolith]

Thanks for the ideas!

Driver: I did find a 2022 driver that I had not installed, and installed it. Unfortunately it made no difference. The latest firmware (which I would think much more likely to make a difference) is from 2017, two years before I bought the printer.

Age of printer: it's been acting like this since day one. Until now, every year I just suffered through and then forgot about it.

RAM and defrag: I have 32GB RAM, definitely not short. And 1TB SSD, so defrag would not help. And (see below) the slowdown and pauses occur while presumably the document is stored in the printer.

Connection: I find it highly unlikely that connection issues are involved. Presumably when printing multiple copies of a single-page document, the printer keeps it in memory, so pauses during printing of a single page have to be something internal to the printer. Also, even large documents start printing immediately

 

[James Mike]

If the printing resumes immediately after the non-printing noises stop it is more likely(if not definitely) to be firmware behavior than a connection fault. Our canon also pauses in the middle of pages albeit only after tens of pages has been printed. Two reasons for this could be a regular nozzle cleaning or as Ink stained fingers had explained here wiping off stray ink that has accumulated in the nozzle plate during or after print jobs.

Not on the Epson ecosystem however i think the printer only has enough memory to store parts of the print job and has to continuously stream new data from the device or computer.I've had a page stop printing midway due to the mobile app crashing or the ISP-provided modem confusing itself and partially dropping connection on either device.

Having a known good short USB cable could be a definite test whether its firmware based behavior or an intermittent connection issue that the printer/pc manages to recover from.

If the printer has moments where it does absolutely nothing for extended periods of time before/after the non-printing noises start its more likely to be a connection issue unless the service manual suggest otherwise.

 

[Epatcola]

I have never noticed my 7750 take a 'coffee break', but, I mostly print photos and occasionally up to 5-6 pages of plain paper. When printing those 5-6 pages it will sometimes pause to do a quick bit of nozzle clean or head wipe or something.

If it just stops and waits quietly I would suspect connection issues. I use wired ethernet and would absolutely have less confidence in a WiFi connection.

Maybe you could try printing from the scanner or card reader which would avoid connections and computers .

 

[paleolith]

If the printing resumes immediately after the non-printing noises stop it is more likely(if not definitely) to be firmware behavior than a connection fault.

That's my thought. During the long print runs (100 copies of the same card), It makes various sounds almost continuously while the print is paused. (I wish I could look inside!)

When printing many pages -- whether multiple copies of one page, or many different pages -- it prints the first several pages full speed. Perhaps I'm unusual in doing this, which would explain why few others (such as @Epatcola) eeem to notice this effect. The longer it prints without my giving it a total nap, the slower it gets.

Yet another data point: the computer, the router, and printer are all within aboutten feet of one anohter in the same room. I also have a Chromebook that I use for streaming music and videos. The Chromebook is about 40' from the router, two rooms andtwo plaster walls away. I never get streaming dropouts. This only tests the router, not the printer, but does argue against a problem in the router.

Two reasons for this could be a regular nozzle cleaning or as Ink stained fingers had explained here wiping off stray ink

Part of my puzzlement is that it makes quite a variety of different noises while on coffee break

i think the printer only has enough memory to store parts of the print jo

Any printer that accepts PostScript has to have enough memory to render a full page. I don't actually know what the driver is sending to the ET-7750, but I assume that most modern printers do their own PS processing -- printers with insufficient memory were mostly a thing of the late 1990s, maybe early 2000s. Since I'm printing 100 copies of the same single page, it should be able to hold that page in memory.

Well, I'm done printing cards for this season. I'll fight it again next year.

Edward

 

[James Mike]

That's my thought. During the long print runs (100 copies of the same card), It makes various sounds almost continuously while the print is paused. (I wish I could look inside!)

Part of my puzzlement is that it makes quite a variety of different noises while on coffee break

Without a service manual we would be just guessing however you can fool the door sensor(s) with a piece of paper so you can see which part is moving.

Yet another data point: the computer, the router, and printer are all within aboutten feet of one anohter in the same room. I also have a Chromebook that I use for streaming music and videos. The Chromebook is about 40' from the router, two rooms andtwo plaster walls away. I never get streaming dropouts. This only tests the router, not the printer, but does argue against a problem in the router.

If your router doesn't see more devices then that should be okay. in my household it mostly occurs when multiple people are streaming/downloading large files presumably swarming the router with multiple connections that it can't keep up with.

Any printer that accepts PostScript has to have enough memory to render a full page. I don't actually know what the driver is sending to the ET-7750, but I assume that most modern printers do their own PS processing -- printers with insufficient memory were mostly a thing of the late 1990s, maybe early 2000s. Since I'm printing 100 copies of the same single page, it should be able to hold that page in memory.

Not familiar with Postscipt or PCL but it seems that epson is only advertising support on select models(e.g ET-5880 vs ET-5850(no support). Maybe support is emulated by the drivers and processing is done by the driver in the PC prior to being sent to the printer ?

 

[The Hat]

(I wish I could look inside!)

You can..
Open the top cover and locate the detecting sensor for it, then stick a small piece of paper in it and the top lid can then remain open during print operations, (danger it likes to eat fingers)

but I assume that most modern printers do their own PS processing -- printers with insufficient memory were mostly a thing of the late 1990s,

You first must have a postscript printer to print postscript, (They are very expensive) and small inkjet printers won’t cut it, the modern desktop printer has little to speak of when it comes to memory.

It stores about 250 bytes to get the print started, than as it prints it writes over the used bytes it has processed and continues to do that till all the date is received, it has very little processing power of its own..

The computer sends the data to a temporary file called the print spooler and it opens the link by sending the spl data to your printer, this its continuous till all of the date is received, that’s why an uninterrupted connection is vital, and your printer can only process and print in 8 bit..

 

[Epatcola]

The ET-7750 doesn't have a lid sensor or at least my ET-7750 has never had one that does anything. It does have a sensor/switch for the ink tank lid.

If you are using windows the printer status display (double click the printer icon) will show if a job is still being spooled to the printer. The windows full Epson driver package includes a print progress status display.