Occasionally have to uninstall Epson 3880 driver to fix print inconsistancy

[denalilap]

I have an Epson 3880 printer and started using Lightroom (primarily) to print. At times, the soft proof does not match what comes out of the print. It is so off the mark that it is not tolerable. Other times it matches sufficiently to make is useable. When this occurs, I need to uninstall the 3880 print driver. Then it reverts to useable results. Does anyone have an idea of what might be occurring that requires removing the driver to clear it up?

[Farmer]

Which operating system and where are you sourcing the driver from?

[Alan Goldhammer]

Also, clarify what you mean by 'uninstalling the driver.'  Are we to assume that you are doing an uninstall and then a reinstall (I don't think you can print without it)?  I've been printing from Win7 and now Win8.1 for several years with that same printer also from LR and not noticed any issues.

[denalilap]

I have OS X High Sierra. I uninstall and reinstall. I mostly print via LR and occasionally Capture One. If had cases where LR prints are bad but C1 ok but mostly both are bad. Reload the driver and color from printer matches display.

[praja343]

I have a 3880 and use it with a Mac 10.12.6 (Sierra). There was a time when I had automatic update switched on and Apple used to load its print drivers (Gutenprint) then my prints were off substantially. It was a pain but there are Gutenprint uninstallers which took them out and then I had to reload the 3880 drivers from Epson. I disabled the automatic update and used to disable print driver updates from Apple and every thing has been fine. Maybe that is your problem.

[robertDthomas]

I have had a similar problem with both an Epson P9000 and P800 with LR and MacOS X High Sierra on an iMac. I have posted this on the LR forum here.  Periodically I would not see the Epson ICC paper profiles when printing from LR.  Only way to get them back is to remove and add back in the printer.  This is pretty quick but annoying to have to do this.  I believe it may be related to MacOS updates as I recently installed an update and a couple days later went to print and the Epson ICC profiles were not available in LR print module until I removed and added back in the printer.

[digitaldog]

FWIW, here's the sometimes necessary Epson enema:

1. Delete all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences>Print & Fax.
2. Then go to /Library/Printers and toss the whole Epson folder.
3. Toss LFP Remote Panel (IF you are using this utility for your printer).
4. Then reinstall drivers from Epson and never Apple.

When you go back to Print & Fax to add the printer, on 10.X I had to wait almost a minute before the IP version of the printer showed up, whereas the Bonjour one shows up right away. Then add the IP instance of the printer. This is for printers on a network.
Then re-install LFP Remote Panel if you use it with this printer.

NOTE: IF you have more than one Epson printer, you need to install the driver in the order of their release! Older then newer or you run into issues (eg, install 4800 before you’d install 3880).

[robertDthomas]

Thanks I will take this approach next time it happens.

[Farmer]

Yeah, this sort of thing is not uncommon on OS X/Mac OS, unfortunately.  Andrew's steps are the right ones, particularly the bit about never installing the Apple drivers!

[denalilap]

FWIW, here's the sometimes necessary Epson enema:

1. Delete all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences>Print & Fax.
2. Then go to /Library/Printers and toss the whole Epson folder.
3. Toss LFP Remote Panel (IF you are using this utility for your printer).
4. Then reinstall drivers from Epson and never Apple.

When you go back to Print & Fax to add the printer, on 10.X I had to wait almost a minute before the IP version of the printer showed up, whereas the Bonjour one shows up right away. Then add the IP instance of the printer. This is for printers on a network.
Then re-install LFP Remote Panel if you use it with this printer.

NOTE: IF you have more than one Epson printer, you need to install the driver in the order of their release! Older then newer or you run into issues (eg, install 4800 before you’d install 3880).

Except for step 3, this is what I have to do. Very annoying. I'd love to understand what is going on. Seems strange that the driver would get scrambled. Given we are into 4 decades of personal computing, it is tiresome that we still have to deal with crap like this. Kind of like having to occasionally reset your car's emergency brake to get the car to start.

[Farmer]

Except for step 3, this is what I have to do. Very annoying. I'd love to understand what is going on. Seems strange that the driver would get scrambled. Given we are into 4 decades of personal computing, it is tiresome that we still have to deal with crap like this. Kind of like having to occasionally reset your car's emergency brake to get the car to start.

In short, because Apple happily overwrite the real driver with their crappy version.  Stop doing Apple auto updates and never, ever, let Apple update a printer driver.