Epson 750 Printer

[Hew Jampton]

OK, I'm a mug but it was only £10, I bought a second-hand Epson Stylus Photo 750 printer from somebody down the road. He said it was in working order and it came with the installation CDs and manual. Having installed the drivers etc on a PC, when the printer was switched on the light for the colour cartridge came on to indicate it was empty.

If it was only a case of buying a new cartridge it would be OK but there was also an error message on the PC screen that communication with the printer could not be achieved, check the cable etc. So we tried a second parallel cable (we knew both cables worked with other printers) and tried it on another PC (one was W98, one W Me). The printer internal self test page print didn't work either.

My query is whether this is all due to the cartridge being empty or if there is a second fault? Is the reported connection fault some sort of erroneous report because the cartridge is empty?

Thanks in advance for any comments (apart from "Don't buy second hand computer stuff"!)

[What_does_this_button_do?]

The printer needs a bi-directional cable - the "older" cables aren't.

Is the printer USB compatable?

[Cornish Jack]

Also worth checking in the BIOS that you have the correct setting for peripherals - from memory, EPP or ECP.

[fobotcso]

I've had one of these for years. Pretty straightforward. Your cable(new) will probably meet IEEE 1284 (bi-directional comms) requirments. Do what CJ says and check the BIOS. Have you installed the ESM? ie Epson Status Monitor. Quite a good diagnostic tool.

I couldn't get mine to work satisfactorily on a WinME PC through a LAN. But never had any trouble on Win 98SE (You should bin Win 98 Orig Ver) or Win 2000.

If it works, don't worry. Just use it in spite of the error messages.

[Hew Jampton]

Thanks guys for the replies. I only bought the printer to hook up to our 'old' Win98 PC that is kept as a spare (not enough memory for 98SE). I did three things to get it working (BIOS settings were OK) but don't know which one or more did the trick.[list=1]
Although I'd previously tried a bi-directional cable that I knew worked, I changed to a USB cable connection to the main PC
I removed the empty colour cartridge and reinserted it. Obviously it doesn't print colour but the warning light has gone.
I switched the printer on before the PC. Previously, although the printer was installed, the PC wouldn't recognize the connection but now it seems to.
[/list=1]
At least I now know it's worth buying new cartridges. Thanks again.

[carbheatcold]

Hew,

You can find really cheap cartridges for this printer compared to the OEM ones, I have just started using ones from a website based in Somerset and so far so good.

Also found using USB connection on my 750 speeded up printing process no end.

Drop me an email if you want the specific name of the website but I am sure you won't have any trouble finding it.

carbheatcold

[Hew Jampton]

carbheatcold
Thanks for that; if it's the firm in Watchet, I am successfully using one of their black cartridges in my HP, much cheaper than almost everywhere else and ordered a pair of cartridges for the 'new' Epson, £4.99 for the pair, they arrived this morning.

[fobotcso]

carbheatcold,

nice handle, but as autumn approaches recommend you consider going into hot quite soon. :)

fob

[carbheatcold]

Thanks fob,

I do try and remember, gliding was never my strong point!!!

Cheers

carbheatcold