Epson 640 Color

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marky
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Marky

{FireArm} said:
Hi there - bit of a funny problem.

I keep getting error messages telling me there is no paper in the
printer when i try to print (there is paper in the printer) its a win98
system and before i formatted the hard drive the printer worked fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

Cheers
{FireArm}
Click to expand...

The Win98 "no paper" or similar messages are pretty general. It could mean
any number of things including the printer port is not set up correctly,
there is an error on the printer (out of ink), or your cable is not
connected/working properly (even if you only reinstalled the OS).

It's usually an error on the printer itself, but your Win98 install may have
left the port uninstalled or the installation of the driver (Epson Printer
Port) could have corrupted the port driver.

The best place to start would be the Device Manager (right click on My
Computer and choose Properties) and see if the Printer Port is disabled (has
a red X beside it).

Again, it's usually something simple...so don't reinstall Windows to try to
fix it...yet!
 
Hi there - bit of a funny problem.

I keep getting error messages telling me there is no paper in the
printer when i try to print (there is paper in the printer) its a win98
system and before i formatted the hard drive the printer worked fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

Cheers
{FireArm}
 
This is almost certainly a printer problem, don't worry about your operating
system I'm sure it's fine.
Nearly all (perhaps all actually) inkjet printers do NOT have a sensor that
tells the printer whether there is any paper available. What they do have is a
sensor deeper in the printer that detects when paper reaches the sensor. So,
when the printer tries to feed paper it waits for a period of time and if the
paper has not reached the sensor it will retry once or twice and if there is
still no paper at the sensor it posts an error which is reported by the
operating system as an "Out of Paper" message; this really should be a "Paper
feed failure". So what is probably happening is the printer attempts to feed
and the feed failed!
(BTW this does not apply to the majority of laser printers which do have a
sensor that actually senses paper presence.)
Causes are-
1. An obstruction in the paper feed path close to the paper pick up roller. If
the problem does not happen every time you try to feed paper then this will not
be the cause.
2. Most likely the paper feed roller(s) (pick up roller) are smooth or worn and
they need to be dressed with Isopropyl alcohol, if you can get access to the
pick up roller then hold a cloth (not a paper towel) that has beed wetted with
Isopropyl against the roller while you get the printer to print. Make sure the
cloth does not get dragged into the printer. Do this several times and see if
that fixes the problem. Usually when you get this problem there will be a scuff
mark on the top piece of paper where the roller has tried to pick up the paper.
Also check that the paper you are using is in good condition and not damaged at
the leading edge, poor quality paper is more likely to fail than good quality
paper. The above fix is temporary but I have seen it effective for quite long
periods of time.
Tony
 
TO rule out one printer problem... Does the printer get as far as
starting to try to load paper or attempt to load paper several times
unsuccessfully and then getting this message, or does the printer just
sit there when you put in a print request?

Art
 
Arthur Entlich said:
TO rule out one printer problem... Does the printer get as far as
starting to try to load paper or attempt to load paper several times
unsuccessfully and then getting this message, or does the printer just
sit there when you put in a print request?

Art
Click to expand...

Yes, of course, but I believe they stated initially that the printer was
working fine prior to the OS reinstall...that would mean the paper should be
feeding properly otherwise...
 
Yes, of course what?

I requested this information from the person who was having the
difficulty, and so far, no reply.

I have been working with people on printer issues for about 5 years or
more now and one thing I've learned is never rule out coincidence of
timing. I don't know how many times a person attributes a certain
result to an event which turns out to coincidentally have occurred but
to have no relationship to the problem, so I always start with trying to
get the problem as well defined as possible.

Art
 
Well that makes two of us...it happens quite often by my experience...the
drivers for Win 98 do strange things to the port and we end up with 'paper
jam' errors...

Wonder if they fixed it yet...
 
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